Social Networks And Sexual Practices

This study examines adolescent social networks and sexual practices (and how they differrnamong males and females of different ages) among ninth-grade students in two high schools inrnAddis Ababa, Ethiopia. Social exchange theory and group socialization theory guide the study.rnOther theories that the study utilizes are the theory of homophily, balance theory, the theory ofrnself-interest, and the theory of early sexual practices. Up to now, there has been no systematicrnresearch in Ethiopia or the rest of Africa on the relationship between adolescent social networksrnand sexual practices. Mixed-methods research guides the study, which consists of two parts.rnStudy A generated data from a 264-item survey of 167 respondents, to which parametric andrnnonparametric statistics (using a consistent alpha of .05) are applied. Study B used 10 criticalrncases to generate qualitative data. Critical cases are study participants selected based on theirrncapacity to provide reliable data of interest. UCINET 6.0 was used to draw social networkrndiagrams, and qualitative data were transcribed and subjected to content analysis. Friendship,rnimmediate family, extended family neighborhood, and religious networks are key components ofrnsocial network analysis. Friendship and family networks are two priority networks amongrnadolescents. The family network is the most stable type and the friendship network is the mostrnpopular. The friendship network plays two important functions: information sharing and problemrnsolving. Adolescents’ like having school friends who are of the same gender, and out-of-schoolrnfriends of the opposite gender. Adolescent friendship networks are the primary means for findingrnsexual partners. Peer influence and personal curiosity are the primary factors related tornadolescent sexual debuts. Male adolescents equate sexual practices with self-actualization andrnadventure, while female adolescents equate sexual practices with love and emotional attachment.The adolescents’ own homes and their friends’ houses are the most popular settings for firstrnengaging in sexual activity. Female survey respondents reported having more than onernboyfriend, whereas male adolescents had a single girlfriend. The hypothesized associationsrnbetween adolescent-parent communication and age of sexual debut were not found to bernsignificant. The hypothesized relationships between social network variables and sexualrnpractices were significant, as were correlations between ages at which the respondents firstrnwatched live sex and when they first masturbated. These findings concerning adolescents’rnrelationships and reproductive health risk factors give us a better understanding of the role ofrnsocial networks in adolescent health and sexual activity. Understanding adolescents’ socialrnnetworks is particularly important in light of the looming problem of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia andrnAfrica. These findings are also important for social work and social development interventions

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