Table 1. Sociodemographic, family, peer, and community characteristics by gender and by site.
| Kinshasa, DRC | Blantyre, Malawi | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Girls n = 1,266 | Boys n = 1,274 | p-value | Girls n = 615 | Boys n = 598 | p-value | ||
| Age | 10 to 12 years | 66.1% (837) | 62.0% (790) | 0.03 | 63.7% (392) | 57.0% (341) | 0.02 |
| 13 to 14 years | 33.9% (429) | 38.0% (484) | 36.3% (223) | 43.0% (257) | |||
| Educational attainment | Out of school | 26.1% (330) | 30.9% (394) | Data not availablea | |||
| Lower than age expected grade | 14.3% (181) | 14.2% (181) | 0.02 | 62.3% (383) | 73.8% (441) | <0.001 | |
| Age expected grade or higher | 59.6% (755) | 54.9% (699) | 37.7% (232) | 26.3% (157) | |||
| ACEs | 0 ACEs | 25.4% (322) | 18.7% (238) | 31.9% (196) | 21.2% (127) | ||
| 1 ACEs | 21.7% (275) | 23.0% (293) | 21.0% (129) | 21.6% (129) | |||
| 2 ACEs | 18.8% (238) | 21.0% (267) | 0.002 | 16.4% (101) | 16.1% (96) | <0.001 | |
| 3 ACEs | 12.5% (158) | 14.5% (185) | 11.7% (72) | 12.7% (76) | |||
| 4 + ACEs | 21.6% (273) | 22.8% (291) | 19.0% (117) | 28.4% (170) | |||
| Household structure | Both parents | 59.2% (749) | 56.0% (714) | 30.9% (190) | 38.5% (230) | ||
| One parent | 26.9% (340) | 29.5% (376) | 0.25 | 62.0% (381) | 53.5% (320) | 0.01 | |
| Grandparents and other | 14.0% (177) | 14.4% (184) | 7.2% (44) | 8.0% (48) | |||
| High parental closeness b | 60.9% (771) | 62.2% (792) | 0.51 | 78.5% (483) | 74.4% (445) | 0.09 | |
| High parental monitoring and awareness about adolescent’s friends, school performance, and whereabouts b | 50.2% (635) | 46.1% (587) | 0.04 | 98.4% (605) | 99.0% (592) | 0.34 | |
| Peer composition b | Any opposite gender friends | 38.6% (489) | 45.8% (583) | <0.001 | 72.5% (446) | 80.3% (480) | 0.002 |
| Time spent with friends b | Nearly every day | 45.4% (575) | 59.0% (752) | <0.001 | Data not availablea | ||
| Social cohesion | High | 70.5% (893) | 74.3% (946) | 0.04 | 71.5% (440) | 70.6% (422) | 0.71 |
| Gender stereotypical trait c | 4.5 (0.6) | 4.4 (0.7) | <0.001 | 4.2 (0.8) | 4.3 (0.7) | <0.001 | |
| Agency (mean score on a scale 1 to 4, SD) | Freedom of movement overall | 1.4 (0.6) | 1.8 (0.8) | <0.001 | 1.8 (0.7) | 2.3 (0.8) | <0.001 |
| Tertile 1 | 1.0 (0.01) | 1.0 (0.01) | 0.90 | 1.2 (0.2) | 1.2 (0.2) | 0.50 | |
| Tertile 2 | 1.4 (0.2) | 1.5 (0.2) | <0.001 | 1.9 (0.2) | 1.9 (0.2) | 0.15 | |
| Tertile 3 | 2.3 (0.5) | 2.5 (0.6) | <0.001 | 2.9 (0.5) | 3.1 (0.5) | 0.06 | |
| Voice overall | 2.4 (0.7) | 2.5 (0.7) | <0.001 | 2.9 (0.7) | 3.0 (0.7) | 0.009 | |
| Tertile 1 | 1.7 (0.3) | 1.7 (0.3) | 0.09 | 2.1 (0.5) | 2.2 (0.5) | 0.21 | |
| Tertile 2 | 2.5 (0.2) | 2.5 (0.2) | 0.61 | 3.1 (0.2) | 3.1 (0.2) | 0.12 | |
| Tertile 3 | 3.2 (0.3) | 3.2 (0.3) | 0.37 | 3.7 (0.2) | 3.7 (0.2) | 0.10 | |
| Decision-making overall | 2.7 (0.9) | 2.7 (0.9) | 0.89 | 2.9 (0.8) | 3.0 (0.8) | 0.003 | |
| Tertile 1 | 1.7 (0.4) | 1.7 (0.4) | 0.02 | 1.9 (0.5) | 1.9 (0.5) | 0.85 | |
| Tertile 2 | 2.9 (0.3) | 2.9 (0.3) | 0.23 | 3.0 (0.2) | 3.0 (0.2) | 0.22 | |
| Tertile 3 | 3.8 (0.2) | 3.8 (0.2) | 0.42 | 3.8 (0.2) | 3.8 (0.2) | 0.37 | |
| Perpetrated violence in the last six months | No | 76.9% (973) | 71.0% (904) | <0.001 | 79.0% (486) | 69.7% (417) | 0.001 |
| Yes, both boys and girls | 2.8% (35) | 6.7% (85) | 5.7% (35) | 6.5% (39) | |||
| Yes, a boy or boys | 6.5% (81) | 17.4% (222) | 6.0% (37) | 11.7% (70) | |||
| Yes, a girl or girls | 14.0% (177) | 5.0% (63) | 9.3% (57) | 12.0% (72) | |||
| Victimized in the last six months | No | 80.3% (1,016) | 70.8% (903) | <0.001 | 67.3% (414) | 57.2% (342) | |
| Yes, both boys and girls | 1.4% (18) | 5.7% (73) | 7.8% (48) | 6.9% (41) | <0.001 | ||
| Yes, a boy or boys | 6.2% (79) | 18.8% (240) | 12.5% (77) | 16.1% (96) | |||
| Yes, a girl or girls | 12.1% (153) | 4.6% (58) | 12.4% (76) | 19.9% (119) | |||
| Peer violence composite | No violence or victimization | 67.5% (854) | 60.1% (765) | <0.001 | 61.1% (376) | 49.5% (296) | <0.001 |
| Victimization only | 9.4% (119) | 10.9% (139) | 17.9% (110) | 20.2% (121) | |||
| Perpetration only | 12.8% (162) | 10.8% (138) | 6.2% (38) | 7.7% (46) | |||
| Victimization and perpetration | 10.4% (131) | 18.2% (232) | 14.8% (91) | 22.6% (135) | |||
aData not available because these questions were not included in the questionnaire.
bParental closeness, parental monitoring and awareness, friend composition, and time spent with friends were collapsed and made into dichotomous variables based on the distribution of the data.
cGender stereotypical traits score ranged from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating more unequal perceptions of gender norms.
Chi-squared tests were used to estimate gender difference within each site for all variables except gender norm perceptions and agency, which used unpaired t test.
ACEs, adverse childhood experience; DRC, Democratic Republic of Congo; SD, standard deviation.