Department of Sociology, Universiteit Gent, Korte Meer 3-5, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
BMC Public Health. 2011 Aug 6;11:632. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-632.
HIV prevention programs targeting youth often emphasize the role of peers, and assume that youths will model their behavior after their peers'. We challenge this view; we argue that adopting a given behavior requires social approval, and that youths do not necessarily turn to peers for such approval. This study analyzes survey data on youths in urban Cameroon to 1) identify which type of persons youths look to for social approval, and 2) establish how important social approval by these persons is for condom use among youths.
We analyzed data from three survey waves (2000, 2002, and 2003) of a reproductive health survey conducted among urban Cameroonian youth (aged 15-24). Only respondents who reported having at least one casual partner in the past year were retained for the analysis. Bivariate analyses and structural equation modeling were used to examine relationships among perceived social approval, attitudes towards condoms and condom use.
The data show that only 3% of youths named their friends as people whose opinion they valued, while 93% mentioned family members. The perceived approval of condom use by these persons had a significant positive effect on the frequency of condom use among youths. The frequency of condom use was also affected by the respondents' attitudes toward condom use, the range of persons with whom they discussed reproductive health matters, whether they were enrolled in school, socioeconomic status, their self-efficacy, perceived severity of AIDS, risk perception and sexual risk behavior. The perceived social approval of condom use and the respondents' own condom attitudes were correlated.
Our analysis demonstrates that perceived social approval facilitates the adoption of condom use among urban Cameroonian youth. However, youths tend to value the opinions of family members much more than the opinions of their peers. These results suggest that interventions targeting youths should not focus exclusively on peers but should also include other groups, such as parents and community leaders.
针对青年的艾滋病毒预防计划通常强调同伴的作用，并假设青年会效仿同伴的行为。我们对此观点提出质疑；我们认为，采用某种行为需要社会认可，而青年并不一定会向同龄人寻求这种认可。本研究分析了喀麦隆城市青年的调查数据，以 1）确定青年寻求社会认可的对象类型，以及 2）确定这些人对青年使用避孕套的认可程度对青年使用避孕套的重要性。
我们分析了在喀麦隆城市青年中进行的生殖健康调查的三个调查波（2000 年、2002 年和 2003 年）的数据。仅保留了在过去一年中报告有至少一个偶然伴侣的受访者进行分析。使用双变量分析和结构方程模型来检查感知的社会认可、对避孕套的态度和避孕套使用之间的关系。
数据显示，只有 3%的青年将朋友列为重视其意见的人，而 93%的青年提到了家庭成员。这些人对避孕套使用的认可对青年使用避孕套的频率有显著的积极影响。青年使用避孕套的频率还受到他们对避孕套使用的态度、与他们讨论生殖健康问题的人的范围、是否在上学、社会经济地位、自我效能感、感知艾滋病的严重性、风险认知和性风险行为的影响。感知到的社会对避孕套使用的认可和受访者自己对避孕套的态度是相关的。
我们的分析表明，感知到的社会认可促进了喀麦隆城市青年使用避孕套。然而，青年往往更重视家庭成员的意见，而不是同伴的意见。这些结果表明，针对青年的干预措施不应仅关注同伴，还应包括其他群体，如父母和社区领袖。
