Heterosexual context and adolescent sexual risk-taking behaviour : an exploratative study in a coloured community

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:A combined quantitative and qualitative methodology was employed in order to explorethe intimate heterosexual context of coloured* pregnant adolescents as a determinant oftheir sexual risk-taking behaviour. Structured questionnaires were completed by fortyyoung women attending prenatal clinics in the Stellenbosch area, and unstructuredopen-ended interviews subsequently conducted with ten selected respondents. It wasfound that the heterosexual relationships in which these girls were involved, tended tobe intense emotional attachments based upon a foundation of friendship and trust, andreinforced by cultural notions of romantic love. In the wake of working class socioeconomiccircumstances these relationships became a primary source of meaning-givingin respondents' lives, pervading all aspects of their everyday existence and guiding theirfuture prospects. And it is in this context that sex prevailed as a means of deepening theemotional experience and pursuing relationship maintenance. Reproductive healthinterventions for coloured female adolescents would have to acknowledge thesecomplexities and act upon them in ingenuous ways.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University