Timing of Premarital Intercourse in Bandjoun (West Cameroon)

This article examined the effects of family environment on therisks of premarital intercourse for male and female youth. Previous research insub-Saharan Africa (SSA) on the linkages between family structures and sexual debutmainly utilized cross-sectional data. In a sample drawn from Cameroon Family and HealthSurvey (N = 2,166), descriptive and multivariate results showed that youth who residedin nuclear two-parent families, those who reported higher levels of parental monitoringand higher quality of parent–child relationships during childhood and/or adolescence,had significantly lower rates of premarital intercourse. Polygynous families,parent–child communication, orphanhood, and change in family structure weresignificantly associated with higher rates of premarital intercourse. Programmaticimplications for reproductive health interventions in SSA are discussed