Demographic decompositions of recent fertility decline in urban Ethiopia identify delayed marriage among recent cohorts of women as a major component of the decline in urban fertility (Sibanda et al., 2003; Lindstrom and Woubalem, 2003). Studies conducted in other sub-Saharan African countries find that as age at marriage increases, premarital sex becomes increasingly common, often leading to a...

BACKGROUND China is realizing increases in women engaged in premarital sex and multiple sex partner behavior. Our aim was to examine prevalence and determinants of multiple sex partner behavior among female undergraduates in China. METHODS Anonymously completed questionnaires were received from 4,769 unmarried female undergraduates, recruited using randomized cluster sampling by type of unive...

Premarital fertility is defined as fertility before the first marriage. In South Africa, in 1998, according to the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), about 65% of women under age 25 had had a premarital birth and close to 39% of all births were premarital. Although the total fertility rate had decreased drastically (down to 2.9), trends showed that premarital fertility was increasing. We inve...

OBJECTIVE To compare HIV-related sexual risk behavior among temporary rural to urban migrants and non-migrants and to explore the role of migration in HIV transmission in a rural area of Ethiopia. METHODS A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted in Bure Woreda, West Gojam, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. A total of 1,310 male subjects (655 rural to urban migrants and 655 non-migrants) were ...

BACKGROUND Gender norms have been challenged by unmarried rural women's migration for employment to urban Sri Lankan Free Trade Zones (FTZ). Men are described as looking for sexual experiences among the women workers, who are then accused of engaging in premarital sex, something seen as taboo in this context. Increased sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) risks for women workers are...

the rise, especially in urban areas, where an estimated 20–25% of unmarried young males and 6–10% of unmarried young females have experienced premarital sex.1 Other studies indicate that while adolescents’ attitudes toward premarital sex are becoming more liberal, their awareness of contraceptives remains poor.2 Studies on abortion and on the prevalence of STDs in India, though few, confirm tha...

Shelley Clark, Alissa Koski, Emily Smith-Greenaway Age at first marriage has been rising throughout sub-Saharan Africa for more than twenty-five years. The median age at first marriage has increased by an average of 1-2 years across the region but substantial variation in age at first marriage remains (Garenne 2004). In some western and eastern African countries including Burkina Faso, Guinea, ...

OBJECTIVES To review the sexual behaviour data collected in the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and other similar national surveys from the perspective of data quality. METHODS Two indicators of premarital and higher risk sexual behaviour were analysed for 31 surveys in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. The analysis focused on the internal consistenc...

Maternal disapproval of premarital sex, maternal discussions about birth control and the quality of the parent-child relationship may have an important influence on adolescents' sexual activity and the consistency of their contraceptive use. Findings from a survey of 751 black youths showed that adolescent perceptions of maternal disapproval of premarital sex and satisfaction with the mother-ch...