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'I think condoms are good but, aai, I hate those things': : condom use among adolescents and young people in a Southern African township

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  • MacPhail, Catherine
  • Campbell, Catherine

Abstract

Levels of heterosexually transmitted HIV infection are high amongst South African youth, with one recent survey reporting levels of 18.9% amongst 17-20 year olds and 43.1% amongst 21-25 year olds. In these groups levels of knowledge about HIV are high, but perceived vulnerability and reported condom use are low. Much existing research into youth HIV in developing countries relies on survey measures which use individual knowledge, attitudes and reported behaviour as variables in seeking to explain HIV transmission amongst this group. This paper reports on a focus group study that seeks to complement existing individual-level quantitative findings with qualitative findings highlighting community and social factors that hinder condom use amongst youth in the township of Khutsong, near Carletonville. Study informants comprised 44 young women and men in the 13-25 year age group. Data analysis highlighted six factors hindering condom use: lack of perceived risk; peer norms; condom availability; adult attitudes to condoms and sex; gendered power relations and the economic context of adolescent sexuality. Informants did not constitute a homogenous group in terms of their understandings of sexuality. While there was clear evidence for the existence of dominant social norms which place young peoples' sexual health at risk, there was also evidence that many young people are self-consciously critical of the norms that govern their sexual behaviour, despite going along with them, and that they are aware of the way in which peer and gender pressures place their health at risk. There was also evidence that a minority of youth actively challenge dominant norms and behave in counter-normative and health-enhancing ways. The actively contested nature of dominant sexual norms provides a fertile starting point for peer education programmes that seek to provide the context for the collective negotiation of alternative sexual norms that do not endanger young peoples' sexual health.

Suggested Citation

  • MacPhail, Catherine & Campbell, Catherine, 2001. "'I think condoms are good but, aai, I hate those things': : condom use among adolescents and young people in a Southern African township," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(11), pages 1613-1627, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:52:y:2001:i:11:p:1613-1627
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    Cited by:

    1. Winskell, Kate & Obyerodhyambo, Oby & Stephenson, Rob, 2011. "Making sense of condoms: Social representations in young people's HIV-related narratives from six African countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(6), pages 953-961, March.
    2. Margaret Cunha, 2007. "South African Politics, Inequalities, and HIV/AIDS," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 23(1-2), pages 207-219, January.
    3. Rink, Anselm & Wong-Grünwald, Ramona, 2017. "How effective are HIV behaviour change interventions? Experimental evidence from Zimbabwe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(3), pages 361-388.
    4. Fearon, Elizabeth & Wiggins, Richard D. & Pettifor, Audrey E. & Hargreaves, James R., 2015. "Is the sexual behaviour of young people in sub-Saharan Africa influenced by their peers? A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 62-74.
    5. Cousins, L., 2009. "Modelling cross-gender and sexual relations," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18728, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    6. Riley, Gerard Anthony & Baah-Odoom, Dinah, 2010. "Do stigma, blame and stereotyping contribute to unsafe sexual behaviour? A test of claims about the spread of HIV/AIDS arising from social representation theory and the AIDS risk reduction model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 600-607, August.
    7. Dunkle, Kristin L. & Jewkes, Rachel & Nduna, Mzikazi & Jama, Nwabisa & Levin, Jonathan & Sikweyiya, Yandisa & Koss, Mary P., 2007. "Transactional sex with casual and main partners among young South African men in the rural Eastern Cape: Prevalence, predictors, and associations with gender-based violence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 1235-1248, September.
    8. Stadler, Jonathan J. & Delany, Sinead & Mntambo, Mdu, 2008. "Women's perceptions and experiences of HIV prevention trials in Soweto, South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 189-200, January.
    9. Coast, Ernestina, 2006. "Local understandings of, and responses to, HIV: Rural-urban migrants in Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 1000-1010, August.
    10. Orchard, Treena Rae, 2007. "Girl, woman, lover, mother: Towards a new understanding of child prostitution among young Devadasis in rural Karnataka, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 2379-2390, June.
    11. Guntram, Lisa, 2013. "“Differently normal” and “normally different”: Negotiations of female embodiment in women's accounts of ‘atypical’ sex development," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 232-238.
    12. Otoo, E.A. & Tackie-Yarboi, D. & Gyimadoh, B. & Yayra, H. & Gyasi, S. & Gyan, A., 2021. "Contraceptive use among High School Students in The Effutu Municipality, Ghana; The Unknown Perception," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(12), pages 202-206, December.
    13. Luke, Nancy, 2006. "Exchange and Condom Use in Informal Sexual Relationships in Urban Kenya," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(2), pages 319-348, January.
    14. Mannberg, Andréa, 2012. "Risk and rationalization—The role of affect and cognitive dissonance for sexual risk taking," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1325-1337.
    15. Maticka-Tyndale, Eleanor & Wildish, Janet & Gichuru, Mary, 2007. "Quasi-experimental evaluation of a national primary school HIV intervention in Kenya," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 172-186, May.
    16. Gojjam Tadesse & Bereket Yakob, 2015. "Risky Sexual Behaviors among Female Youth in Tiss Abay, a Semi-Urban Area of the Amhara Region, Ethiopia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, March.
    17. Wight, Daniel & Plummer, Mary L. & Mshana, Gerry & Wamoyi, Joyce & Shigongo, Zachayo S. & Ross, David A., 2006. "Contradictory sexual norms and expectations for young people in rural Northern Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 987-997, February.
    18. Mojola, Sanyu A., 2011. "Fishing in dangerous waters: Ecology, gender and economy in HIV risk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 149-156, January.
    19. Ewa Batyra & Hans‐Peter Kohler & Frank F. Furstenberg, 2021. "Changing Gender Gaps in the Timing of First Union Formation and Sexual Initiation in Sub‐Saharan Africa," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(2), pages 289-322, June.
    20. Marielle Aulagnier & Wendy Janssens & Ingrid De Beer & Gert van Rooy & Esegiel Gaeb & Cees Hesp & Jacques van der Gaag & Tobias F Rinke de Wit, 2011. "Incidence of HIV in Windhoek, Namibia: Demographic and Socio-Economic Associations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(10), pages 1-9, October.
    21. Morojele, Neo K. & Kachieng'a, Millicent A. & Mokoko, Evodia & Nkoko, Matsobane A. & Parry, Charles D.H. & Nkowane, Annette M. & Moshia, Kgaogelo M. & Saxena, Shekhar, 2006. "Alcohol use and sexual behaviour among risky drinkers and bar and shebeen patrons in Gauteng province, South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 217-227, January.
    22. Lesch, Elmien & Kruger, Lou-Marie, 2005. "Mothers, daughters and sexual agency in one low-income South African community," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 1072-1082, September.

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