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Family Environment and Premarital Intercourse in Bandjoun (West Cameroon)

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Abstract

Family environment is one of the most influential factors on youth sexual behavior but has received little investigation in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, a comprehensive understanding of family influences could improve the efficiency of reproductive health (RH) interventions. Using retrospective data from a population-based survey, life-table analysis was utilized to compute the median age at premarital intercourse among 1,182 youth aged 12–24 years. Discrete-time hazard models were used in multivariate analysis to estimate the effects of family structures and parent–child interactions on premarital intercourse. Overall, 42% of participants had a premarital intercourse, and the median age at first sex was 16.9 years. Participants in nuclear two-parent families had the highest median (17.7) compared with those in nuclear one-(16.7), extended one-(16.5), extended two-parent families (16.9) or other relatives (16.8). Youth from monogamous families had the highest median (16.9) compared to those from polygamous (16.3) and other families (16.0). Orphans and youth reporting family transitions were more likely to initiate first sex at an earlier age compared with non-orphans and non-movers, with a median of 16.1 and 16.9 years, respectively. Multivariate results showed that living in extended families, being orphaned, and family transitions significantly increased the risk of premarital intercourse. Polygamy showed marginal effects. Stronger parent–child relationships and higher levels of parental control decreased the risk of premarital intercourse. Unexpectedly, parent–child communication was significantly associated with a higher risk of sexual debut. Programmatically, family environment is an important resource that needs to be promoted when designing RH interventions in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Acknowledgments

This work was carried out as a part of the research program on “Reproductive Behavior, Population Health and Nutrition in Africa” of the PRONUSTIC Research Laboratory at the University of Montreal. The data collection and fieldwork activities were supported by Rockefeller grants RF 97045 #82 and RF 97045 #90 to Professor Barthelemy Kuate Defo. The present study was supported by those grants and a doctoral fellowship grant from the Mellon Foundation to Dr Zacharie Tsala Dimbuene. We thank Ann Biddlecom, Justine Gibbings, Aldo Bongiorno, Christian Mbarga, and Keith Owre for comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this article presented to the 5th African Population Conference (Arusha, Tanzania, December 10–14, 2007) and the 2009 Annual meeting of Population Association of America (Detroit, Michigan, April 30–May 2, 2009). We are also grateful to three anonymous referees and the Editor for thoughtful and helpful comments on an earlier version of the article.

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  1. PRONUSTIC Research Laboratory and Department of Demography, University of Montreal, C.P. 6128 Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Zacharie Tsala Dimbuene & Barthelemy Kuate Defo

  2. Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, Unité de Santé Internationale, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Barthelemy Kuate Defo

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  1. Zacharie Tsala Dimbuene
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Correspondence to Zacharie Tsala Dimbuene.

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Tsala Dimbuene, Z., Kuate Defo, B. Family Environment and Premarital Intercourse in Bandjoun (West Cameroon). Arch Sex Behav 41, 351–361 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-011-9830-5

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