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RISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR AMONG UNMARRIED YOUNG PEOPLE IN CAMEROON: ANOTHER LOOK AT FAMILY ENVIRONMENT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2010

ZACHARIE TSALA DIMBUENE  and
BARTHELEMY KUATE DEFO
ZACHARIE TSALA DIMBUENE
Affiliation:
Department of Demography, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada
BARTHELEMY KUATE DEFO
Affiliation:
PRONUSTIC Research Laboratory, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Summary

Most studies of the association between family structure and risky sexual behaviour among adolescents and young adults have employed a risk perspective which assumes that, compared with other types, two-parent families are protective. Drawing from a positive-oriented approach in this study, it is hypothesized that within each family type some influential factors may mitigate such anticipated deleterious effects of non-intact families and decrease sexual risk-taking. The paper examines specifically the effects of risk and protective factors with an emphasis on family processes associated with resilience, using data from a pooled sample of 1025 females and males aged 12–24 years from Bandjoun (West Cameroon). Findings show that the quality of parent/guardian–youth relationships significantly decreases the odds of risky sexual behaviour by 36%, 65% and 50% in neither-, one- and two-parent families, respectively. For two-parent families only, parental control acts as a significant protective factor; it decreased by 41% the odds of risky sexual behaviour. Programmatically, protective family factors such as parent/guardian–youth interactions need to be promoted to improve the efficiency of reproductive health and HIV interventions in sub-Saharan Africa.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 129 - 153
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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