title: Examination of youth sexual and reproductive health transitions in Nigeria and Kenya using longitudinal data.
abstract: The adolescent (ages 15-19) and young adult (ages 20-24) years are a crucial time as many sexual and reproductive health (SRH) transitions take place in these years. The study of youth SRH transitions in sub-Saharan Africa is limited due to a paucity of longitudinal data needed to examine the timing and circumstances of these transitions.
  
  
  
  This paper uses recently collected longitudinal data from select urban areas in Kenya and Nigeria that include a large youth sample at baseline (2010/2011) and endline (2014). We control for unobserved heterogeneity in our modelling approach to correct for selectivity issues that are often ignored in similar types of analyses.
  
  
  
  We demonstrate that the transition patterns (i.e., sexual initiation, first marriage, and first pregnancy/birth) differ within and across the urban areas and countries studied. Urban Kenyan youth have more premarital sex and pregnancy than youth from the Nigerian cities. Further analyses demonstrate that more educated and wealthier youth transition later than their less educated and poorer counterparts.
  
  
  
  The findings from this study can be used to inform programs seeking to serve young people based on their varying reproductive health needs in different contexts over the adolescent and young adult years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. ilene_speizer@unc.edu.|Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. ilene_speizer@unc.edu.
authors.forename: Ilene S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Speizer
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.|Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guilkey
authors.affiliation: Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Calhoun
authors.affiliation: Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Meghan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corroon
authors.affiliation: Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: O'Hara
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D009549:Nigeria; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D060728:Reproductive Health; D012736:Sex Education / Q000379:methods*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Kenya; Marriage; Nigeria; Pregnancy; Sexual initiation; Urban; Youth