School of Public Health (Journal Articles)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37879

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Subject: search.filters.subject.SDG-5: Gender equality

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    Religiosity and sexual abstinence among Nigerian youths: does parent religion matter?
    (BioMed Central, 2019-04) Somefun, Oluwaseyi Dolapo
    Background: Religion plays an important role in youth behaviours, making it a significant factor in the discourse on youth sexuality in sub-Saharan Africa. Several studies have found that religion and religiosity play an important role in the sexual behaviours of young people. However, little research in Nigeria has examined the mechanisms through which religiosity influences youth sexual behaviour and if parents’ religion moderates this relationship. Guided by the social control theory, this paper contributes to the existing literature by examining the relationship between religiosity and youth sexual behaviour. Methods: Data for the study came from 2399 male and female youth aged 16–24 years in four states purposively selected from four regions in Nigeria. Abstinence was the sexual behaviour of interest. Logistic regression was used to examine this relationship. Results: Results showed that 68% of the youth had never had sex. Religiosity was a protective factor for youth sexual behaviour and this positive association was still evident even after controlling for other covariates. Youth who were highly religious (OR – 1.81, CI- 1.13-2.88) had significantly higher odds of abstaining compared to their counterparts who were not religious. Conclusion: Religiosity is a protective factor for sexual abstinence among youth in Nigeria. Policy makers can work around using religious institutions for behavioural change among youth in Nigeria.
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    Urban residence and elevated blood pressure among migrant women in South Africa
    (Elsevier) Pheiffer, Chantel F.; McGarvey, Stephen T.; Ginsburg, Carren; White, Michael
    This paper demonstrates that internal migration may be contributing to rising non-communicable disease risk in low- and middle-income countries in gendered and geographically differentiated ways. With 2018 baseline data from the Migrant Health Follow-Up Study, we investigate the relationship between internal migration and elevated blood pressure (BP) among 2163 rural-origin men and women in South Africa, testing for sex differences. To examine the influence of place, we test whether the migration-BP relationship differs by migrants’ destination locations, controlling for household composition, social support, prior migration, and housing quality. We find that migration is associated with elevated BP only among women, and that this association is greatest for migrants living in Tembisa township. Our research underscores that gender and migration are important social determinants of noncommunicable disease risk in low-resource, rapidly-urbanizing settings.