Table 1 Means and percentages of selected variables of never-married youths by gender
Total N = 3041 | Male N = 1653 | Female N = 1388§ | Significance of difference: (P-value)* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Percentages of total | 100 | 54.4 | 45.6 | 0.000 |
CHARACTERISTICS | ||||
Dependent variables | ||||
Primary abstinence | 32.6 | 31.9 | 33.5 | ns |
Secondary abstinence † | 6.7 | 7.5 | 5.7 | ns |
Abstinence behavior | 37.1 | 37.0 | 37.2 | ns |
Socio-demographic characteristics | ||||
Mean age (yrs.) | 18.80 | 19.25 | 18.28 | 0.000 |
Highest Education Level | ||||
No education | 29.3 | 23.2 | 36.7 | 0.000 |
Primary education | 27.1 | 25.6 | 29.0 | 0.037 |
Secondary | 39.4 | 45.7 | 31.9 | 0.000 |
Higher | 4.1 | 5.6 | 2.4 | 0.000 |
Religion | ||||
Roman Catholics | 25.1 | 23.1 | 27.4 | 0.007 |
Protestants | 12.4 | 11.5 | 13.5 | ns |
Other Christians | 12.9 | 11.6 | 14.3 | 0.026 |
Muslim | 30.7 | 32.1 | 29.1 | ns |
Others †† | 18.8 | 21.5 | 15.6 | 0.000 |
Place of residence | ||||
Urban | 51.3 | 47.9 | 55.3 | 0.000 |
Rural | 48.7 | 52.1 | 44.7 | 0.000 |
Region of residence | ||||
Abidjan town | 27.4 | 24.7 | 30.5 | 0.000 |
Centre | 11.5 | 10.9 | 12.2 | ns |
Centre-East | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.2 | ns |
Centre-North | 5.4 | 5.6 | 5.2 | ns |
Centre-West | 10.3 | 11.4 | 9.0 | 0.032 |
North | 5.2 | 5.5 | 4.8 | ns |
North-East | 3.3 | 3.5 | 3.1 | ns |
North-West | 2.6 | 3.0 | 2.2 | ns |
West | 6.2 | 6.6 | 5.7 | ns |
South | 20.4 | 19.8 | 21.0 | ns |
South-West | 5.6 | 6.7 | 4.3 | 0.005 |
Regular exposure to mass media ††† | 89.9 | 92.4 | 86.9 | 0.000 |
Ideational determinants | ||||
Respondent knows someone who has AIDS or has died of AIDS | 12.9 | 14.7 | 10.7 | 0.005 |
Most young men wait for sex until marriage | 4.6 | 5.0 | 4.0 | ns |
Most unmarried sexually active men have only one partner | 9.1 | 9.7 | 8.5 | ns |
Most married men only have sex with their wives | 18.6 | 19.8 | 17.1 | ns |
Most young women wait for sex until marriage | 9.0 | 8.2 | 9.9 | ns |
Most unmarried sexually active women have only one partner | 12.9 | 11.4 | 14.9 | 0.006 |
Most married women only have sex with their husbands | 47.3 | 43.6 | 52.0 | 0.000 |
HIV/AIDS-related knowledge | ||||
HIV/AIDS-related knowledge of preventive methods | ||||
Abstain from sexual intercourse | 79.1 | 78.2 | 80.1 | ns |
Limit sexual intercourse to one uninfected partner with no other partners | 79.3 | 79.7 | 78.8 | ns |
Use of condoms | 77.1 | 80.2 | 73.3 | 0.000 |
Comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmission | ||||
A healthy-looking person can have AIDS virus | 84.0 | 86.5 | 80.9 | 0.000 |
AIDS cannot be transmitted by mosquito bites | 55.1 | 58.0 | 51.6 | 0.001 |
A person cannot become infected by sharing food with a person who has AIDS | 75.9 | 74.5 | 77.5 | ns |
HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes score (Mean, SD) | 4.14 (1.85) | 4.24 (1.79) | 4.03 (1.91) | 0.002 |