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Premarital Sex In Vietnam: Is The Current Concern With Adolescent Reproductive Health Warranted?, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Dang Nguyen Anh Jan 2002

Premarital Sex In Vietnam: Is The Current Concern With Adolescent Reproductive Health Warranted?, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Dang Nguyen Anh

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

To the extent that research on Vietnamese adolescents has been conducted, it has been concerned with unprotected and unsanctioned sexual activity and its health consequences, namely abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV. The question we pose is whether this concern is warranted. Is the population community justified in focusing its attention on early sexual activity and HIV risk? Even if the sexual behavior of young people can be considered problematic, are there perhaps other aspects of young people’s lives that should give us greater pause? The paper reviews the literature on adolescent sexual behavior in Vietnam and analyzes data …


Midline Survey Results: Integrating Adolescent Livelihood Activities Within A Reproductive Health Program For Urban Slum Dwellers In India, Mary Philip Sebastian, Dale Huntington, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Shahina Begum, Bela Patel Uttekar, Sohini Roychowdhury Jan 2002

Midline Survey Results: Integrating Adolescent Livelihood Activities Within A Reproductive Health Program For Urban Slum Dwellers In India, Mary Philip Sebastian, Dale Huntington, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Shahina Begum, Bela Patel Uttekar, Sohini Roychowdhury

Reproductive Health

The Population Council in collaboration with CARE India has been conducting an operations research (OR) study to investigate the impact of adding a livelihoods component to the Action for Slum Dwellers' Reproductive Health, Allahabad (ASRHA) Project in Uttar Pradesh run by CARE India. The ASRHA Project selected peer educators from the slums and trained them in providing reproductive health (RH) information, communication skills, and group formation techniques. After the peer educators completed training, they conducted group sessions about livelihoods and savings. RH sessions were held alongside vocational counseling sessions. Population Council staff provided vocational training courses, both in the slums …


Determinants Of Educational Attainment Among Adolescents In Egypt: Does School Quality Make A Difference? [Arabic], Cynthia B. Lloyd, Sahar El Tawila, Wesley H. Clark, Barbara Mensch Jan 2001

Determinants Of Educational Attainment Among Adolescents In Egypt: Does School Quality Make A Difference? [Arabic], Cynthia B. Lloyd, Sahar El Tawila, Wesley H. Clark, Barbara Mensch

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The paper explores empirically the relationship between school quality in Egyptian preparatory (middle) schools and the likelihood of school dropout either during preparatory school or before the completion of secondary school. Despite strong empirical evidence for the many positive social and economic returns associated with more years of schooling, there has been little research exploring how the quality of particular schools might influence grade levels attained. The authors address this research gap using detailed data on Egyptian preparatory schools (grades 6-8, the last three years of the eight years of basic schooling) that are linked with a national survey of …


The Reporting Of Sensitive Behavior Among Adolescents: A Methodological Experiment In Kenya, Barbara Mensch, Paul C. Hewett, Annabel Erulkar Jan 2001

The Reporting Of Sensitive Behavior Among Adolescents: A Methodological Experiment In Kenya, Barbara Mensch, Paul C. Hewett, Annabel Erulkar

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This paper assesses whether audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (audio-CASI), a technique designed in the United States to collect data on sensitive behaviors, is a feasible method of survey data collection in a developing-country setting and whether it produces more valid reporting of sexual activity and related behaviors than traditional survey methods. The analysis is based on interviews with nearly 4,400 unmarried adolescents aged 15-21 in Nyeri, a rural district of Kenya that was selected because previous research had indicated a wide discrepancy in the reporting of premarital sexual behavior between boys and girls. The study was based on a quasi-experimental design …


Integrating Adolescent Livelihood Activities Within A Reproductive Health Program For Urban Slum Dwellers In India, Dale Huntington, Mary Philip Sebastian, Nirmala Sevlam, Barbara Mensch, Sahar Hegazi Jan 2001

Integrating Adolescent Livelihood Activities Within A Reproductive Health Program For Urban Slum Dwellers In India, Dale Huntington, Mary Philip Sebastian, Nirmala Sevlam, Barbara Mensch, Sahar Hegazi

