ArticleAIDS and behavior2017
Predicting Primary and Secondary Abstinence Among Adolescent Boys and Girls in the Western Cape, South Africa.
Article in AIDS and behavior, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Determinants of Adolescent Sexual Behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review of In-School and Out-of-School Adolescents.Public health reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Article
- Psychosocial determinants of consistent condom use among university students in Sudan: findings from a study using the Integrated Change Model.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Perceptions About Local ART Adherence Norms and Personal Adherence Behavior Among Adults Living with HIV in Rural Uganda.AIDS and behavior · 2022Article
- Perceived and misperceived norms about khat and/or cannabis use among adults in southwest Uganda.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- "We Should Be Taught Self-Respect, Self-Confidence and Self-Love": Youth Perspectives of Adult Influences on Their Sexuality and Relationships Among South African Adolescents Living With HIV.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2022Article
- Overestimation of alcohol consumption norms as a driver of alcohol consumption: a whole-population network study of men across eight villages in rural, southwestern Uganda.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Article
- Assessing sexual practices and beliefs among university students in Khartoum, Sudan; a qualitative study.SAHARA J : journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance · 2021Article
- An Exploratory Study of Current Sources of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Information in Kenya and Their Limitations: Are Mobile Phone Technologies the Answer?International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health · 2021Article
- Social norms, misperceptions, and mosquito net use: a population-based, cross-sectional study in rural Uganda.Malaria journal · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Two of the most effective health behaviours with regard to HIV prevention are condom use and sexual abstinence. While determinants of condom use among sub-Saharan African adolescents have been studied extensively, factors related to abstinence have received far less attention. This study identified socio-cognitive determinants of primary and secondary abstinence intentions and of early sexual activity. This study also assessed whether these factors had a direct or indirect association with intentions to abstain from sex. A longitudinal design was used in which 1670 students (age 12-16) of non-private South African high schools filled in a questionnaire, with a follow-up after 6 months, concerning sexual abstinence, attitudes, social norms, self-efficacy, risk perception and knowledge. Logistic and linear regression analysis with latent factors was used to assess determinants of intentions and abstinence, and structural equation modelling was used to assess indirect effects. Results showed that among sexually inactive students, social norms predicted the intention to abstain from sex in the next 6 months. Among sexually active students, reporting less disadvantages of abstinence predicted the intention to abstain. Sexual activity at follow-up was predicted by attitudes and intention among sexually inactive girls, and by knowledge among sexually inactive boys. No predictors were found for sexually active adolescents. Structural equation modelling further showed that risk perception was indirectly related to intentions to abstain from sexual intercourse. We conclude that addressing socio-cognitive factors in order to motivate adolescents to delay sex is more likely to be successful before they experience sexual debut. In addition, this study shows that the effect of increasing risk perceptions, a strategy often applied by parents and HIV prevention programmes, is to a large extent mediated by more proximal cognitive factors such as attitude. Research is needed to identify factors that influence the execution of intentions to abstain from sex.
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