Marseille 2007
| Abstract #500 - Social Capital, Socioeconomic Aspirations, and HIV Risk Behaviour Among Poor South African Youth | ||||
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Session: 26.97: Posters B (Poster) on Tuesday in Chaired by Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Kelly Hallman - Population Council, United States |
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| Additional Authors: Dr Kelly Hallman, Ms Kasthuri Govender, Mr Emmanuel Mbatha, Ms Jill Walsh, | ||||
| Aim: This study investigates the relationships among youth social capital, context-specific socioeconomic knowledge and aspirations, and HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours. The South African environment is a complex one. Illness, stigma, and death from HIV/AIDS, high rates of disenfranchisement and unemployment, poverty coupled with extreme income inequality, and traditional leadership structures make this a challenging environment in which to transition from childhood to adulthood. While many programs and policies exist to address young people's needs, many fail in their design and targeting to acknowledge the great diversity of circumstances that shape the HIV vulnerabilities of young people. A national study of South African young people (Emmett et al. 2004) finds high rates of social exclusion. While social capital is well-recognized as an important asset for reducing economic vulnerability, a growing body of research demonstrates its positive association with HIV preventive behaviors among young women in Southern Africa (Gregson et al. 2004). Ray (2003) asserts that failure of economic aspirations and poverty may be inextricably linked; associations between socioeconomic aspirations and HIV risk among young people have not been well-explored. In South Africa financial education and services have traditionally not reached the young, the poor, the unemployed, or rural dwellers, and the limited financial education that is available is focused on higher-income clients (ECIAfrica 2004). Most financial education also fails to recognize the financial causes and consequences of HIV/AIDS (ECIAfrica 2004). Moreover, the information provided by many youth HIV prevention programs in South Africa is not sufficient for youth residing in impoverished communities who lack access to skills building programs, savings mechanisms, recreational opportunities, and employment. These young people, especially females, are at higher risk for HIV, early sexual initiation, coerced sex, and exchange of sex for money or gifts-which are frequently involuntary and not protected by condoms (Campbell 2003; Pettifor et al. 2004; Hallman 2005; Sishana et al. 2006). | ||||
| Method / Issue: A population-based survey was undertaken of young women and men 16-24 years of age residing in a poor, peri-urban, HIV-affected community of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The current analysis presents weighted means comparisons. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Females have less social capital than males (p≤0.01), as measured by participation in community activities. Among females higher social capital is correlated with greater exposure to media-based HIV messages (p≤0.001), fewer sexual partners in the year before the survey (p≤0.05), and a greater likelihood of having had an HIV test (p≤0.05). Females have lower knowledge of social grants than males (p≤0.01), even though females have greater eligibility. Females are less likely to have financial goals than males (p≤0.001). Having a financial goal is correlated with greater female exposure to media-based HIV messages (p≤0.001), more realistic HIV risk perceptions among females (p≤0.001), and greater male knowledge of HIV transmission modes (p≤0.01). | ||||
| Discussion: Females have lower social capital and financial aspirations than males. Greater social capital and having financial aspirations are positively associated with HIV knowledge and preventive behaviors among young women. | ||||
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