Table 2. Prevalence of sexual behaviors, condom use and circumcision by race in three South African surveys – SABSSM (South African National HIV Prevalence, HIV Incidence, Behavior and Communication Survey) 2002 and 2005, NCS (National Communication Survey) 2009.
| SABSSM 2002 | SABSSM 2005 | NCS 2009 | ||||||||||
| Men | Black | Coloured | White | Indian | Black | Coloured | White | Indian | Black | Coloured | White | Indian |
| n | 2052 | 668 | 397 | 440 | 2996 | 997 | 492 | 552 | 3498 | 465 | 156 | 40 |
| Age – mean years (95% CI) | 28.5 (27.7–29.3) | 29.6 (28.1–31.2) | 32.6 (30.8–34.5)** | 32.3 (30.6–34.0)** | 27.8 (27.2–28.3) | 28.9 (28.0–29.8) | 30.4 (29.0–31.8)** | 29.2 (27.9–30.5) | 28.2 (27.7–28.7) | 30.6 (29.2–32.0)** | 31.8 (29.3–34.2)** | 31.9 (29.6–34.3)** |
| Ever had sex - % (95% CI) | 79.4 (76.3–82.5) | 83.1 (76.4–88.2) | 79.8 (76.5–82.7) | 80.0 (74.0–84.9) | 80.2 (77.7–82.4) | 77.6 (73.1–81.6) | 79.4 (73.3–84.3) | 66.0 (54.5–75.9)** | 87.2 (85.7–88.6) | 84.7 (78.2–89.6) | 78.6 (66.4–87.2) | 91.5 (83.0–95.9) |
| Age of debut - mean years (95% CI) | 18.1 (17.9–18.4) | 18.5 (18.0–19.1) | 19.1 (18.3–19.8)* | 19.9 (19.0–20.7)*** | 18.0 (17.7–18.2) | 18.1 (17.8–18.5) | 19.4 (18.9–20.0)*** | 19.8 (19.0–20.5)*** | 17.1 (16.9–17.3) | 17.8 (17.1–18.4)* | 18.3 (17.6–19.0)*** | 17.7 (16.8–18.7) |
| % with more than one sex partners in last 12 months (95% CI) a | 20.0 (15.4–25.5) | 15.6 (8.2–27.7) | 3.0 (1.3–6.9) | 4.9 (2.3–10.1) | 13.7 (11.7–16.0) | 8.8 (6.7–11.3)** | 2.4 (1.4–4.2)*** | 2.5 (1.3–4.7)*** | 24.2 (21.7–26.8) | 11.2 (7.1–17.1)** | 4.1 (1.3–12.0)** | 5.9 (1.0–27.1) |
| Mean/median no. sex partners in last 12 months (95% CI) a | 1.38/1 (1.23–1.52) | 1.24/1 (1.11–1.37) | 1.05/1 (1.01–1.09)*** | 1.07/1 (1.02–1.11)*** | 1.42/1 (1.32–1.52) | 1.34/1 (1.21–1.46) | 1.13/1 (1.00–1.26)*** | 1.14/1 (0.96–1.32)** | 1.4/1 (1.3–1.4) | 1.2/1 (1.1–1.3)*** | 1.2/1 (0.9–1.3)** | 1.3/1 (0.8–1.7) |
| Age gap -% (95% CI) a , b | 0.6 (0.3–1.5) | 9.0 (5.2–15.2)*** | 3.2 (1.0–10.2) | 0.6 (0.1–2.3) | 0.3 (0.1–0.6) | 1.3 (0.7–2.4)*** | 1.5 (0.4–5.2) | 1.1 (0.3–3.5) | 1.0 (0.7–1.5) | 3.0 (1.5–5.8)** | 1.4 (0.5–3.9) | 2.9 (0.4–19.6) |
| Concurrency - % (95% CI) a | 8.6 (6.6–11.3) | 6.0 (2.0–16.4) | 0.5 (0.1–1.6)*** | 1.7 (0.7–4.7)*** | 10.8 (9.1–12.7) | 5.5 (3.7–8.1)** | 0.9 (0.3–2.3)*** | 1.7 (0.8–3.7)*** | 14.6 (12.8–16.6) | 5.3 (2.9–9.4)*** | 2.3 (0.6–8.8)*** | 3.6 (0.5–23.2) |
| Condom use - % (95% CI) a | 65.8 (60.1–71.2) | 53.4 (42.8–63.6)* | 44.2 (30.3–59.1)** | 37.6 (27.2–49.3)*** | 38.3 (35.1–41.5) | 21.7 (18.0–26.0)*** | 19.6 (15.3–24.6)*** | 29.1 (22.4–36.9) | 58.1 (54.7–61.5) | 35.8 (26.9–45.9)*** | 15.7 (9.5–24.9)*** | 30.8 (12.5–58.0) |
