Context: Increases in levels of awareness of HIV and greater knowledge about its transmission
and prevention have not always been associated with decreases in risky sexual behaviors among
young people in Cameroon. More information is needed about the factors associated with these
behaviors.
Methods: Data on social, demographic and economic characteristics and sexual behavior were
collected from 671 youths living in Bamenda, Cameroon, in 1995. Multivariate techniques were
used to analyze the effects of these characteristics on early initiation of intercourse, sex with
multiple partners, casual sex and nonuse of condoms.
Results: The average age at first intercourse was 15.6 for males and 15.8 for females. The main
reason given for initiating sexual activity was curiosity (53% of males and 42% of females). Some
37% of females and 30% of males, however, said their first sexual experience had not been voluntary.
The most important factors in initiation of sex before age 16 were father’s ethnicity, attending
school and having a primary or middle-school education. Family composition and household
standard of living were the factors most consistently associated with sexual risk behaviors.
Compared with youths living in a household with a high standard of living, those living in a poor
household were 1.4 times as likely to be sexually active at the time of the survey and 1.3 times
as likely to have had casual sex in the previous year. Young people living with only one parent
were 1.6 times as likely as those in two-parent households to be sexually active, 2.8 times as
likely to have multiple concurrent partners, 1.7 times as likely to have had casual sex in the previous
year and 1.1 times as likely not to be using condoms. Living with grandparents generally
had a protective effect, while living with a sibling, alone or with other persons generally increased
the likelihood of engaging in sexual risk behaviors.
Conclusions: Youths with few economic resources and those with less stable living environments
are more likely than other youths to engage in sexual behaviors that put them at risk of
contracting HIV. Improving the living conditions of families, especially those headed by single
women, could help curb the spread of AIDS.