Citation

Sidze EM, Kuate Defo B. BMC Public Health 2013; 13(1): 616.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/1471-2458-13-616

PMID

23809373

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is scanty evidence regarding the impact of parenting practices on young people's sexual risk-taking in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, the extent to which such practices have enduring consequences on adolescents and young adults is little documented. This study uses repeated measures of parent--child relationships, parental monitoring, and parent--child communication about sexual matters to shed some light in these two areas. METHODS: The analysis is based on time-dependent retrospective data on parenting practices which were retrieved from the Cameroon Family and Health Survey (CFHS). The study sample includes 447 sexually active and unmarried individuals aged 15--24 years old. Correlation analysis and multivariate logistic regressions are used. RESULTS: Young males and females reported high levels of parental monitoring, moderate quality of parent--child relationships and low levels of parent--child communication on sexual matters. This study substantiates that the higher the quality of parent--child relationships, the lower the odds of young males having multiple sexual partners (0.63, p < 0.05), and the lower the odds of young females being sexually active (0.52, p < 0.10) or of having multiple sexual partners (0.64, p < 0.10) or of having occasional sexual partners (0.51, p < 0.05). Living with the biological father only was associated with higher odds of having multiple sexual partners (3.21, p < 0.10) and higher odds of occasional concurrent sexual partners (3.26, p < 0.10) among young males. Compared with their out-of-school counterparts, young males still enrolled in school were less likely to be sexually active in the last 12 months (0.33, p < 0.05) and less likely to have occasional concurrent sexual partners (0.57, p < 0.10), whereas young females still enrolled in school were more likely to be sexually active (2.25, p < 0.10) and less likely to use contraceptive consistently (0.36, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Reproductive health programs and interventions for preventing young people's risky sexual behaviors in sub-Saharan African settings must take into account the protective effects of parent--child relationships and the significance of parental monitoring over time.

Language: en