| Circumcision - % (95% CI)e | 39.5 (35.3–43.8) | 20.5 (15.0–27.3)*** | 33.1 (22.4–45.9) | 22.6 (16.8–29.8)*** | 48.4 (45.1–51.7) | 23.1 (16.5–31.5)*** | 16.3 (9.4–26.5)*** | 29.6 (18.1–44.5) | ||||
| Women | ||||||||||||
| n | 2503 | 800 | 438 | 454 | 4727 | 1398 | 683 | 730 | 3934 | 635 | 217 | 81 |
| Age – mean years (95% CI) | 29.1 (28.5–29.6) | 31.5 (30.4–32.7)*** | 32.7 (31.3–34.3)*** | 31.1 (29.8–32.3)** | 29.5 (29.2–29.8) | 30.6 (29.8–31.4)** | 33.6 (32.7–34.4)*** | 31.6 (30.1–33.1)** | 29.5 (29.1–29.8) | 32.4 (31.4–33.4)*** | 34.4 (32.8–35.9)*** | 33.2 (31.0–35.4)** |
| Ever had sex - % (95% CI) | 83.2 (80.7–85.5) | 89.5 (86.2–92.0)** | 82.4 (73.8–88.6) | 70.9 (63.9–77.0)*** | 86.8 (85.3–88.1) | 83.6 (80.6–86.1) | 85.5 (81.3–88.8) | 75.2 (67.6–81.5)*** | 91.0 (89.9–92.0) | 90.8 (86.8–93.7) | 92.7 (87.5–95.9) | 83.4 (68.9–91.9) |
| Age of debut - mean years (95% CI) | 18.0 (17.9–18.2) | 19.0 (18.5–19.6)** | 20.1 (19.5–20.7)*** | 20.2 (19.8–20.7)*** | 18.1 (17.9–18.3) | 18.8 (18.5–19.2)*** | 20.3 (19.7–20.8)*** | 19.5 (18.4–20.7)* | 17.9 (17.8–18.1) | 18.5 (18.0–19.0)* | 18.7 (17.9–19.5) | 20.3 (19.5–21.5)*** |
| % with more than one sex partners in last 12 months (95% CI) a | 4.3 (3.0–6.1) | 3.0 (1.4–6.1) | 1.8 (0.7–4.7) | 0.6 (0.2–2.0)*** | 1.8 (1.5–2.4) | 2.5 (1.5–4.0) | 2.5 (0.9–6.8) | 0.08 (0.00–0.5)*** | 3.6 (2.8–4.7) | 4.8 (2.6–8.8) | 0.02 (0.00–0.1)*** | 0 (0.0–0.0) |
| Mean/median no. sex partners in last 12 months (95% CI) a | 1.08/1 (1.03–1.14) | 1.08 (0.98–1.19) | 1.05/1 (0.99–1.10) | 1.01/1 (1.00–1.02)** | 1.11/1 (1.03–1.20) | 1.21/1 (0.99–1.43) | 1.56/1 (0.52–2.59) | 1.00/1 (0.99–1.00)* | 1.04/1(1.03–1.05) | 1.07/1 (1.01–1.13) | 1.00/1 (1.00–1.00)*** | 1.00/1 (1.00–1.00)*** |
| Age gap -% (95% CI) a , b | 47.3 (43.0–51.5) | 33.4 (25.9–41.8)** | 19.1 (11.2–30.6)*** | 25.1 (15.3–38.5)** | 13.8 (12.3–15.5) | 17.1 (12.9–22.2) | 13.1 (8.9–18.8) | 25.2 (15.0–39.1) | 29.8 (28.1–31.7) | 20.6 (16.8–25.0)*** | 27.0 (19.6–36.0) | 28.5 (21.2–37.2) |
| Concurrency -% (95% CI) a | 1.0 (0.5–2.1) | 0.7 (0.2–2.3) | 0.8 (0.2–2.3) | 0.0 (0.0–0.0) | 1.2 (0.9–1.7) | 0.9 (0.4–2.3) | 0.7 (0.2–2.2) | 0.5 (0.2–1.9) | 1.2 (0.7–1.7) | 0.7 (0.1–4.0) | 0 | 0 |
| Condom use -% (95% CI) a | 65.7 (59.7–71.2) | 33.3 (23.4–44.9)*** | 24.5 (14.9–37.6)*** | 31.8 (20.1–46.3)*** | 32.2 (30.0–34.5) | 12.4 (9.0–16.6)*** | 16.5 (12.0–22.3)*** | 8.1 (6.1–10.7)*** | 41.2 (38.5–43.9) | 24.8 (18.8–32.0)*** | 19.1 (12.3–28.4)*** | 20.6 (10.6–36.4)** |
*
P<0.01, **P<0.001, ***P<0.0001 (The P-values refer to comparisons between the each racial group and the black group within that same survey.
a
These analyses are limited to the individuals who are sexually experienced.
b
Age-gap refers to the respondents most recent sexual partner being 5 or more years older than the respondent.
The only exception was the DHS 2003 survey where this gap was measured as 10 years.