ArticleAIDS and behavior2023
"Men Rule… this is the Normal Thing. We Normalise it and it's Wrong": Gendered Power in Decision-Making Around Sex and Condom Use in Heterosexual Relationships Amongst Adolescents and Young People in South Africa.
Article in AIDS and behavior, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Binge drinking and condom negotiation behaviours among adolescent girls and young women living in Cape Town, South Africa: sexual control and perceived personal power.BMC public health · 2023Trial
- How DoesBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- A Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Association Between Attitudes Toward Gender-Based Violence and Sexual Behaviors Among Adolescents and Young Adults in Rustenburg, South Africa.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Investigating the influence of partner attitudes, norms and risk behavior on condom use decision-making during penile-vaginal sex with casual partners: a vignette study among dutch young people.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Profiling HIV Risk and Determined, Resilient, Empowered AIDS-Free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS) Program Reach Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Namibia: Secondary Analysis of Population and Program Data.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2025Article
- Article
- The role of social networks in motivating access and use of contraceptives among adolescent girls and young women living in resource-constrained settings in Cape Town, South Africa.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Stress-responsive biomarkers and sexual behaviors among young women in rural South Africa.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2025Article
- Impact of an analytical treatment interruption on partners and family members of trial participants in Durban, South Africa: a qualitative study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Talking about PrEP: South African adolescent girls and young women's communication about pre-exposure prophylaxis with partners, parents and peers.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2025Article
- "I will take PrEP because that's what will help me not to get infected with HIV": barriers to and facilitators of pre-exposure prophylaxis and condom use among adolescent girls and young women enrolled in a school-based HIV prevention program in South Africa.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Drivers of onward HIV transmission risk among adolescent boys growing up with HIV: a longitudinal cohort study.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Pregnancy risk behaviour among sexually active adolescent girls aged 10-17 years in high HIV prevalence districts in Uganda: a cross-sectional secondary analysis of the 2018 AGYW survey data.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Prevalence of Paid Sex and Associated Factors Among Women and Men Attending HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Prospective Cohort.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- Exploring perceptions of gender roles amongst sexually active adolescents in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.PloS one · 2024Article
- Article
- Adolescent choices and caregiver roles: Understanding individual and interpersonal influences on sexual decision-making in South Africa.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Adolescent girls' perceptions regarding the use of contraceptives in Ekurhuleni District, Gauteng.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2024Article
- Optimizing the pipeline of multipurpose prevention technologies: opportunities across women's reproductive lifespans.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2023Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
We examined power and decision-making in heterosexual relationships amongst South African adolescents and young people. A survey conducted with 515 adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) included items from the Sexual Relationship Power Scale (SRPS) adapted for South African women. Qualitative interviews with fifty AGYW aged between 15 and 24, and nine males aged 18 years and above, explored decision-making in heterosexual relationships, particularly relating to timing of sex and condom use. Theories of gendered power, sexual relationship power and sexual scripting were used in interpreting the data. Findings showed that the power AGYW have in sexual relationships determines their ability to use condoms, and that males generally control condom use and timing of sex. Both survey and interview data suggest that male control over female partners' behaviour also extends beyond the sexual domain. Although while male power is pervasive and enduring, it is simultaneously contested and negotiated. Despite some young people believing that gendered power in decision-making should be equal, it is not always possible for AGYW to enact agency in the dyadic context of heterosexual relationships. Whilst adolescents and young people in South Africa move away from traditional cultural gendered expectations, relationship power inequity and hegemonic masculinities continue to legitimise men's power over women, constraining the sexual agency of adolescent girls and young women and discouraging them from taking control of their own sexual interests and sexual health.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.