Reproductive Health

The Population Council's Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program and the Policy and Research Division are collaborating with CARE India to conduct an operations research study to examine the feasibility and impact of adding livelihood counseling and training, savings activities, and follow-up support to the ongoing reproductive health program for adolescents. The short-term objective is to foster the development of alternative socialization processes for adolescent girls that encourage positive sexual and reproductive health behaviors. As noted in this project update, the study will produce a replicable model for CARE India and other agencies to use in adding livelihood activities to adolescent …


Zambia: Peer Educators Can Promote Safer Sex Behaviors, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2001

Zambia: Peer Educators Can Promote Safer Sex Behaviors, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Zambian adolescents are at high risk of unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV infection due to early sexual initiation, low use of contraceptives and condoms, and other high-risk sexual behaviors. During 1996–1998, CARE Zambia and the Population Council conducted a study to test community-based approaches to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health. CARE Zambia talked to adolescents in four communities outside Lusaka. Using participatory learning and action techniques, researchers identified factors leading to high-risk sexual behaviors, including lack of economic, recreational, and educational opportunities for youth. This information helped to design the study. Two interventions—condom distribution by peer …


Zambia: Los Educadores Juveniles Pueden Promover Comportamientos Sexuales Más Seguros, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2001

Zambia: Los Educadores Juveniles Pueden Promover Comportamientos Sexuales Más Seguros, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Los adolescentes de Zambia corren un alto riesgo de embarazos no deseados, infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS) e infección por el VIH debido a la iniciación sexual temprana, el bajo uso de anticonceptivos y condones, y otros comportamientos sexuales de alto riesgo. Durante 1996–98, CARE Zambia, con el apoyo del Population Council, realizó un estudio para probar estrategias comunitarias para mejorar la salud sexual y reproductiva de los adolescentes. CARE Zambia habló con los adolescentes de cuatro comunidades ubicadas fuera de Lusaka. Los investigadores identificaron, mediante técnicas de aprendizaje y acción participativos, un gran número de factores que producen comportamientos …


Adolescent Girls' Livelihoods. Essential Questions, Essential Tools: A Report On A Workshop [Arabic], Carey Meyers Jan 2000

Adolescent Girls' Livelihoods. Essential Questions, Essential Tools: A Report On A Workshop [Arabic], Carey Meyers

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This report, co-published by the Population Council and the International Center for Research on Women, describes a workshop convened in Cairo in 1999 to learn more about the nature of both younger and older adolescents' work experience, differentiate the particular needs and potentials of adolescent girls, and identify programs and policies that might have promise for supporting them.


Adolescent Girls' Livelihoods. Essential Questions, Essential Tools: A Report On A Workshop, Carey Meyers Jan 2000

Adolescent Girls' Livelihoods. Essential Questions, Essential Tools: A Report On A Workshop, Carey Meyers

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This report, co-published by the Population Council and the International Center for Research on Women, describes a workshop convened in Cairo in 1999 to learn more about the nature of both younger and older adolescents' work experience, differentiate the particular needs and potentials of adolescent girls, and identify programs and policies that might have promise for supporting them.


Socialization To Gender Roles And Marriage Among Egyptian Adolescents, Barbara Mensch, Barbara L. Ibrahim, Susan M. Lee, Omaima El-Gibaly Jan 2000

Socialization To Gender Roles And Marriage Among Egyptian Adolescents, Barbara Mensch, Barbara L. Ibrahim, Susan M. Lee, Omaima El-Gibaly

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Using nationally representative survey data, this paper explores gender role socialization and attitudes toward marriage among unmarried Egyptian adolescents aged 16-19 years. We examine the daily activities of adolescent boys and girls, views about age at marriage and desirable qualities in a spouse, and various indicators of gender role attitudes including opinions about whether wives should defer to husbands, about sharing household decisionmaking, and about responsibility for domestic tasks. Our findings reflect strong gender differentiation: girls have much less free time than boys, are much less mobile, are much less likely to participate in paid work, and have heavier domestic …


