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Table 2 Characteristics of 1576 adolescents and their attendance at the after-school sexual and reproductive health programme

From: Reaching the hard to reach: longitudinal investigation of adolescents’ attendance at an after-school sexual and reproductive health programme in Western Cape, South Africa

  N Total sample A: Non-attenders (0 % of education sessions) (N = 336) B: Low attenders (less than 50 % of education sessions) (N = 653) C: High attenders (50 % or more of education sessions) (N = 587) Significant differences
Gender (Male %) 1534 42.0 % (644) 53.7 % (176) 42.1 % (268) 35.1 % (200) A > B > C
Age (Mean; SD) 1539 13.77 (1.01) 13.94 (1.08) 13.83 (1.01) 13.60 (0.94) A, B > C
SESa (Mean; SD) 1576 5.87 (1.67) 6.06 (1.51) 5.76 (1.78) 5.87 (1.62) ns
How well did you do in school?b 1532 3.95 (0.92) 3.87 (0.93) 3.96 (0.92) 3.97 (0.91) ns
Have you ever repeated a school year? (% yes) 1486 23.6 % (351) 33.4 % (105) 24.8 % (150) 17.0 % (96) A > B > C
Delinquencyc 1536 9.2 % (142) 12.8 % (42) 9.8 % (62) 6.6 % (38) A, B > C
Drug used 1576 3.3 % (52) 5.4 % (18) 3.5 % (23) 1.9 % (11) A > C
Did you bully someone at school in the past 6 months? (% yes) 1451 13.4 % (195) 19.7 % (62) 13.5 % (80) 9.7 % (53) A > B > C
Were you bullied by someone at school in the past 6 months? (% yes) 1390 19.7 % (275) 18.4 % (56) 20.6 % (116) 19.7 % (103) ns
Self-harm (% yes) 1302 15.7 % (204) 20.7 % (56) 16.6 % (86) 12.1 % (62) A, B > C
Knowledge of HIV/condoms (mean; SD)e 1553 0.42 (0.20) 0.41 (0.19) 0.43 (0.21) 0.42 (0.20) ns
Ever had oral, anal or vaginal sex 1576 22.7 % (358) 27.4 % (92) 26.5 % (173) 15.8 % (93) A, B > C
Age of sexual debut (mean years)i 198 13.93 (1.83) 14.14 (1.63) 13.90 (1.78) 13.84 (2.26) ns
Number of sexual partners (mean)i 174 3.37 (2.78) 3.29 (2.71) 3.63 (2.84) 2.83 (2.72) ns
Condom use consistency (% always)i 269 19.7 % (55) 17.6 % (12) 20.7 % (28) 19.7 % (13) ns
Victim of sexual violence (% yes) 1442 31.7 % (503) 34.2 % (107) 36.0 % (210)A 27.7 % (151) A, B > C
Victim of IPV (% yes) 1452 16.1 % (259) 16.8 % (53) 13.8 % (82) 10.2 % (55) A > C
Perpetrator of IPV (% yes) 1427 10.3 % (163) 12.3 % (38) 11.1 % (65) 5.3 % (28) A, B > C
School safetyf 1459 2.90 (1.06) 2.77 (1.06) 2.89 (1.07) 2.98 (1.05) A < C
School connectednessf 1467 4.56 (0.67) 4.47 (0.73) 4.53 (0.69) 4.64 (0.60) A, B < C
School appearancef 1475 3.93 (1.02) 3.88 (1.06) 3.93 (1.02) 3.94 (1.00) ns
Emotional symptomsg 1549 3.89 (2.39) 3.67 (2.21) 4.02 (2.47) 3.88 (2.40) A < B
Conduct problemsg 1546 2.39 (1.75) 2.47 (1.78) 2.51 (1.85) 2.19 (1.61) A, B > C
Hyperactivity scaleg 1547 2.70 (2.01) 2.95 (2.04) 2.78 (2.01) 2.47 (1.97) A, B > C
Peer problems scaleg 1545 2.77 (1.93) 2.90 (1.86) 2.79 (1.94) 2.67 (1.96) ns
Prosocial scaleg 1556 7.82 (2.16) 7.26 (2.32) 7.77 (2.19) 8.21 (1.94) C > B > A
Number of sessions attended (mean; SD) 1576 8.02 (7.44) 0 (0) 4.26 (2.87) 16.80 (3.12) C > B > A
Exposureh 1576 0.38 (0.35) 0 (0) 0.20 (0.14) 0.80 (0.15) C > B > A
Visited a nurse (% yes) 1455 17.3 % (252) 0 % (0) 11.6 % (72) 35.6 % (180) C > B > A
  1. IPV intimate partner violence (physical, emotional and/or sexual)
  2. aScale from ‘no household items’ (0) to ‘8 household items’
  3. bScale from ‘Worst of class’ (1) to ‘Best of class (5)
  4. cMonthly or more frequent involvement in fighting, stealing or vandalism during the previous 3 months
  5. dMonthly or more frequent user of dagga, tic or glue during previous 3 months
  6. eScale from ‘no questions correct’ (0) to ‘all questions correct’ (1)
  7. fScale from ‘Totally disagree’ (1) to ‘Totally agree’ (5) with a higher score indicating more connectedness, perceptions of safety, a better school appearance
  8. gScale from ‘Low’ (0) to ‘high’ (10)
  9. hScale from ‘no attendance’ (0) to ‘full attendance’ (1)
  10. iDenominator is those students who reported to ever had had vaginal, anal or oral sex
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BMC Public Health

ISSN: 1471-2458

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