Abstract
Premarital sex, schoolgirl pregnancy, and school quality in rural Kenya (PDF)
Mensch,Barbara S.; Clark,Wesley H.; Lloyd,Cynthia B.; Erulkar,Annabel S.
Studies in Family Planning 32(4): 285-301
Publication date: 2001
Using data from nearly 600 adolescents aged 12-19 in combination with data collected from 33primary schools that the adolescents attended, this report explores whether certain aspects of theschool environment affect the initiation of premarital sex among girls and boys in three districts ofKenya. The results suggest that, although neither the school nor the home appears to influencewhether boys engage in sex prior to marriage, for girls, a school characterized by a gender-neutralatmosphere appears to reduce the risk of their engaging in premarital sex. Furthermore, althoughpolicymakers in Kenya are clearly concerned with the problem of "schoolgirl pregnancy," the dataindicate that in this sample, pregnancy is not the primary reason that girls leave school.
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