Premarital Sex And School Dropout In Kenya: Can Schools Make A Difference?, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Annabel Erulkar Jan 1999

Premarital Sex And School Dropout In Kenya: Can Schools Make A Difference?, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Annabel Erulkar

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Although an overall decline has occurred in adolescent fertility in Kenya, the proportion of births to teenagers that takes place prior to marriage is rising. At the same time that premarital sex and childbearing have increased, educational participation has expanded considerably, especially for girls. Using data from nearly 600 adolescents aged 12-19 in combination with data collected from 33 primary schools that the adolescents attended, this paper explores whether certain aspects of the school environment affect the likelihood of early and unprotected sex among adolescent girls and boys in three districts of Kenya. Because of the concern with “schoolgirl pregnancy” …


The Changing Social Environment For Adolescents In Kassena-Nankana District Of Northern Ghana: Implications For Reproductive Behavior, Barbara Mensch, Daniel Bagah, Wesley H. Clark, Fred N. Binka Jan 1998

The Changing Social Environment For Adolescents In Kassena-Nankana District Of Northern Ghana: Implications For Reproductive Behavior, Barbara Mensch, Daniel Bagah, Wesley H. Clark, Fred N. Binka

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study reports on a primarily qualitative investigation of adolescent reproductive behavior in the Kassena-Nankana District, a rural isolated area in northern Ghana, where traditional patterns of marriage, family formation, and social organization persist. The study is based on in-depth interviews and focus groups with adolescents, parents, chiefs and traditional leaders, teachers, youth leaders, and health workers, supplemented by quantitative data from the 1996 wave of a panel survey of reproductive-aged women conducted by the Navrongo Health Research Centre. The social environment faced by adolescent boys and girls in the Kassena-Nankana District and its links to reproductive behavior are described. …


The Uncharted Passage: Girls' Adolescence In The Developing World, Barbara Mensch, Judith Bruce, Margaret E. Greene Jan 1998

The Uncharted Passage: Girls' Adolescence In The Developing World, Barbara Mensch, Judith Bruce, Margaret E. Greene

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Adolescence is a formative time of transition to adulthood. What happens between the ages of 10 and 19 shapes how girls and boys live out their lives as women and men—not only in the reproductive arena, but in the social and economic realm as well. Yet, despite its impact on human development, adolescence has been sidelined as a research and policy subject in developing countries. While all adolescents deserve our attention, the needs of adolescent girls in the developing world are particularly pressing. This monograph focuses on these girls, presenting statistics to examine the social and economic context of their …


Adolescent Reproductive Health: Booklet For Parents, Rieny H. Hardjono, Rashmi Pachauri Rajan Jan 1998

Adolescent Reproductive Health: Booklet For Parents, Rieny H. Hardjono, Rashmi Pachauri Rajan

Reproductive Health

In Indonesia, collaboration between the Center for Health Research, University of Indonesia, National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN), UNFPA Jakarta, and the Population Council resulted in production and distribution of two prototype modules as basic materials on reproductive health for families with school-age children and adolescents. An updated version for both parents and adolescents was published by BKKBN. The Population Council believed that international versions (in English) would be of value, as the gaps in information are similar worldwide with respect to topics covered by these modules. Youth are constantly thirsty for knowledge pertaining to their health, particularly their reproductive …


The Effects Of Primary School Quality On The Educational Participation And Attainment Of Kenyan Girls And Boys, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark Jan 1998

The Effects Of Primary School Quality On The Educational Participation And Attainment Of Kenyan Girls And Boys, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In Kenya, adolescent girls fare poorly relative to boys in an educational system characterized by enormous growth, deteriorating quality, and rising costs. Girls are more likely than boys to drop out of school prematurely and are less likely to do well on the primary school leaving exams that come at the end of grade eight. Using data from nearly 600 adolescents aged 12-19 in combination with data collected from 36 primary schools in which those adolescents reside, this paper investigates the effect of school quality on the likelihood of dropping out from primary school in three districts of Kenya. In …


