Influence of Types of Sexual Reproductive Health Communication between Parents and Adolescents in Butere Sub-County
Abstract
Parents are perceived to be an attractive source of information for influencing adolescents’ SRH (Sexual Reproductive Health) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour because parents are accessible and always willing sources of information for their adolescent children. Conversations between parents and adolescents about their sexuality in particular are often difficult for both parents and adolescents in Africa. Lack of consistent SRH communication between parents and adolescents has resulted in risky sexual behaviours. In western Kenya, specifically Butere Sub County, the divergence noted in contemporary adolescent sexual behaviour can be explained within the backdrop of collapsed traditional moral codes and mechanisms that controlled and checked sexual behaviour and dereliction of responsibilities by parents while other supportive family institutions (grandparents, uncles, and aunts) have become evanescent. The study sought to determine the influence of types of sexual reproductive health communication between parents and adolescents. This was an analytic cross-sectional study utilising mixed methods study design to collect data. A sample size of 284 participants was selected according to Mugenda and Mugenda; study participants were the parents of adolescents aged between ten to eighteen years of age and the adolescents themselves of the ages between ten to eighteen years old in Butere. Butere was purposively sampled as a place to carry out the study. Random sampling was used to select households with parents and adolescents to participate in the study. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered by the researcher to collect quantitative data from the respondents and analysed using descriptive statistics and presented in percentages. Qualitative data was also collected through FGDs and KIIs using FGD and interview guides; it was then analysed thematically and presented in the form of a narrative. Results in the study show how the types of sexual reproductive health communication used between parents and adolescents influence the SRH communication strategy between adolescents and parents in Butere Sub-County in Kakamega County
Downloads
References
Usonwu, I., Ahmad, R. & Curtis-Tyler, K. Parent–adolescent communication on adolescent sexual and reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa: a qualitative review and thematic synthesis. Reprod Health 18, 202 (2021).
Toth, A. (2009). Bridge of Signs: Can Sign Language Empower Non-Deaf Children to Triumph over Their Communication Disabilities? American Annals of the Deaf, 154(2), 85–95.
Cederbaum J. A. (2012). The Experience of Sexual Risk Communication in African American Families Living With HIV. Journal of adolescent research, 27(5), 555–580.
Amos, P. M. (2013). Parenting and Culture – Evidence from Some African Communities. In (Ed.), Parenting in South American and African Contexts. IntechOpen.
Motsomi, K., Makanjee, C., Basera, T., & Nyasulu, P. (2016). Factors affecting effective communication about sexual and reproductive health issues between parents and adolescents in zandspruit informal settlement, Johannesburg, South Africa. The Pan African medical journal, 25, 120.
Okigbo, C. C., Kabiru, C. W., Mumah, J. N., Mojola, S. A., & Beguy, D. (2015). Influence of parental factors on adolescents’ transition to first sexual intercourse in Nairobi, Kenya: a longitudinal study. Reproductive health, 12, 73. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-015-0069-9
Mugenda O.M., and Mugenda, A. G. (2003). Research Methods. Quantitative & Qualitative Approaches. Nairobi: Press African Center for Technology Studies (ACTS)
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (2019). Kenya economic survey 2019. Nairobi: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
Nachmias, F. (1996). Research Methods in the Social Sciences: St. Martin’s Pres
Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias (1996); Wimmer & Dominick, 2011 (1996). Research Methods in the Social Sciences: St. Martin’s Pres.
Schubotz, D., Rolston, B. and Simpson, A. (2004) “Sexual behaviour of young people in Northern Ireland: first sexual experience.” Critical Public Health. Vol. 14 No. 2 P. 177-190.
Whitaker, D. J., & Miller, K. S. (2000). Parent-adolescent discussions about sex and condoms: Impact on peer influences of sexual risk behavior. Journal of Adolescent Research, 15, 251-273.
Byers, E. S., Sears, H. A., & Weaver, A. D. (2008). Parents’ Reports of Sexual Communication with Children in Kindergarten to Grade 8. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70(1), 86–96.
Ashcraft, A. M., & Murray, P. J. (2017). Talking to Parents About Adolescent Sexuality. Pediatric clinics of North America, 64(2), 305–320.
Joffe, H., & Franca-Koh, A. C. (2001). Parental non-verbal sexual communication: Its relationship to sexual behaviour and sexual guilt. Journal of Health Psychology, 6(1), 17–30.
Rosenthal, D. A., & Feldman, S. S. (1999). The importance of importance: Adolescents’ perceptions of parental communication about sexuality. Journal of Adolescence, 22(6), 835–851.
Jerman, P., & Constantine, N. A. (2010). Demographic and psychological predictors of parent-adolescent communication about sex: A representative state wide analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39(10), 1164-1174.
Copyright (c) 2022 Jared Odaro, Rosebella Onyango, PhD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
