Who You Do It with Matters: Characteristics of Sexual Partnerships among Male and Female Youth in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

Lisanne Brown, Tulane University
Naomi Rutenberg, Population Council
Ali M. Karim, Tulane University

Understanding the gender dynamics of youth sexuality, and partnership patterns in particular, is important to addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in high prevalence countries where a significant proportion of new infections are among young people under 25. This paper will use very rich and unique panel data of both male and female youth in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (n=2222) to examine the characteristics of male and female sexual partnerships, the changes in these partnerships overtime, and whether the secondary school life skills program has had an impact on those changes. All analyses will be conducted separately for males and females and by race (African and Asian). Results from the first round of data collection reveal that age differences between partners vary by sex: for males mean age of most recent sexual partner is 1 year younger, while for females the mean age of partner was 4 years older