Hensels I S, Sherr L, Skeen S, Macedo A, Roberts K J, Tomlinson M
a Department of Infection and Population Health , University College London , London , UK.
b Department of Psychology , Stellenbosch University , Stellenbosch , South Africa.
AIDS Care. 2016 Mar;28 Suppl 2(sup2):100-9. doi: 10.1080/09540121.2016.1176680.
Gender is an important factor in child development. Especially in sub-Saharan Africa, girls have often been shown to be less likely to access education compared to boys. The consequence of this has been that that programmes addressing child development are often aimed at girls in order to redress gender imbalances. This study examines the effect of gender on the development of children attending community-based organisations in high HIV-affected areas, and explores whether community-based organisation attendance was associated with any changes in gender differences over time. Baseline data from 989 children and 12-15 month follow from 854 (86% response rate) were used to examine gender differences in children from Malawi and South Africa. At baseline, where there were differences by gender, these tended to disadvantage boys. It was found that boys were significantly more often found to be subjected to violence. Boys showed worse performance at school and more behavioural problems than girls. These gender differences persisted from baseline to follow-up. At follow-up, boys self-reported significantly worse average quality of life than girls. Only harsh discipline differed by gender in progression over time: boys experienced a stronger reduction in harsh physical discipline than girls from baseline to follow-up. Since harsh discipline was associated with boys' worse educational outcomes and behavioural problems, our data cautiously suggests that gender differences could be reduced over time. In conclusion, our data suggests that, perhaps due to the narrow equity approach focusing on provision for girls, boys may be overlooked. As a result, there are some specific experiences where boys are generally worse off. These differences have distinct ramifications for the educational and emotional development of boys. A broader equity approach to child development might be warranted to ensure that the needs of both girls and boys are considered, and that boys are not overlooked.
性别是儿童发展中的一个重要因素。特别是在撒哈拉以南非洲地区，与男孩相比，女孩往往获得教育的机会更少。由此产生的后果是，旨在促进儿童发展的项目往往以女孩为目标，以纠正性别失衡。本研究考察了性别对在高艾滋病感染地区参加社区组织的儿童发展的影响，并探讨随着时间推移，参加社区组织是否与性别差异的任何变化相关。来自989名儿童的基线数据以及854名儿童（回复率86%）12至15个月后的随访数据被用于研究马拉维和南非儿童的性别差异。在基线时，若存在性别差异，这些差异往往对男孩不利。研究发现，男孩遭受暴力的情况明显更为常见。男孩在学校的表现比女孩差，行为问题也更多。这些性别差异从基线持续到随访阶段。在随访时，男孩自我报告的平均生活质量明显比女孩差。只有严厉管教在随时间推移的变化上存在性别差异：从基线到随访，男孩遭受严厉体罚的减少幅度比女孩更大。由于严厉管教与男孩较差的教育成果和行为问题相关，我们的数据谨慎地表明，随着时间推移性别差异可能会缩小。总之，我们的数据表明，或许由于专注于为女孩提供帮助的狭隘公平方法，男孩可能被忽视了。结果是，在一些特定经历中，男孩总体上处境更糟。这些差异对男孩的教育和情感发展有着明显的影响。可能需要采取更广泛的儿童发展公平方法，以确保女孩和男孩的需求都得到考虑，且男孩不被忽视。