The Impact Of Family Planning Household Service Delivery On Women's Status In Bangladesh, James F. Phillips, Mian Bazle Hossain Jan 1998

The Impact Of Family Planning Household Service Delivery On Women's Status In Bangladesh, James F. Phillips, Mian Bazle Hossain

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Since 1982, the Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning Extension Project has compiled longitudinal panel data on rural women’s contact with household service providers who visit homes to discuss family planning and offer services to women on request. This study tests the hypothesis that home-based services reinforce customs of purdah (female seclusion) by sustaining the dependency and isolation of the women served by the program. Results show that household services improve women’s status. This effect is largely attributable to the impact of outreach on effective fertility regulation. Findings do not support the hypothesis that household service delivery is detrimental …


Gender Differences In The Schooling Experiences Of Adolescents In Low-Income Countries: The Case Of Kenya, Barbara Mensch, Cynthia B. Lloyd Jan 1997

Gender Differences In The Schooling Experiences Of Adolescents In Low-Income Countries: The Case Of Kenya, Barbara Mensch, Cynthia B. Lloyd

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Little research on education in developing countries has focused on adolescent issues at the same time, despite the fact that a growing proportion of young people are spending some time in school during the phase of their lives between puberty and marriage, there is little research on schooling as a key dimension of the adolescent experience. This paper examines the school environment in Kenya and the potential ways it can help or hinder adolescents. We focus on gender differences with a view toward illuminating some of the factors that may present particular obstacles or opportunities for girls. The paper begins …


Study Of Adolescents: Dynamics Of Perception, Attitude, Knowledge And Use Of Reproductive Health Care, Syed Jahangeer Haider, Shamsun Nehar Saleh, Nahid Kamal, Alan Gray Jan 1997

Study Of Adolescents: Dynamics Of Perception, Attitude, Knowledge And Use Of Reproductive Health Care, Syed Jahangeer Haider, Shamsun Nehar Saleh, Nahid Kamal, Alan Gray

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Knowledge, perceptions, and behavior related to reproductive health (RH) and sexual matters underlie all the conditions that family planning/maternal and child health (FP/MCH) programs address, thus these are important issues for FP researchers, population policymakers, and service providers. To achieve significant levels of fertility or mortality declines, participation of adolescents in reproductive health programs, including FP/MCH, is essential. Studies focusing on sexuality and attitudes of adolescents on RH, and the interacting influences of family, community, and the social sector developmental programs (health, FP/MCH, education, women’s development) would give useful revelations. This report presents findings from a study that was designed …


Transition To Adulthood Of Female Factory Workers: Some Evidence From Bangladesh, Sajeda Amin, Ian Diamond, Ruchira Tabassum Naved, Margaret Newby Jan 1997

Transition To Adulthood Of Female Factory Workers: Some Evidence From Bangladesh, Sajeda Amin, Ian Diamond, Ruchira Tabassum Naved, Margaret Newby

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The rapidly expanding sector of garment manufacturing for export is unusual for Bangladesh in that it employs young, unmarried women in large numbers. This paper examines data from a study on garment workers in Bangladesh to explore the implications of work for the early socialization of young women. For the first time young women are given an alternative to lives where they move directly from childhood into adulthood through early marriage and childbearing. Work creates a period of transition as contrasted with the abrupt assumption of adult roles at very young ages that marriage and childbearing mandate. It is argued …


Adolescent Family Life Education: Review Of Curriculum, Ladly Faiz, Hasina Banu, Devi Sharma Jan 1996

Adolescent Family Life Education: Review Of Curriculum, Ladly Faiz, Hasina Banu, Devi Sharma

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Adolescents, who are about 23 percent of the total population of Bangladesh, are entitled to grow up as healthy and responsible members of society. The Adolescent Life Education (ALE) program ensures the rights of this large section of the population and helps them develop as healthy and responsible members of their family and society. ALE is internationally known as Family Life Education, and its incorporation in Bangladesh’s education sphere is a recent phenomenon. Due to rapid social change worldwide, the young generation is presently facing an enormous problem coping with the erosion of traditional family, social life, and values. Adolescent …