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Adolescents and parents’ perceptions of best time for sex and sexual communications from two communities in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana: implications for HIV and AIDS education

BACKGROUND: Adolescents and parents’ differ in their perceptions regarding engaging in sexual activity and protecting themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The views of adolescents and parents from two south-eastern communities in Ghana regarding best time for sex and...

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Autores principales: Asampong, Emmanuel, Osafo, Joseph, Bingenheimer, Jeffrey Bart, Ahiadeke, Clement
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3849363/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24070548
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-698X-13-40
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author Asampong, Emmanuel
Osafo, Joseph
Bingenheimer, Jeffrey Bart
Ahiadeke, Clement
author_facet Asampong, Emmanuel
Osafo, Joseph
Bingenheimer, Jeffrey Bart
Ahiadeke, Clement
author_sort Asampong, Emmanuel
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Adolescents and parents’ differ in their perceptions regarding engaging in sexual activity and protecting themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The views of adolescents and parents from two south-eastern communities in Ghana regarding best time for sex and sexual communications were examined. METHODS: Focus Group interviews were conducted with parents and adolescents (both In-school and Out-of school) from two communities (Somanya and Adidome) in the Eastern and Volta regions of Ghana with epidemiological differentials in HIV infection. RESULTS: Findings showed parents and adolescents agree that the best timing for sexual activity amongst adolescents is determined by socioeconomic viability. In practice however, there were tensions between adolescents and parents crystallized by spoilt generation and physiological drive ideologies. Whilst one community relied on a more communal approach in controlling their children; the other relied on a confrontational approach. Sex-talk is examined as a measure to reduce these tensions, and children in both communities were ambivalent over sexual communication between their parents and themselves. Parents from the two communities however differed in their perceptions. Whilst parents in one community attributed reduced teenage pregnancies to sex education, those in the other community indicated a generalized adolescents’ sexual activeness manifested in the perceived widespread delinquency in the community. CONCLUSION: Parents in both communities reported significant barriers to parents-adolescents sexual communication. Parents in both communities should be educated to discuss the broader issues on sexuality that affects adolescents and their reproductive health needs.
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spelling pubmed-38493632013-12-05 Adolescents and parents’ perceptions of best time for sex and sexual communications from two communities in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana: implications for HIV and AIDS education Asampong, Emmanuel Osafo, Joseph Bingenheimer, Jeffrey Bart Ahiadeke, Clement BMC Int Health Hum Rights Research Article BACKGROUND: Adolescents and parents’ differ in their perceptions regarding engaging in sexual activity and protecting themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The views of adolescents and parents from two south-eastern communities in Ghana regarding best time for sex and sexual communications were examined. METHODS: Focus Group interviews were conducted with parents and adolescents (both In-school and Out-of school) from two communities (Somanya and Adidome) in the Eastern and Volta regions of Ghana with epidemiological differentials in HIV infection. RESULTS: Findings showed parents and adolescents agree that the best timing for sexual activity amongst adolescents is determined by socioeconomic viability. In practice however, there were tensions between adolescents and parents crystallized by spoilt generation and physiological drive ideologies. Whilst one community relied on a more communal approach in controlling their children; the other relied on a confrontational approach. Sex-talk is examined as a measure to reduce these tensions, and children in both communities were ambivalent over sexual communication between their parents and themselves. Parents from the two communities however differed in their perceptions. Whilst parents in one community attributed reduced teenage pregnancies to sex education, those in the other community indicated a generalized adolescents’ sexual activeness manifested in the perceived widespread delinquency in the community. CONCLUSION: Parents in both communities reported significant barriers to parents-adolescents sexual communication. Parents in both communities should be educated to discuss the broader issues on sexuality that affects adolescents and their reproductive health needs. BioMed Central 2013-09-26 /pmc/articles/PMC3849363/ /pubmed/24070548 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-698X-13-40 Text en Copyright © 2013 Asampong et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Asampong, Emmanuel
Osafo, Joseph
Bingenheimer, Jeffrey Bart
Ahiadeke, Clement
Adolescents and parents’ perceptions of best time for sex and sexual communications from two communities in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana: implications for HIV and AIDS education
title Adolescents and parents’ perceptions of best time for sex and sexual communications from two communities in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana: implications for HIV and AIDS education
title_full Adolescents and parents’ perceptions of best time for sex and sexual communications from two communities in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana: implications for HIV and AIDS education
title_fullStr Adolescents and parents’ perceptions of best time for sex and sexual communications from two communities in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana: implications for HIV and AIDS education
title_full_unstemmed Adolescents and parents’ perceptions of best time for sex and sexual communications from two communities in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana: implications for HIV and AIDS education
title_short Adolescents and parents’ perceptions of best time for sex and sexual communications from two communities in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana: implications for HIV and AIDS education
title_sort adolescents and parents’ perceptions of best time for sex and sexual communications from two communities in the eastern and volta regions of ghana: implications for hiv and aids education
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3849363/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24070548
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-698X-13-40
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