Developing Experimental Vignettes to Identify Gender Norms Associated With Transactional Sex for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Central Uganda

Abstract

PurposeTransactional sex or informal sexual exchange relationships increase adolescent girls' and young women's (AGYW) HIV and pregnancy risk in sub-Saharan Africa. These relationships are grounded in the shared expectation that men should provide financial support to their partners. We built a vignette experiment to assess whether gender norms influenced by expectations of provision help to explain how transactional sex increases AGYW's sexual and reproductive health risks.MethodsWe used mixed methods to develop a vignette experiment in Central Uganda with AGYW including 10 focus group discussions, 32 cognitive interviews, and a pilot survey experiment with 108 sexually active unmarried AGYW. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the two manipulations for three vignettes. The vignettes examined whether the amount a man provided changed perceived social approval of men's authority in relationships, sexual decision-making power, or women having multiple partners.ResultsWe find that a higher level of male provision is associated with higher levels of perceived community approval for his sexual decision-making power (p < .001) and lower levels of perceived peer approval for AGYW's to seek a second partner (p < .05). We also find that higher levels of male provision are associated with respondent's own approval of male authority and sexual decision-making.ConclusionOur findings suggest that approval of men's sexual decision-making power increases when they provide more and that girls who seek a second partner find higher levels of social approval for this behavior when their primary partner provides less. Vignette experiments may be valuable for identifying social norms that put AGYW's sexual and reproductive health at risk.

Sexual risk behaviors, mental health outcomes and attitudes supportive of wife-beating associated with childhood transactional sex among adolescent girls and young women: Findings from the Uganda Violence Against Children Survey

“…That reported early engagement in transactional sex is associated with more recent sexual risk behaviors (i.e. no or infrequent condom use and multiple sex partners in the past 12 months) may be in part explained by gender norms and beliefs that underlie transactional sex [ 46 ]. Transactional sex stems from broader gender expectations of relationships within patriarchal societies–that men are expected to provide for their partners and women, in turn, to provide sexual services [ 47 ].…”

“…The study found evidence for a higher social acceptance of men’s control over sexual decision-making power in relationships when they provide more material support. The study also found evidence for increased peer acceptance of young women taking on an additional sexual partner if their primary partner is perceived as not providing enough material support [ 27 ]. While the Uganda VACS did not have measures to allow replication of this study, this pilot study provides insight that women who engage in relationships motivated by male provision may be more likely to adhere to expectations that men should control sexual decision-making, including whether or not to use condoms.…”

“…AGYW’s reported level of agency within transactional sex relationships in Uganda also varies. In some studies, they describe themselves as savvy and powerful, able to extract money without having sex, or to benefit from having multiple partners [ 25 – 27 ]. In other research, AGYW are described as having very little power in transactional sex relationships, being forced or coerced into sex, often by older, wealthy men [ 28 ] in positions of power, such as teachers [ 29 , 30 ], as well as by peers [ 24 ].…”

Sexual health of adolescent girls and young women in Central Uganda: exploring perceived coercive aspects of transactional sex

“… 56 This could be particularly valuable given strong normative expectations of male provision, where AGYW describe strong expectations for their partner to provide for them, even when they have access to other resources. 57 Another important avenue could be to recruit existing norms around parenting and parents’ perceived obligations to safeguard their daughters. This could build on parents’ existing efforts to ascertain the source of their daughters’ resources while also prompting recognition of the impact of expecting AGYW to contribute economically to the household in the absence of any income-generation opportunities.…”

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

“…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. Another contribution describes the development of new measures of social norms related to transactional sex among adolescent and young adult women in Uganda [17] . Rather than focusing on social norms regarding transactional sex itself, however, this work uses experimental vignettes to measure social norms regarding men's obligation to provide material support to women and the sexual and other obligations that this support generates for young women.…”