TABLE 3.
Demographic Characteristics, Behaviors, and Attitudes of Those Who Report Having Had at Least 1 Concurrent Sexual Relationship Compared to Those Who Report Having Engaged Only in Serial Monogamy in Past 12 Months, Aged 15–24 Years, South Africa, 2003 (Weighted Proportions)*
| Male |
Female |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monogamists (n = 234) |
Concurrents (n = 915) |
P | Monogamists (n = 191) |
Concurrents (n = 229) |
P | ||
| HIV positive | 4.1 | 7.0 | 0.14 | 21.5 | 27.1 | 0.42 | |
| Black/African (vs. all other races) | 81.1 | 94.6 | <0.001 | 89.6 | 87.8 | 0.73 | |
| Age 20–24 (vs. 15–19) | 48.7 | 68.8 | <0.001 | 46.1 | 63.5 | 0.04 | |
| Urban residence (vs. rural) | 60.2 | 52.1 | 0.20 | 61.8 | 62.0 | 0.98 | |
| No education or < high school education completed (vs. completed high school or higher) | 35.6 | 45.1 | 0.36 | 31.9 | 47.0 | 0.06 | |
| Married | 0.0 | 1.8 | 0.18 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.44 | |
| Mean no. lifetime sexual partners | 5.1 | 7.7 | <0.001 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 0.19 | |
| Mean no. sexual partners past 12 mo | 2.2 | 2.9 | <0.001 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 0.001 | |
| Frequency of condom use with most recent partner | 0.13 | 0.09 | |||||
| Always | 45.2 | 32.3 | 41.4 | 21.0 | |||
| More than half the time | 9.2 | 11.1 | 8.2 | 11.5 | |||
| Half the time | 6.5 | 11.2 | 10.7 | 18.0 | |||
| Less than half the time | 6.7 | 11.0 | 19.5 | 15.0 | |||
| Never | 32.4 | 34.4 | 20.2 | 34.6 | |||
| Used condom during last sexual intercourse | 63.2 | 55.3 | 0.24 | 71.1 | 46.2 | 0.002 | |
| Partner type at last sex | 0.02 | 0.04 | |||||
| Main partner | 76.3 | 78.3 | 95.7 | 89.0 | |||
| Regular casual | 13.6 | 18.7 | 2.1 | 9.7 | |||
| Non-regular casual | 10.0 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 1.3 | |||
| Age difference with most recent partner | <0.001 | 0.24 | |||||
| Same age | 81.6 | 87.9 | 3.3 | 3.8 | |||
| 1–4 yr older | 13.3 | 11.8 | 64.2 | 52.1 | |||
| 5 or more yr older | 5.1 | 0.3 | 32.5 | 44.1 | |||
| Time since coital debut >12 mo (vs. <12 mo) | 81.3 | 94.4 | <0.001 | 75.1 | 93.6 | 0.002 | |
| Age of coital debut <14 yr old | 14.9 | 22.2 | 0.24 | 6.0 | 14.8 | 0.01 | |
| Ever engaged in transactional sex | 5.9 | 6.3 | 0.90 | 1.4 | 5.3 | 0.04 | |
| Ever been physically forced to have sex | 5.4 | 3.9 | 0.52 | 22.0 | 14.7 | 0.42 | |
| Reports unusual genital discharge in past 12 mo | 11.6 | 16.8 | 0.27 | 39.2 | 25.6 | 0.13 | |
| Reports genital ulcers/sores in past 12 mo | 6.3 | 9.1 | 0.48 | 5.2 | 15.4 | 0.004 | |
| Circumcised | 34.5 | 38.9 | 0.51 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| Ever pregnant | N/A | N/A | N/A | 24.8 | 41.1 | 0.02 | |
| % Agree | P | % Agree | P | ||||
| It is harder to refuse sex with a partner who is older than you compared to a partner who is the same age as you | 32.1 | 39.5 | 0.160 | 47.6 | 43.7 | 0.646 | |
| Safer sex is a shared responsibility for both partners | 97.7 | 96.9 | 0.632 | 97.3 | 95.8 | 0.329 | |
| It is cool to have a sexual partner who is older than you | 23.6 | 15.6 | 0.041 | 32.1 | 37.2 | 0.474 | |
| It is okay to have a sugar mommy, sugar daddy, or a person with whom you have sex so that they will buy your things | 15.7 | 9.7 | 0.056 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 0.865 | |
| Using condoms is a sign of not trusting your partner | 32.6 | 36.8 | 0.410 | 20.6 | 33.2 | 0.067 | |
| It is against my values for me to have sex while I am still a young person | 41.2 | 36.4 | 0.390 | 44.7 | 43.6 | 0.902 | |
| It is okay to pressure someone into having sex | 2.9 | 2.0 | 0.529 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.312 | |
| It is okay to have many sexual partners | 5.6 | 14.1 | 0.009 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.824 | |
| Sometimes I have sex with my partner even though my partner does not want to | 6.7 | 10.5 | 0.126 | 9.7 | 14.2 | 0.305 | |
| There are times when I do not want to have sex, but I do because my partner insists on having sex | 16.3 | 20.1 | 0.345 | 22.9 | 39.6 | 0.011 | |
| % Respon ding Yes/Probably Yes | P | % Responding Yes/Probably Yes | P | ||||
| Would you be able to avoid sex any time you didn’t want it | 86.7 | 87.7 | 0.838 | 91.6 | 89.4 | 0.272 | |
| Would you be able to use a condom every time you have sexual intercourse | 73.4 | 72.7 | 0.603 | 84.0 | 70.1 | 0.250 | |
| Would you be able to refuse to have sex if your partner will not use a condom | 70.4 | 70.3 | 0.749 | 67.1 | 53.7 | 0.211 | |
| Would you be able to talk about using condoms with your partner? | 91.7 | 95.0 | 0.121 | 96.5 | 90.3 | 0.049 | |
| % Low Relationship Control | P | % Low Relationship Control | P | ||||
| Relationship control index† | 15.4 | 14.1 | 0.715 | 31.8 | 27.6 | 0.673 | |
| % Agree | P | % Agree | P | ||||
| Your partner is faithful, that is they no have other partners | 67.0 | 73.2 | 0.279 | 62.4 | 62.2 | 0.980 | |
*
Concurrents are those who report overlapping dates for sexual relationships in the past 12 months and/or who report that they are currently in 2 or more ongoing sexual relationships. Serial monogamists are those who do not report either type of concurrency in the past 12 months, i.e., those who do not report overlapping dates for 2 or more partners and who do not report being in 2 or more ongoing relationships.