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A Different Approach in Developing a Sexual Self-Concept Scale for Adolescents in Accra, Ghana

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Abstract

Adolescents residing in urban poor Accra face sexual and reproductive health challenges. Interventions to address them have not been entirely effective; thus, researching adolescents’ sexual self-concept (SSC) could strengthen our understanding of precursors to their sexual activity. For this study, a culturally appropriate scale is developed to measure the SSC of adolescents in urban poor Accra. Focus group discussions and content analysis generated items in the scale. Factor analyses techniques were used to develop sub-scales measuring different SSC dimensions. Three sub-scales, ‘sexual enthusiasm’, ‘sexual intrepidness’ and ‘sexual readiness’ were reliable SSC measures. Validity assessments found that sexually ready and enthusiastic youth were more likely to have engaged in coital, pre-coital and risky sexual behaviors. Also, as their sexual intrepidness and enthusiasm increased, adolescents had significantly worse mental health. These scales may provide an important step in understanding adolescent sexual behavior in the urban poor context and thus need further investigation.

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Notes

  1. Of course another alternative would be to use complete scales and conduct CFA to see if that scale is an appropriate fit with that population. However, I chose to use this alternative route to assess their SSC.

  2. The 2000 Ghana Adolescent Reproductive Health Policy, a derivative of Ghana’s 1994 National Population Policy and the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development’s (ICPD) Programme for Action, was promulgated with the purpose of specifying targets and goals to protect and promote young people’s sexual and reproductive health (NPC 2000).

  3. An example would be the Adolescent Health and Development (ADHD) Programme implemented in 2001 as mandated by the Adolescent Reproductive Health Policy.

  4. The 12–14 year olds were asked this with reference to 7 days before the survey to ensure more accurate results due to less biases from memory lapse.

  5. I acknowledge there is a debate on using both EFA and CFA on the same sample and there are researchers who argue for both sides. However, I argue for its use in this context to simply conduct CFA as a test to determine the best fit between the parent and nested models.

  6. Only the scales from the 17 studies in Table 1 were reviewed at this stage of the study.

  7. In selecting which factors to consider, CFI/TLI values >0.95 (and closest to 1.00) as well as RMSEA values below 0.06 were considered (Lavoie and Douglas 2011). In addition, the scree plot was observed and factors were considered from the portion on the graph called the ‘elbow’ where the slope declined sharply till the cut-off point where the eigenvalue went below the value one (Brown 2006). Thus, factors six, seven and nine fell in the above mentioned criteria and so were further assessed. Each of the three factor models (6, 7 and 9) was examined and factor loadings >0.5 within each factor were marked and grouped together. Upon further assessment, factor seven was considered the best fitting model.

  8. Although the ‘ready for sex’ item’s factor loading (in Factor 6) barely meets the 0.5 cut-off value, it was selected because its value is very close to the very high loading criterion of 0.5, and DIFFTEST results indicate a better fitting model with the ‘ready for sex’ item on Factor 6 than without it. On the other hand, ‘the friend control’ item (in Factor 1) which also marginally meets the cut-off value does not exhibit acceptable fit indices and thus was not selected as part of the chosen items.

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Acknowledgments

The 2011 Urban Health and Poverty Study was supported by joint funding from the Hewlett Foundation, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Research on Obesity and Diabetes among African Migrants (RODAM). My heartfelt thanks and appreciation go to Prof Dodoo, Prof Hardy, Dr Nyarko, Dr Badasu and Dr Bachan for their various contributions to the study.

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Correspondence to Adriana Andrea Ewurabena Biney.

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Biney, A.A.E. A Different Approach in Developing a Sexual Self-Concept Scale for Adolescents in Accra, Ghana. Sexuality & Culture 20, 403–424 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-015-9331-0

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