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TRANSITIONS TO ADULTHOOD Transitions to Marriage and Reproductive roles
Along with education and work, the transitions to adult reproductive and family roles form a critical part of the growing up experience. The years from 10 to 19 encompass a tremendous amount of social maturation in which a young person's knowledge, awareness, and judgement increase rapidly. Awareness levels are affected not only by the physical changes of maturation but also by exposure to images in the media, by school curricula, and by exposure to peers and work mates. The survey gathered information on when and how young people acquire the knowledge that will prepare them for adult roles as parents and partners in marriage. KEY FINDINGS:
Knowledge of physical maturation: The majority of adolescents report learning about the physical changes of puberty without speaking to family members or other adults, although this is more frequent among boys than girls. Most adolescents of both sexes report that they learned about these changes "by myself /by observation," although nearly half of girls report that their mothers spoke to them about these topics. However, most adolescents say they want parents to discuss these and other reproductive health issues with them. Knowledge of fertility and family planning: Adolescents have much greater knowledge of contraceptive methods than they do about pubertal changes and have clear ideas about the meaning of family planning. This demonstrates the success of national family planning campaigns in reaching a wide audience. The vast majority of boys and girls associate family planning with reducing births rather than with increasing a couple's choices. However, there is considerable ignorance and misinformation among girls 16-19 about when in the monthly cycle a woman could conceive (only 15% answered correctly), indicating a limited understanding of the reproductive process. More positive is the finding that very few adolescent girls believe that a 15-year-old woman is ready to withstand pregnancy, even among those who were married themselves before age 20. HIV/AIDS: HIV/AIDS is the most widely known sexually transmitted infection (STI); the great majority of older adolescents named it when asked what STIs they knew. However, far fewer report knowledge of condoms. In Egypt, some degree of underreporting of condom knowledge is expected. However, the poor knowledge of condoms is an indication that adolescents may lack necessary information to protect themselves from STIs. Ideal age at marriage: Given the persistence of young marriage ages for girls among some communities in Egypt, one encouraging finding is that adolescents have higher ideal ages of marriage for both men and women, on average, than their parents do. Parents' ideal age for girls is less than age 20, or while still in adolescence, while both boys and girls think girls should marry at approximately age 20. Boys have consistently younger ideal ages of marriage for both men and women than do girls. Gender role attitudes: Education results in a widening gap in many gender role attitudes between boys and girls. For example, among those with secondary education or higher, 69 percent of boys but only 36 percent of girls think circumcision is necessary for a girl to be married. | |||||||||||
