Gender-Role Attitudes and Reproductive Health Communication among Female Adolescents in South Nyanza, Kenya
Reproductive Health
21
Issue: 1
(04 - 2006)
In this paper, we use data from three districts of Nyanza Province in Kenya to examine
gender-role attitudes and reproductive health communication among adolescent
females aged 12-19 years. We test for differences in gender-role attitudes between
younger (12-15) and older (16-19) adolescents. We explore the possible association
between educational attainment and gender-role attitudes by estimating a random-
effects model. We also examine the association between gender-role attitudes and
reproductive health communication via an unordered multinomial logit model. The
results show that adolescent females in this setting hold conservative views on decision
making within the home and at the same time portray less conservative views
concerning marriage and reproductive behaviour. We also find some differences by age
regarding gender-role attitudes and reproductive health communication. Our findings
further indicate that educational attainment is significantly associated with gender-role
attitudes, which in turn are significantly associated with reproductive health
commun ication.
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