Table 4.
Percentage distribution of adolescents aged 15 -19 years by sexual activity and main reason for sexual abstinence, according to gender.
| Male | Female | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main reason for abstinence | Primary Abstainer | Secondary Abstainer | Recent Abstainer | Total | Primary Abstainer | Secondary Abstainer | Recent Abstainer | Total |
| Burkina Faso | ||||||||
| Don’t have a partner | 14.2 | 23.9 | 14.1 | 15.3 | 6.0 | 16.7 | 8.6 | 6.8 |
| Wait until marriage | 16.1 | 7.7 | 6.3 | 14.7 | 35.2 | 2.8 | 11.4 | 32.2 |
| Afraid to get pregnant or make someone pregnant | 3.3 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 3.5 | 12.1 | 26.4 | 11.4 | 13.0 |
| Avoid STIs/HIV | 11.7 | 23.2 | 17.2 | 13.3 | 9.6 | 16.7 | 20.0 | 10.4 |
| Too young | 23.0 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 19.5 | 11.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.5 |
| Schooling reasons | 1.6 | 10.6 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 |
| Religious reasons | 2.8 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 1.8 | 2.8 | 0.0 | 1.8 |
| Because of parents | 0.6 | 2.1 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.8 |
| Not interested | 5.4 | 2.1 | 6.3 | 5.1 | 2.5 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 2.5 |
| No reason | 4.0 | 5.6 | 14.1 | 4.7 | 3.4 | 6.9 | 11.4 | 3.9 |
| Other | 14.8 | 16.2 | 32.8 | 15.8 | 8.9 | 18.1 | 37.1 | 10.4 |
| Don’t know | 2.5 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 4.2 | 5.6 | 0.0 | 4.2 |
| n | 1069 | 142 | 64 | 1275 | 969 | 72 | 35 | 1076 |
| Ghana | ||||||||
| Don’t have a partner | 3.8 | 5.1 | 11.1 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.9 | 12.5 | 4.6 |
| Wait until marriage | 19.7 | 8.9 | 14.8 | 18.9 | 34.8 | 22.0 | 10.4 | 32.5 |
| Afraid to get pregnant or make someone pregnant | 20.0 | 20.3 | 18.5 | 20.0 | 28.8 | 35.4 | 25.0 | 29.2 |
| Avoid STIs/AIDS | 19.0 | 31.6 | 18.5 | 19.8 | 7.7 | 12.2 | 8.3 | 8.1 |
| Other | 33.5 | 29.1 | 25.9 | 33.0 | 20.7 | 20.7 | 39.6 | 21.6 |
| Don’t know | 4.0 | 5.1 | 11.1 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 4.2 | 4.0 |
| n | 1039 | 79 | 27 | 1145 | 854 | 82 | 48 | 984 |
| Malawi | ||||||||
| Don’t have a partner | 2.5 | 5.7 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 9.8 | 8.8 | 5.4 |
| Wait until marriage | 8.3 | 5.7 | 2.6 | 6.8 | 6.5 | 6.1 | 5.9 | 6.4 |
| Afraid to get pregnant or make someone pregnant | 7.9 | 7.4 | 10.3 | 7.9 | 33.1 | 18.3 | 26.5 | 31.2 |
| Avoid STIs/AIDS | 71.2 | 73.1 | 75.6 | 72.3 | 48.1 | 53.7 | 23.5 | 47.6 |
| Other | 8.1 | 6.4 | 7.7 | 7.4 | 5.7 | 12.2 | 32.4 | 7.6 |
| Don’t know | 2.0 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 2.9 | 1.8 |
| n | 445 | 283 | 78 | 806 | 649 | 82 | 34 | 765 |
| Uganda | ||||||||
| Don’t have a partner | 3.8 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 5.9 | 9.1 | 3.3 |
| Wait until marriage | 4.0 | 4.5 | 5.8 | 4.0 | 10.1 | 7.4 | 2.6 | 9.0 |
| Afraid to get pregnant or make someone pregnant | 7.4 | 8.2 | 4.7 | 7.4 | 29.0 | 34.1 | 27.3 | 29.6 |
| Avoid STIs/AIDS | 68.0 | 71.2 | 66.3 | 68.0 | 48.4 | 44.4 | 40.3 | 47.1 |
| Other | 14.7 | 12.8 | 19.8 | 14.7 | 9.2 | 8.1 | 20.8 | 10.1 |
| Don’t know | 2.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 |
| n | 651 | 243 | 86 | 980 | 663 | 135 | 77 | 875 |
Note: Sample sizes are weighted