Geography and Environmental Science, School of Social Sciences, University of Dundee, Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK.
Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
Soc Sci Med. 2021 Nov;288:113285. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113285. Epub 2020 Aug 14.
This paper explores the interaction between peer relationships and sexual health among street youth in three Sub-Saharan African cities: Accra (Ghana), Bukavu (Democratic Republic of Congo), and Harare (Zimbabwe). It begins by conceptualising peer relationships for youth globally and considers why these are pivotal for young people living in street settings. The paper reconceptualizes street peer relationships not as replacement families, but as sharing 'social anchorage' in the street space. It draws on qualitative ethnographic data from Growing up on the Streets, a longitudinal research project with a participatory methodology undertaken between 2012 and 2016 and engaging street youth (aged 14-20 at project outset) trained in ethnographic observations as research assistants (n = 18), following a network of ten peers (n = 229 by 2016), reporting their experiences in weekly interviews with facilitators. A wider network attended focus groups (n = 399). The project engaged a 'capability' approach, with ten capabilities defined by street youth as key to their daily lives. Empirical evidence is from a subset of data qualitatively coded (using NVivo) against capabilities 'Health and Wellbeing' and 'Friendship', across all interviews, focus groups and cities (n = 212 sources). In exploring this intersection, the paper demonstrates beneficial and adverse impacts of peer influence on sexual health, including misinformation about contraceptives and death from an informal sector abortion; highlighting findings from across the three cities around primacy of same-sex peer relations, mistrust between genders and in healthcare providers. The paper finds that while street youth remain subject to cultural norms around gender identities, street peer relationships hold a persuasive power; contributing to both everyday survival and moments of acute need. It concludes that recognising the right of young people to live and seek livelihoods in urban settings, and adopting the social networks they create to advance street youth's sexual health has become even more relevant in a (post)pandemic world.
本文探讨了撒哈拉以南非洲三个城市（加纳阿克拉、刚果民主共和国布卡武和津巴布韦哈拉雷）街头青年的同伴关系与性健康之间的相互作用。文章首先从全球视角出发，对青年同伴关系进行概念化，并探讨了这些关系对于生活在街头环境中的年轻人为何至关重要。文章重新将街头青年同伴关系定义为在街头空间中分享“社会锚点”，而不是替代家庭。文章借鉴了“在街头成长”（一项于 2012 年至 2016 年期间采用参与式方法进行的纵向研究项目）的定性人种学数据，该项目有 18 名经过人种学观察培训的街头青年（项目开始时年龄在 14-20 岁之间）作为研究助理（到 2016 年时为 229 人），跟踪 10 名同伴（到 2016 年时为 229 人）的网络，每周向促进者报告他们的经历。一个更大的网络参加了焦点小组（n=399）。该项目采用了“能力”方法，由街头青年定义了十个对日常生活至关重要的能力。实证证据来自针对所有访谈、焦点小组和城市（n=212 个来源）中“健康与福祉”和“友谊”能力的定性编码（使用 NVivo）的子数据集。通过探索这一交叉点，本文展示了同伴影响对性健康的有益和不利影响，包括关于避孕药具的错误信息和非正式堕胎导致的死亡；强调了来自三个城市的发现，包括同性同伴关系的首要地位、性别之间和医疗服务提供者之间的不信任。文章发现，尽管街头青年仍然受到性别认同的文化规范的约束，但街头同伴关系具有说服力；这既有助于日常生存，也有助于解决紧急需求。文章得出结论，承认年轻人在城市环境中生活和寻求生计的权利，并采用他们创建的社交网络来促进街头青年的性健康，在（后）疫情世界中变得更加重要。
