Demography and Population Studies Programme, Schools of Public Health and Social Sciences, Faculties of Health Sciences and Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
BMC Public Health. 2019 Apr 18;19(1):416. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6732-2.
Religion plays an important role in youth behaviours, making it a significant factor in the discourse on youth sexuality in sub-Saharan Africa. Several studies have found that religion and religiosity play an important role in the sexual behaviours of young people. However, little research in Nigeria has examined the mechanisms through which religiosity influences youth sexual behaviour and if parents' religion moderates this relationship. Guided by the social control theory, this paper contributes to the existing literature by examining the relationship between religiosity and youth sexual behaviour.
Data for the study came from 2399 male and female youth aged 16-24 years in four states purposively selected from four regions in Nigeria. Abstinence was the sexual behaviour of interest. Logistic regression was used to examine this relationship.
Results showed that 68% of the youth had never had sex. Religiosity was a protective factor for youth sexual behaviour and this positive association was still evident even after controlling for other covariates. Youth who were highly religious (OR - 1.81, CI- 1.13-2.88) had significantly higher odds of abstaining compared to their counterparts who were not religious.
Religiosity is a protective factor for sexual abstinence among youth in Nigeria. Policy makers can work around using religious institutions for behavioural change among youth in Nigeria.
宗教在年轻人的行为中扮演着重要的角色，因此在撒哈拉以南非洲的青年性行为讨论中是一个重要因素。多项研究发现，宗教和宗教信仰在年轻人的性行为中起着重要作用。然而，尼日利亚的研究很少探讨宗教信仰影响青年性行为的机制，以及父母的宗教信仰是否调节这种关系。本文以社会控制理论为指导，通过考察宗教信仰与青年性行为之间的关系，为现有文献做出了贡献。
本研究的数据来自尼日利亚四个地区的四个州的 2399 名 16-24 岁的男性和女性青年。禁欲是研究感兴趣的性行为。使用逻辑回归来检验这种关系。
结果显示，68%的青年从未有过性行为。宗教信仰是青年性行为的保护因素，即使在控制了其他协变量后，这种积极的关联仍然存在。与不信教的同龄人相比，高度宗教信仰的青年（OR-1.81，CI-1.13-2.88）更有可能禁欲。
宗教信仰是尼日利亚青年禁欲的保护因素。政策制定者可以利用宗教机构在尼日利亚青年中进行行为改变。
