Sexual Behaviour of Men and Women within Age-Disparate Partnerships in South Africa: Implications for Young Women's HIV Risk

BackgroundAge-disparate partnerships are hypothesized to increase HIV-risk for young women. However, the evidence base remains mixed. Most studies have focused only on unprotected sex among women in the partnership. Consequently, little is known about other risky behaviours, such as transactional sex, alcohol use, and concurrency, as well as the behaviours of the men who partner with young women. We therefore examined differences in various sexual behaviours of both young women and their male partners by partnership age difference.MethodsWe used nationally representative data from South Africa (2012) on partnerships reported by 16–24 year old black African women (n = 818) and by black African men in partnerships with 16–24 year old women (n = 985). We compared sexual behaviours in age-disparate partnerships and age-similar partnerships, using multiple logistic regression to control for potential confounders and to assess rural/urban differences.ResultsYoung women in age-disparate partnerships were more likely to report unprotected sex than young women in similar-aged partnerships (aOR:1.51; p = 0.014; 95%CI:1.09–2.11). Men in partnerships with young women were more likely to report unprotected sex (aOR:1.92; p

背景：年龄差异显著的伴侣关系被推测会增加年轻女性的HIV风险。然而，相关证据尚不统一。大多数研究仅关注伴侣关系中女性的不安全性行为。因此，关于其他风险行为，如交易性性行为、酒精消费和多重伴侣关系，以及与年轻女性伴侣的男性行为等方面的了解甚少。鉴于此，我们通过分析不同年龄差异的伴侣关系中年轻女性及其男性伴侣的多种性行为差异，以期揭示相关行为模式。方法：我们采用了南非（2012年）的国家代表性数据，数据来源于16至24岁的黑人非洲女性（n=818）及其与16至24岁女性伴侣的黑人非洲男性（n=985）。我们通过多元逻辑回归分析了年龄差异的伴侣关系与年龄相似的伴侣关系中的性行为差异，并控制了潜在的混杂因素，评估了城乡差异。结果：年龄差异伴侣关系中的年轻女性比年龄相似伴侣关系中的年轻女性更有可能报告不安全性行为（优势比：1.51；p=0.014；95%置信区间：1.09–2.11）。与年轻女性伴侣的男性更有可能报告不安全性行为（优势比：1.92；p...