Social Context of Risky Sexual Behaviour Among Adolescents in South Africa

Background: Cross-sectional studies have linked multiple sexual partnerships to high risk of contracting HIV-infection among adolescents and young adults, and evidences about the social context of multiple sexual partnerships are scarce in South Africa.

Methods: Multilevel analysis was carried out using the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS) data collected among young people living in Cape Town between 2002 and 2005.

Findings: The practice of multiple sexual partnerships (current) declined from 29 percent in 2002 to 16 percent in 2005 with a concomitant increase in the practice of abstinence and monogamy from 71 percent at the baseline to 84 percent in 2005. Using multilevel logistic regression model and controlling for all the variables in the study, the predictors of multiple sexual partnerships between 2002 and 2005 were sex of the respondents, population group, educational level, rating of opportunity in life, degree of happiness, alcohol/drug use, participation in prosocial activities and early sexual activity.

Conclusion: There was a decline in the practice of multiple sexual partnerships during the study period and different factors, both personal and contextual, significantly predict the outcome variable and should be focus of intervention programmes.