Berhane, Y., Worku, A., Tewahido, D., Fasil, N., Gulema, H., Tadesse, A. W., & Abdelmenan, S. (2019). Adolescent Girls’ Agency Significantly Correlates With Favorable Social Norms in Ethiopia—Implications for Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 64(4), pp. 52–59.
Adolescent girls between the ages of 13 and 17 are in a crucial stage of their lives where they must negotiate social norms that constrain them and put their sexual and reproductive health at risk. Data from low-income sources do not sufficiently account for this age group. This study explores how adolescent girls’ agency interacts with social norms surrounding marriage, nutrition, and education, placing special emphasis on the role that social norms play in enhancing sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing. The study was carried out in Ethiopia’s West Hararghe region. Adolescent girls between the ages of 13 and 17 lived in the districts of Mesela, Chiro, Doba, and Boke were selected. In order to conduct the study, 114 clusters were chosen, and households with qualified adolescent girls were located.
According to the findings,the association between agency and the descriptive norms was statistically significant, while the association between agency and the injunctive norms for marriage and nutrition was not statistically significant. The study emphasises how crucial it is to promote positive social norms in order to increase adolescent agency. These expectations give girls more self-assurance and enable them to defend their rights. Girls in their adolescence have more options for making decisions that will affect their health and wellbeing, such as delaying childbirth and early marriage. Contraception use is one of the agency scale domains that has received largely unfavourable responses. Particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where young adolescents lack the in-depth knowledge to protect themselves from sexual risks, interventions addressing sexual and reproductive rights for young adolescent girls are required.
From the findings, it is stated that measuring adolescent girls’ agency and social norms is a complex task with no agreed-upon standard tools. The associations between agency and norm scores indicate a high intertwining relationship, and interventions to improve health and well-being need to consider both individual and social factors.Even though, Ethiopia has seen encouraging changes in gender equality, early marriage reduction, and increased educational opportunities, there is a belief in women’s health rights related to contraception use and the right to refuse sex. In conclusion, the study finds a strong relationship between social norms and the agency of adolescent girls, calling for interventions to change social norms to improve sexual and reproductive health. Effective interventions, such as the Village Savings and Loan Association model, are needed to improve scores and improve sexual and reproductive health in low-income settings.