Worldwide, there is a consensus that parents must
be involved in children's HIV/AIDS education. However, there is little evidence
that speaks to this advocacy for improving adolescent health. This study
developed and tested four hypotheses about (i) the relationship between parents'
and adolescents' knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmission routes and prevention
strategies conditional upon (ii) parents' gender, (iii) communication about
sexuality, and (iv) the parent-adolescent education gap.
The sample consisted
of 306 parent-adolescent dyads from the 2002 Cameroon Family and Health Survey.
Adolescents were aged 12-19 years. Overall, fifteen items about HIV/AIDS
transmission routes and prevention strategies were analysed. Descriptive
results showed that parents fared better than adolescents regardless of the
AIDS fact considered. An exception was the correct use of condoms (parents 57%
vs adolescents 61%). The generation gap probably explains this result: parents
are more conservative, reluctant and distant from condoms compared with adolescents,
who are more receptive and open to discussing sex with peers.
Multivariate
ordered logistic regressions showed a significant positive effect of parents'
HIV/AIDS knowledge on adolescents' HIV/AIDS knowledge, thus supporting the main
hypothesis of direct parental influences. Parent-adolescent communication about
sexuality showed positive and significant effects on adolescents' HIV/AIDS
knowledge, suggesting an 'enhancing effect' when combined with the effect of
parents' HIV/AIDS knowledge. Against the background that parents in sub-Saharan
Africa do not teach their children about sexuality, the study demonstrated that
families can play an important role in HIV/AIDS education.
These findings have
major implications for HIV/AIDS interventions involving adolescents, parents or
both, in fostering accurate HIV/AIDS knowledge among adolescents, which could
lead to protective sexual behaviours.
Purchase full article
at:
By:
- 1Department of Population Science and Development,University of Kinshasa,Democratic Republic of the Congo.
More at: https://twitter.com/hiv_insight
No comments:
Post a Comment