Mensch B S, Bagah D, Clark W H, Binka F
Policy Research Division, Population Council, USA.
Stud Fam Plann. 1999 Jun;30(2):95-111. doi: 10.1111/j.1728-4465.1999.00095.x.
This study reports the results of a primarily qualitative investigation of adolescent reproductive behavior in the Kassena-Nankana District, an isolated rural area in northern Ghana, where traditional patterns of marriage, family formation, and social organization persist. The study is based on in-depth interviews and focus-group discussions with adolescents, parents, chiefs, traditional leaders, youth leaders, and health workers, supplemented by quantitative data from the 1996 wave of a panel survey of women of reproductive age conducted by the Navrongo Health Research Centre. The social environment that adolescent boys and girls in the Kassena-Nankana District encounter and its links to reproductive behavior are described. The principal question is whether even in this remote rural area, the social environment has been altered in ways that have undermined traditional sexual and reproductive patterns. The survey data indicate a considerable increase in girls' education and the beginning of a decline in the incidence of early marriage. The qualitative data suggest that social institutions, systems, and practices such as female circumcision that previously structured the lives of adolescent boys and girls have eroded, leading to an apparent increase in premarital sexual activity.
本研究报告了对加纳北部一个与世隔绝的农村地区卡塞纳-南卡纳区青少年生殖行为进行的一项主要为定性的调查结果。在该地区，传统的婚姻、家庭形成和社会组织模式依然存在。该研究基于对青少年、父母、酋长、传统领袖、青年领袖和卫生工作者的深入访谈及焦点小组讨论，并辅以纳瓦龙戈卫生研究中心1996年对育龄妇女进行的一轮小组调查中的定量数据。文中描述了卡塞纳-南卡纳区青少年男女所面临的社会环境及其与生殖行为的联系。主要问题是，即使在这个偏远的农村地区，社会环境是否已发生改变，从而破坏了传统的性和生殖模式。调查数据表明女孩受教育程度大幅提高，早婚发生率开始下降。定性数据表明，诸如女性割礼等先前构建青少年男女生活的社会制度、体系和习俗已经受到侵蚀，导致婚前性行为明显增加。
