Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
Demography. 2013 Apr;50(2):725-50. doi: 10.1007/s13524-012-0150-8.
Epidemiological, economic, and social forces have produced high levels of volatility in family and household structure for young people growing up in sub-Saharan Africa in recent decades. However, scholarship on the family to date has not examined the influence of this family instability on young people's well-being. The current study employs unique life history calendar data from Western Kenya to investigate the relationship between instability in caregiving and early initiation of sexual activity. It draws on a body of work on parental union instability in the United States, and examines new dimensions of family change. Analyses reveal a positive association between transitions in primary caregiver and the likelihood of early sexual debut that is rapidly manifested following caregiver change and persists for a short period. The association is strongest at early ages, and there is a cumulative effect of multiple caregiver changes. The results highlight the importance of studying family stability in sub-Saharan Africa, as distinct from family structure, and for attention to dimensions such as age and recency.
近几十年来，流行病学、经济学和社会力量导致撒哈拉以南非洲的年轻人的家庭和家庭结构高度不稳定。然而，迄今为止，学术界尚未研究这种家庭不稳定对年轻人福祉的影响。本研究利用来自肯尼亚西部的独特生活史日历数据，调查了照顾不稳定与年轻人早期开始性行为之间的关系。它借鉴了美国关于父母婚姻不稳定的研究成果，并考察了家庭变化的新维度。分析结果显示，主要照顾者的转变与早期性开始的可能性之间存在正相关关系，这种关系在照顾者发生变化后很快就显现出来，并持续很短的一段时间。这种关联在年龄较小的时候最强，而且多次照顾者变化会产生累积效应。研究结果强调了在撒哈拉以南非洲研究家庭稳定性的重要性，这种稳定性与家庭结构不同，还需要关注年龄和最近等方面。
