"Our parents kiss in front of us": Reasons for early sexual debut among in-school youth in the Manzini Region in Eswatini

Early sexual debut (i.e., sex before the age of 15 years), especially if it is unprotected, may increase the risk of acquiring HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and unwanted pregnancies. We investigated the reasons for early sexual debut among in-school youth in Eswatini, a setting with high HIV...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 18; no. 3; p. e0282828
Main Authors:	Nxumalo, Nomathemba C, Shongwe, Mduduzi Colani, Gwebu, Nontobeko, Ngcamphalala, Cebisile, Nsibandze, Bonisile S, Nkambule, Rejoice, Nuwagaba-Biribonwoha, Harriet
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 10-03-2023 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Adolescent Adult Age Aged Behavior Biology and Life Sciences Children & youth Computer and Information Sciences Data collection Diet Eswatini Female Girls Health risks HIV HIV Infections Human immunodeficiency virus Humans Male Males Mass media Medicine and Health Sciences Modelling Neighborhoods Norms Parents People and Places Pregnancy Qualitative analysis Qualitative research Questionnaires Reproductive health Rural areas Schools Sex Sexual Behavior Sexual consent Sexual intercourse Sexual partners Sexuality Sexually transmitted diseases Social aspects Social Sciences STD Students Teenagers Television Traditions Youth Eswatini Southern Africa
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Summary:	Early sexual debut (i.e., sex before the age of 15 years), especially if it is unprotected, may increase the risk of acquiring HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and unwanted pregnancies. We investigated the reasons for early sexual debut among in-school youth in Eswatini, a setting with high HIV incidence among youth. This was a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study whereby data were collected from 81 sexually active in-school youth through seven focus group discussions (FGDs) in four purposively selected public high schools (two urban and two rural) in the Manzini region, Eswatini. In each school, except one, two FGDs (one for boys and one for girls) were conducted. Qualitative data were coded and analyzed thematically in Dedoose version 8.2.14. Nearly 40% of the participants reported having initiated sexual activity before 18 years. Six major themes emerged from the data: i) Intrapersonal factors (feeling mature, religiosity, nutritional or dietary patterns); ii) Parenting and household factors (living arrangement, lack of sexuality education, working parents, negative role-modeling from adults); iii) Peer and partner pressure (pressure from friends, threats from sexual partners, intergenerational sexual partnerships and transactional sex, testing sexual prowess, desire to fit in); iv) Contextual factors (neighborhood, location); v) Mass media (cell phone ownership, social media, and television shows or movies); and vi) Cultural factors (attending traditional ceremonies, loss of cultural norms, values, and traditions, and dress code). The poor monitoring and negative role-modeling by elders highlight the importance of involving parents or guardians as key stakeholders when designing interventions targeting risky sexual behavior among youth. The multifaceted nature of the cited reasons for early sexual debut calls for interventions aimed at curbing risky sexual behavior to be culturally sensitive and responsive to the themes identified in this study.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0282828