Sexual activity before marriage in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa there is notable concern about the consequences of premarital sexual intercourse, such as illegal abortions and pregnancy-related school dropouts, and the potential risk of HIV infection. Using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys, the authors investigated sexual activity among never-married women aged 15-24 in Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, and Zimbabwe. While there are important cross-country differentials, in most countries the majority of unmarried adolescents have been sexually active. Contrary to the common belief that teenage premarital sexual activity is a new phenomenon caused by socioeconomic development, particularly Western education, the data show that in most countries sexual activity among unmarried adolescents was also common in the past, and that increases across cohorts have occurred mostly in countries where the prevalence was already high. For most countries, there is little support for theories claiming that education is associated with loose morals and high levels of premarital sexual activity. The findings highlight the importance of family-planning services for unmarried adolescents and of family-life education in primary schools to reach children before they become sexually active.

PIP: Analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data is performed for never married women aged 15-24 years in Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, and Zimbabwe. Results indicate that higher levels of education are related to later age at first intercourse and less sexual activity in the week before the survey. The claim that premarital sexual activity is related to modernization and higher levels of education is not supported. Premarital sexual activity has not increased over time, except in Botswana. All countries show decreases in adolescent marriage over time. In all countries the proportion of women having first intercourse before the age of 20 years is greater than the proportion marrying as adolescents. The differences in these proportions has increased over time in Botswana, Ghana, Liberia, and Kenya. In Kenya the gap is particularly wide. For the cohort aged 40-49 years premarital sexual activity occurred among 40% of adolescents and has changed little among recent cohorts in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, and Zimbabwe. In Burundi premarital sexual activity was always limited. The range of premarital sexual activity was wide with 75% of sexually experienced women in Botswana and Liberia and only 23% in Zimbabwe and 4% in Burundi. Between the ages of 15 and 24 years, unmarried sexually experienced women increased with increasing age. There was a doubling between the ages of 15-17 years and 18-19 years in Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. By age 22-24 years, 95% of women were sexually experienced in Botswana; only 59% were sexually active in Zimbabwe. Premarital sexual experience by age at first marriage followed the same patterns. Even those who married before the age of 15 years reported being sexually experienced. Women with a primary education had the highest premarital sexual behavior in Kenya, Liberia, and Zimbabwe. In Burundi and Togo premarital sexual activity increased with level of education. In Botswana and Liberia levels of sexual experience were higher among never marrieds than ever marrieds regardless of educational level. Burundi and Zimbabwe had the highest age of first sexual intercourse of 17.6 and 17.1 years, respectively. Frequency of intercourse was unrelated to age.