Sexual activity among junior secondary school girls in Zambia.

This paper proposes a causal model of sexual activity among a randomly selected sample of 305 Junio secondary school girls in Zambia. The results indicate that liberal sexual attitudes influence romantic involvement with boys. Emotional involvement is likely to result in sexual activity. Traditional courtship forms are slowly being replaced by modern patterns of courtship behaviour. Policy and programme implications are discussed.

PIP: The initiation of sexual activity in Zambia often involves initial puberty rites followed by a brief period of courting which leads to family-influenced and -arranged marriages. However, the advent of modern education and mass schooling has reduced the family's and community's ability to regulate sexual activity among adolescents, while the duration of courtship has lengthened considerably due to the postponement of marriage. The likelihood of sexual activity increases with an increase in involvement with members of the opposite sex. The authors propose a causal model of sexual activity among a randomly selected sample of 305 junior secondary schoolgirls in Zambia. Liberal sexual attitudes were found to influence romantic involvement with boys, with emotional involvement likely to result in sexual activity. Traditional courtship forms are slowly being replaced by modern patterns of courtship. Policy and program implications are discussed.

Fertility and child mortality in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.

PIP: This article summarizes a 1994 World Bank working paper on methodological issues and a study of the determinants of child mortality and fertility in Ghana and the Cote d'Ivoire. Data were obtained from the 1985, 1986, and 1987 Cote d'Ivoire Living Standards Survey and the 1987-88 and 1988-89 Ghana Living Standards Survey. Both surveys entailed two-stage, self-weighted stratified samples. The study sample included women who had at least one birth 5 or more years before the survey. The conceptual framework distinguishes between endogenous and exogenous variables affecting fertility. The statistical approach relies on parallel reduced-form techniques. Model I assumes that all explanatory variables are exogenous. Model II excludes husbands' characteristics and household composition. Model III assumes that excluded model II factors are exogenous and likely to affect child mortality and fertility. Findings indicate that economic resources of households, maternal education, access to markets, and food prices were associated with child mortality in Ghana. Sanitation in both countries affected child survival only for less educated mothers. Urban residence in Ghana particularly benefitted uneducated mothers. In Cote d'Ivoire, household assets were not a significant predictor of child mortality. When child mortality is treated as exogenous in fertility model I, only 4-15 fewer child deaths were associated with a reduction of only one birth. Local health programs and environment explained little of the variation in child mortality in both countries. Women's education was strongly related to fertility declines in both countries. Assets and maternal health were positively related to fertility in Cote d'Ivoire and negatively related in Ghana. Findings suggest that the negative effects of household assets on fertility apply in urban subsamples among older women in each country. The authors conclude that economic growth must occur simultaneously with increased levels of female education and urbanization.^ieng

The determinants of the duration of postpartum sexual abstinence in West Africa: a multilevel analysis.

The question of how postpartum sexual abstinence responds to social change in West Africa is important because declines in the practice could increase fertility levels and worsen child and maternal health. This study uses data from the late 1970s in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Cameroon to examine effects of modernization and women's status on the length of abstinence. The results show that modernization and female status should be associated with declines in abstinence, which could lead to an increase in fertility and deterioration in maternal and child health.

Ethnic differentials in child-spacing ideals and practices in Ghana.

Postpartum sexual abstinence may be a major determinant of fertility and of maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa. This study examines the relationship between ethnicity and abstinence using data from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. There is considerable diversity in the length of abstinence although only for one ethnic group, the Mole-Dagbani and other Ghanaians, is abstinence, both actual and ideal, very long. Respondents in most ethnic groups believe their abstinence to be adequate. A key motivation for abstinence is the unwillingness to have sexual intercourse with nursing mothers. Education, urbanisation, changes in marriage patterns and religious traditions are major factors shaping the ethnic differentials in abstinence. In comparison to breast-feeding, abstinence appears to have relatively little impact on the length of the birth interval and for Ghana, has relatively few implications for fertility and child health.

PIP: Ethnic differences in the extent of postpartum sexual abstinence occur among the Mole-Dagbani, the Twi, the Fante, and the Akan as matrilineal and the Ga-Adangbe as patrilineal groups from Ghana. The recommendation is made that family planning (FP) programs would more effectively address postpartum FP among the Mole-Dagbani and other Ghanaians group by introducing modern contraception as a means of substituting or supplementing long abstinence periods. Policy interventions should also be directed more to breast feeding changes, which have a greater impact on fertility than abstinence changes. The ethnic differences in sexual abstinence practices appear to be more related to differences in exposure to modernization and changes in marriage patterns and religious traditions. The sexual taboos are a direct determinant of ethnic variation. For example, the Akan have the shortest delay in resuming sexual intercourse. Very few hold to the belief that intercourse should be delayed until after weaning. The Mole-Dagbani prefer to avoid intercourse with nursing mothers and practice long periods of sexual abstinence. Data were obtained from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey of 4488 women aged 15-49 years. Life table methods were used in the determination of the number of months of sexual abstention postpartum and the duration of breast feeding. These methods avoid the bias of underestimation and heaping. Results are provided in a table comparing duration of sexual abstinence behavior and reported ideal sexual abstinence practices. The Mole-Dagbani and other Ghanaians group practice sexual abstinence for 24 months, while the remaining ethnic groups vary between seven and 11 months. The Twi, Fante, and other Akan have lengths of around seven months, while the Ewe, Guan, and other Africans have lengths of about 10-11 months. The median ideal of the sample is seven months and the median behavior is 8.8 months. The two Akan ethnic groups and the Ga-Adangbe have a median ideal of six months and the other groups range from 7-10 months. The Mole-Dagbani have the same ideal and practice of 24 months. All the ethnic groups practice lengthy breast feeding.