Correlates of Early Sexual Debut Among Sexually Active Youth in Ghana

Abstract

Using the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, this study explores the correlates of early sexual debut among 2,746 (males = 670 and females = 2,076) sexually active youth aged 15 to 24 years in Ghana. The results indicate that males aged 15 to 19 years (odds ratio [OR] = 8.84, p < .001) and who had basic education (OR = 3.17, p < .001) were significantly more likely to initiate sexual debut early. Urban males who had used modern contraceptive (OR = 0.35, p < .001) were significantly less likely to initiate early sexual debut. Meanwhile, females aged 15 to 19 years (OR = 4.26, p < .001); who had used modern contraceptive (OR = 1.99, p < .001); with no formal (OR = 2.90, p < .001) or basic (OR = 3.12, p < .001) education; with partial access to media (OR = 1.58, p < .01); and from the Akans (OR = 1.73, p < .001), Ewes (OR = 1.92, p < .001), and other ethnic groups (OR = 1.63, p < .001) were significantly more likely to initiate early sexual debut. However, employed females living in rural areas (OR = 0.70, p < .01) and those with average (OR = 0.54, p < .01) or rich (OR = 0.51, p < .01) household living in urban areas were significantly less likely to initiate early sexual debut. Interventions and policies targeting those living in both rural and urban areas are therefore needed for adolescent males and females in their early teens before they start engaging in sexual intercourse.

Keywords

sexual debut sexually active youth HIV condom use Ghana

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Tenkorang

Maticka-Tyndale

Individual- and community-level influences on the timing of sexual debut among youth in Nyanza, Kenya. Int Perspect Sex Reprod Health 2014; 40: 68–78.

UNAIDS. Global AIDS update 2016. Progress report. Geneva: UNAIDS, 2016.

Ghana AIDS Commission. Ghana AIDS country progress report January 2010 to December 2012. Accra, Ghana: Ghana AIDS Commission, 2013.

Kangmennaang

Osei

Mkandawire

et al . Circumcision status and time to sexual debut among youth in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from six demographic and health surveys. AIDS Behav 2016; 20: 2514–2528.

Marston

Beguy

Kabiru

et al . Predictors of sexual debut among young adolescents in Nairobi’s informal settlements. Int Perspect Sex Reprod Health 2013; 39: 22–31.

Onsomu

Duren-Winfield

Harwell

et al . Delaying sexual debut as a strategy for reducing HIV epidemic in Kenya. Afr J Reprod Health 2013; 17: 46–57.

Peltzer

Early sexual debut and associated factors among in school adolescents in eight African countries. Acta Paediatr 2010; 99: 1242–1247.

McCauley

Salter

Kiragu

et al . Meeting the needs of young adults. Popul Reports 1995; 41: 1–43.

Takyi

Nii ‐ Amoo Dodoo

Gender, lineage, and fertility‐related outcomes in Ghana. J Marriage Fam 2005; 67: 251–257.

10.

Oppong Asante

HIV/AIDS knowledge and uptake of HIV counseling and testing among undergraduate private university students in Accra, Ghana. Reprod Health 2013; 10: 17.

11.

Maluwa-Banda

Lunguzi

JM.

Baseline survey report on meeting development and participation rights of adolescent girls in Malawi: final report for UNFPA, UNICEF (Project MLW/01). Lilongwe: Department of Youth & National Youth Council of Malawi, 2002.

12.

Ningpuanyeh

Susuman

AS.

Correlates of early sexual debut and its associated STI/HIV risk factors among sexually active youths in Malawi. J Asian Afr Stud 2017; 52: 1213–1224.

13.

Mathews

Guttmacher

Flisher

et al . The quality of HIV testing services for adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa: do adolescent-friendly services make a difference? J Adolesc Health 2009; 44: 188–190.

14.

Zuma

Setswe

Ketye

et al . Age at sexual debut: a determinant of multiple partnership among South African youth. Afr J Reprod Health 2010; 14: 47–54.

15.

Cortez

Saadat

Marinda

et al.

Adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Nigeria (World Bank Group Knowledge Brief No. 95029), http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/03/24161038/adolescent-sexual-reproductive-health-nigeria (2016, accessed 20 April 2016).

16.

Stephenson

Simon

Finneran

Community factors shaping early age at first sex among adolescents in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda. J Health, Popul Nutr 2014; 32: 161.

17.

Awusabo-Asare

Biddlecom

Kumi-Kyereme

et al.

Adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Ghana: results from the 2004 National Survey on Adolescents. New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2006.

18.

Boafo

Dagbanu

Oppong Asante

Dating violence and self-efficacy for delayed sex among adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa. Afr J Reprod Health 2014; 18: 46–57.

19.

Biddlecom

Awusabo-Asare

Bankole

Role of parents in adolescent sexual activity and contraceptive use in four African countries. Int Perspect Sex Reprod Health 2009; 35: 72–81.

20.

Zimmer-Gembeck

Helfand

Ten years of longitudinal research on US adolescent sexual behaviour: developmental correlates of sexual intercourse, and the importance of age, gender and ethnic background. Dev

Rev 2008; 28: 153–224.

21.

Kumi-Kyereme

Awusabo-Asare

Tanle

et al . Influence of social connectedness, communication and monitoring on adolescent sexual activity in Ghana. Afr J Reprod Health 2007; 11: 133–147.

22.

Fisher

Bryan

et al . Information-motivation-behavioral skills model-based HIV risk behavior change intervention for inner-city high school youth. Health Psychol 2002; 21: 177.

23.

Campbell

Nair

Maimane

Building contexts that support effective community responses to HIV/AIDS: a South African case study. Am J Community Psychol 2007; 39: 347–363.

24.

Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Ghana Health Service (GHS) and ICF International. Ghana demographic and health survey 2014. Rockville, MD: GSS, GHS and ICF International, 2015.

25.

Ningpuanyeh

Susuman

AS.

Sexual activity of the youth population in Malawi: the emerging health care scenario. J Asian Afr Stud 2016; 51: 433–444.

26.

Fatusi

Blum

RW.

Predictors of early sexual initiation among a nationally representative sample of Nigerian adolescents. BMC Public Health 2008; 8: 136.

27.

Andoh-Arthur

Knizek

Osafo

et al . Suicide among men in Ghana: the burden of masculinity. Death Stud 2018; 42: 658–666.

28.

Nukunya

GK.

Tradition and change in Ghana: an introduction to sociology. 2nd ed. Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 2003.

29.

Silberschmidt

Poverty, male disempowerment, and male sexuality: rethinking men and masculinities in rural and urban East Africa. In: L

Ouzgane

Morrell

(eds) African masculinities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, pp.189–203.

30.

Pettifor

Levandowski

MacPhail

et al . Keep them in school: the importance of education as a protective factor against HIV infection among young South African women. Int J Epidemiol 2008; 37: 1266–1273.

31.

Moore

Awusabo-Asare

Kumi-Kyereme

et al . Coerced first sex among adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa: prevalence and context. Afr J Reprod Health 2007; 11: 62–82.

32.

Ankomah

Mamman-Daura

Omoregie

et al . Reasons for delaying or engaging in early sexual initiation among adolescents in Nigeria. Adolesc Health Med Ther 2011; 2: 75.

33.

Babalola

Kusemiju

Calhoun

et al. Factors associated with contraceptive ideation among urban men in Nigeria. Int J Gynecol Obstet 2015; 130: E42–E46.

34.

Eaton

Flisher

Aarø

LE.

Unsafe sexual behaviour in South African youth. Soc Sci Med 2003; 56: 149–165.

35.

Gruber

Grube

JW.

Adolescent sexuality and the media: a review of current knowledge and implications. West J Med 2000; 172: 210.

36.

Ott

Pfeiffer

Fortenberry

JD.

Perceptions of sexual abstinence among high-risk early and middle adolescents. J Adolesc Health 2006; 39: 192–198.

37.

Ghana News Agency. Female genital mutilation cases rise in Ghana, www.ghananewsagency.org/social/female-gential-mutilation-case-rise-in-ghana-64409%20 (2013, accessed 16 February 2018).