Citation
Speizer, Ilene S.; Pettifor, Audrey E.; Cummings, Stirling; MacPhail, Catherine Lorne; Kleinschmidt, Immo; & Rees, Helen V. (2009). Sexual Violence and Reproductive Health Outcomes among South African Female Youths: A Contextual Analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 99(Suppl. 2), S425-431. PMCID: PMC3515795Abstract
Objectives: We studied whether female youths from communities with higher sexual violence were at greater risk of negative reproductive health outcomes.Methods: We used data from a 2003 nationally representative household survey of youths aged 15–24 years in South Africa. The key independent variable was whether a woman had ever been threatened or forced to have sex. We aggregated this variable to the community level to determine, with control for individual-level experience with violence, whether the community-level prevalence of violence was associated with HIV status and adolescent pregnancy among female, sexually experienced, never-married youths.
Results: Youths from communities with greater sexual violence were significantly more likely to have experienced an adolescent pregnancy or to be HIV-positive than were youths from communities experiencing lower sexual violence. Youths from communities with greater community-level violence were also less likely to have used a condom at their last sexual encounter. Individual-level violence was only associated with condom nonuse.
Conclusions: Programs to reduce adolescent pregnancies and HIV risk in South Africa and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa must address sexual violence as part of effective prevention strategies.
URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2008.136606Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2009Journal Title
American Journal of Public HealthAuthor(s)
Speizer, Ilene S.Pettifor, Audrey E.
Cummings, Stirling
MacPhail, Catherine Lorne
Kleinschmidt, Immo
Rees, Helen V.
PMCID
PMC3515795ORCiD
Speizer - 0000-0001-6204-1316Pettifor - 0000-0002-3387-0817