Adolescent Girls' Agency Significantly Correlates With Favorable Social Norms in Ethiopia—Implications for Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Adolescents

Berhane, Yemane; Worku, Alemayehu; Tewahido, Dagmawit; Fasil, Nebiyou; Gulema, Hanna; Tadesse, Amare Worku; Abdelmenan, Semira

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.12.018

Cited by 19 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This study was conducted in Ethiopia, where highly gendered divisions of labour and power dynamics at household level shape everyday life and decision making processes [20]. In 2018, Ethiopia was ranked as number 117 of 149 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index 2018 [21].…”

Section: Newborn Health In Ethiopiamentioning

confidence: 99%

‘I wanted to go, but they said wait’: Mothers’ bargaining power and strategies in care-seeking for ill newborns in Ethiopia

et al. 2020

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Introduction To prevent the 2.6 million newborn deaths occurring worldwide every year, health system improvements and changes in caretaker behaviour are necessary. Mothers are commonly assumed to be of particular importance in care-seeking for ill babies; however, few studies have investigated their participation in these processes. This study explores mothers' roles in decision making and strategies in care-seeking for newborns falling ill in Ethiopia. Methods A qualitative study was conducted in Butajira, Ethiopia. Data were collected during the autumn of 2015 and comprised 41 interviews and seven focus group discussions. Participants included primary caretakers who had experienced recent newborn illness or death, health care workers and community members. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Choices about whether, where and how to seek care for ill newborns were made through cooperation and negotiation among household members. Mothers were considered the ones that initially identified or recognised illness, but their actual opportunities to seek care were bounded by structural and cultural constraints. Mothers' limited bargaining power, contained by financial resources and gendered decision making, shaped their roles in careseeking. We identified three strategies mothers took on in decision making for newborn illness: (a) acceptance and adaptation (to the lack of options), (b) negotiation and avoidance of advice from others, and (c) active care-seeking and opposition against the husband's or community's advice. Conclusion While the literature on newborn health and parenting emphasizes the key role of mothers in care-seeking, their actual opportunities to seek care are shaped by factors commonly

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Section: Newborn Health In Ethiopiamentioning

confidence: 99%

‘I wanted to go, but they said wait’: Mothers’ bargaining power and strategies in care-seeking for ill newborns in Ethiopia

et al. 2020

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“…This notion that one behavior (or set of behaviors) may be influenced by social norms pertaining to other behaviors is in fact a foundational assumption for two contributions to this special issue. The first of these examines how, in one part of Ethiopia, perceived descriptive and injunctive norms regarding education, marriage, and nutrition influence adolescent women's perceived agency in matters related to sexual and reproductive health [16] . Using multiple regression analysis, they find that, net of several sociodemographic variables, five out of six of these perceived norms variables are significantly associated with perceived agency.…”

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confidence: 99%

Veering From a Narrow Path: The Second Decade of Social Norms Research

Bingenheimer

2019

Journal of Adolescent Health

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Adolescents and young adults, particularly young women in low-and middle-income countries, face numerous and welldocumented threats to their sexual and reproductive health, including adolescent pregnancy and childbearing, much of it unintended; complications from unsafe abortions; HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections; and child marriage [1e3]. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Disclaimer: The publication of this article was made possible by the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The opinions or views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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“…The remaining articles instead explored agency in single facets: critical Children and youths Agency as the ability to exercise control over one's life, connected with notions like autonomy, nonconformity, internal locus of control, resistance to persuasion by parents or peers, self-determination and competence. (Beyers et al, 2003) Agency as a global belief in one's ability to make and attain goals in general (Berhane et al, 2019;Poteat et al, 2018) Agency as individuals' capacity to gain control over their lives (Burger & Walk, 2016) Agency is conceptualized as individuals' control over their environment (Krauss et al, 2014) Agency as the ability to act independently from others and the ability to choose from different opportunities (Steckermeier, 2019) Agency refers to the sense of having the capacity for meaningful and successful action, something related but of equivalent, to the perception of having structural opportunities to exercise such capacities" "is the self-reflective belief about one's capacity to achieve life course goals, influencing perseverance across difficult life course situations (Hitlin & Elder, 2007) Agency is more than independence or autonomy: it refers to a person's capacity, willingness and ability to actively construct their life course (Williams & Merten, 2014) Agency as the capacity to make purposeful choices as well as external factors, or opportunity structures that create the enabling environment within which individuals pursue their interest (Zimmerman et al, 2019) Agency as the capacity to act positively across space and time with respect to oppressive structure in one's environment (Veronese et al, 2019a(Veronese et al, , 2019b(Veronese et al, , 2020a(Veronese et al, , 2020b Women Agency is the ability to define one's goals and act upon them (Cheong et al, 2017;Richardson, 2018;Richardson et al, 2019a, b;…”

Section: Eligibility Criteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, the remaining eleven studies explored agency within exclusively female samples. One targeted adolescent girls in Ethiopia (Berhane et al, 2019), and the remaining were conducted amongst women coming from different countries, including Egypt (Cheong et al, 2017;Salem et al, 2020;Samari, 2017Samari, , 2019Yount, et al, 2016), India (Richardson, 2018;Richardson et al, 2019a, b), the United States (Nestadt et al, 2020), Mozambique (Victor et al, 2013), and Bangladesh (Yount et al, 2020). We will first examine the various instruments used or developed to measure agency in the younger group and then move on to the general population and women.…”

Section: Multidimensional Assessment Of Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

How Do We Assess How Agentic We Are? A Literature Review of Existing Instruments to Evaluate and Measure Individuals' Agency

2021

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The importance and centrality of the construct of agency is wellknown amongst social scientists. Yet, there is still little agreement on how this construct should be understood and defined, as demonstrated by the diversity of instruments that are used to investigate it. Indeed, there is no current consensus or standardized methodology to assess agency. This paper provides a synthetic overview of the studies that have evaluated and measured individuals' agency. More specifically, the purpose is to review research that quantitatively investigates the agency of adults, as well as children and youth, across different social contexts. In the process, it offers recommendations to inform future research, practice, and policy. We identified published peer-reviewed studies relating to the assessment of agency across countries and across age through a narrative literature review. The findings were grouped according to whether agency was measured in its most comprehensive conception or in a precise single domain or dimension, which was then discussed separately for children, adults, and women. Of the 3879 studies identified from online searches of the literature and the five additional sources gathered through bibliography mining, 106 qualified for full review, with 34 studies included in the final synthesis. Multiple different instruments were found to be currently adopted or developed to assess agency. The present review offers an exhaustive overview of the different conceptualizations of agency and of the available instruments to assess it, providing critical information for researchers and policymakers to improve intervention and empowerment programs.

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Adolescent Girls' Agency Significantly Correlates With Favorable Social Norms in Ethiopia—Implications for Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Adolescents

Cited by 19 publications

References 17 publications

‘I wanted to go, but they said wait’: Mothers’ bargaining power and strategies in care-seeking for ill newborns in Ethiopia

‘I wanted to go, but they said wait’: Mothers’ bargaining power and strategies in care-seeking for ill newborns in Ethiopia

Veering From a Narrow Path: The Second Decade of Social Norms Research

How Do We Assess How Agentic We Are? A Literature Review of Existing Instruments to Evaluate and Measure Individuals' Agency

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