Sexual Behaviour of Men and Women within Age-Disparate Partnerships in South Africa: Implications for Young Women's HIV Risk
BACKGROUND: Age-disparate partnerships are hypothesized to increase HIV-risk for young women. However, the evidence base remains mixed. Most studies have focused only on unprotected sex among women in the partnership. Consequently, little is known about other risky behaviours, such as transactional...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4985138/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27526116 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159162 |
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author | Maughan-Brown, Brendan Evans, Meredith George, Gavin |
author_facet | Maughan-Brown, Brendan Evans, Meredith George, Gavin |
author_sort | Maughan-Brown, Brendan |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Age-disparate partnerships are hypothesized to increase HIV-risk for young women. However, the evidence base remains mixed. Most studies have focused only on unprotected sex among women in the partnership. Consequently, little is known about other risky behaviours, such as transactional sex, alcohol use, and concurrency, as well as the behaviours of the men who partner with young women. We therefore examined differences in various sexual behaviours of both young women and their male partners by partnership age difference. METHODS: We used nationally representative data from South Africa (2012) on partnerships reported by 16–24 year old black African women (n = 818) and by black African men in partnerships with 16–24 year old women (n = 985). We compared sexual behaviours in age-disparate partnerships and age-similar partnerships, using multiple logistic regression to control for potential confounders and to assess rural/urban differences. RESULTS: Young women in age-disparate partnerships were more likely to report unprotected sex than young women in similar-aged partnerships (aOR:1.51; p = 0.014; 95%CI:1.09–2.11). Men in partnerships with young women were more likely to report unprotected sex (aOR:1.92; p<0.01; 95%CI:1.31–2.81), transactional sex (aOR:2.73; p<0.01; 95%CI:1.64–4.56), drinking alcohol before sex (aOR:1.60; p = 0.062; 95%CI:0.98–2.61), and concurrency (aOR:1.39; p = 0.097; 95%CI:0.94–2.07) when their partners were five or more years younger. The association between age-disparate partnerships and transactional sex (aOR:4.14; p<0.01; 95%CI: 2.03–8.46) and alcohol use (aOR:2.24; p<0.013; 95%CI:1.20–4.19) was only found in urban areas. CONCLUSIONS: Results provide evidence that young women’s age-disparate partnerships involve greater sexual risk, particularly through the risky behaviours of their male partners, with the risk amplified for young women in urban areas. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4985138 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-49851382016-08-29 Sexual Behaviour of Men and Women within Age-Disparate Partnerships in South Africa: Implications for Young Women's HIV Risk Maughan-Brown, Brendan Evans, Meredith George, Gavin PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Age-disparate partnerships are hypothesized to increase HIV-risk for young women. However, the evidence base remains mixed. Most studies have focused only on unprotected sex among women in the partnership. Consequently, little is known about other risky behaviours, such as transactional sex, alcohol use, and concurrency, as well as the behaviours of the men who partner with young women. We therefore examined differences in various sexual behaviours of both young women and their male partners by partnership age difference. METHODS: We used nationally representative data from South Africa (2012) on partnerships reported by 16–24 year old black African women (n = 818) and by black African men in partnerships with 16–24 year old women (n = 985). We compared sexual behaviours in age-disparate partnerships and age-similar partnerships, using multiple logistic regression to control for potential confounders and to assess rural/urban differences. RESULTS: Young women in age-disparate partnerships were more likely to report unprotected sex than young women in similar-aged partnerships (aOR:1.51; p = 0.014; 95%CI:1.09–2.11). Men in partnerships with young women were more likely to report unprotected sex (aOR:1.92; p<0.01; 95%CI:1.31–2.81), transactional sex (aOR:2.73; p<0.01; 95%CI:1.64–4.56), drinking alcohol before sex (aOR:1.60; p = 0.062; 95%CI:0.98–2.61), and concurrency (aOR:1.39; p = 0.097; 95%CI:0.94–2.07) when their partners were five or more years younger. The association between age-disparate partnerships and transactional sex (aOR:4.14; p<0.01; 95%CI: 2.03–8.46) and alcohol use (aOR:2.24; p<0.013; 95%CI:1.20–4.19) was only found in urban areas. CONCLUSIONS: Results provide evidence that young women’s age-disparate partnerships involve greater sexual risk, particularly through the risky behaviours of their male partners, with the risk amplified for young women in urban areas. Public Library of Science 2016-08-15 /pmc/articles/PMC4985138/ /pubmed/27526116 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159162 Text en © 2016 Maughan-Brown et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Maughan-Brown, Brendan Evans, Meredith George, Gavin Sexual Behaviour of Men and Women within Age-Disparate Partnerships in South Africa: Implications for Young Women's HIV Risk |
title | Sexual Behaviour of Men and Women within Age-Disparate Partnerships in South Africa: Implications for Young Women's HIV Risk |
title_full | Sexual Behaviour of Men and Women within Age-Disparate Partnerships in South Africa: Implications for Young Women's HIV Risk |
title_fullStr | Sexual Behaviour of Men and Women within Age-Disparate Partnerships in South Africa: Implications for Young Women's HIV Risk |
title_full_unstemmed | Sexual Behaviour of Men and Women within Age-Disparate Partnerships in South Africa: Implications for Young Women's HIV Risk |
title_short | Sexual Behaviour of Men and Women within Age-Disparate Partnerships in South Africa: Implications for Young Women's HIV Risk |
title_sort | sexual behaviour of men and women within age-disparate partnerships in south africa: implications for young women's hiv risk |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4985138/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27526116 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159162 |
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