Plain language summary In Kenya, about 15% of women age 15-19 have already had a birth and approximately one third of these women did not want to have a child at that time. Yet about 45% of... Show morePlain language summary In Kenya, about 15% of women age 15-19 have already had a birth and approximately one third of these women did not want to have a child at that time. Yet about 45% of sexually active women ages 15-24 report that they currently use family planning (FP). Among young people, friends and peers are an important influence on behaviors. This study focused on a representative sample from Kenya of female and male youth (ages 15-24) who ever had sex. Men and women were asked questions about use of FP, if they think their peers use FP and about characteristics such as age and education. The results showed that young women and men who believed their peers use FP were more likely to use FP themselves. Also, young men and women who believed that peers use FP were more likely to use condoms than not use any FP and more likely to use condoms than to use another modern method of FP. Young women who thought their peers use were more likely to use another modern method (not including condoms) than to be a nonuser of FP. Programs targeting young people should include information on a range of FP methods and aim to include groups of peers and encourage open discussion.Background Prior research has established that an individual's social environment may influence his or her reproductive behaviors, yet less is known about peer influence on contraceptive use among young people (ages 15-24). In Kenya, the site of this study, 15% of adolescents ages 15-19 have begun childbearing and 45% of sexually active young women report current use of a modern contraceptive method. This highlights the need to better understand what factors influence young people to use contraception. The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between the perception of peers' use of contraceptives and contraceptive use and method choice among young men and women in Kenya. Methods This study utilizes a nationally representative sample of women and men aged 15-24 years from the 2018 and 2019 cross sectional Shujaaz State of the Kenyan Youth annual surveys. Among the sample of sexually experienced young people (59%), multivariable multinomial logistic regression was used to explore the association between the perception of peers' use of contraceptives and the respondent's contraceptive method choice: non-user, condom use or use of any other modern method. Results are presented separately for young men and young women. Results Our results show that sexually experienced young men and women who perceive that their peers are using contraceptives are more likely to report current use of condoms compared to being a nonuser (RRR = 2.12, p < 0.001, RRR = 2.59, p < 0.001, respectively); they are also more likely to use condoms than another modern method of contraception (RRR = 2.13, p = 0.034, RRR = 1.71, p = 0.014, respectively). Young women are more likely to use another modern method (not including condoms) than be a nonuser when they perceive that their peers' use contraceptives (RRR = 1.51, p = 0.020). Conclusions The results of this study highlight the important role of peer influence on young people's contraceptive choices. These findings can be used to develop programs that encourage behavior change communication activities in Kenya that focus on normalizing use of a full range of contraceptive methods among peer groups of sexually experienced young people. Show less
Young children endorse norms of fairness but rarely act on them. We investigated whether a failure of behavioral control can partially explain why children do not share more generously than they do... Show moreYoung children endorse norms of fairness but rarely act on them. We investigated whether a failure of behavioral control can partially explain why children do not share more generously than they do. We experimentally manipulated behavioral control and observed its effects on sharing in 120 children aged 6–9 years of age. Using a between-participants design, we presented children with stories in which a protagonist either exerted behavioral control in an unrelated context or not. Following this, children engaged in a sharing task. We found that children who had been read a story promoting behavioral control shared more than children who had been read a neutral story. This effect held over two different types of instruction. Perceptions of fairness, on the other hand, were identical across conditions. These findings speak to the importance of behavioral control in prosocial behavior, and specifically sharing, during middle childhood. Show less
This thesis investigates the role of several individual and social factors (i.e., personal self-esteem, social norms and social influence) that directly affect how people deal with uncertainty, in... Show moreThis thesis investigates the role of several individual and social factors (i.e., personal self-esteem, social norms and social influence) that directly affect how people deal with uncertainty, in reaction to blatant versus subtle discrimination. While responses to blatant discrimination were not affected by any of these factors, these factors determined to a significant degree responses to subtle discrimination. The main idea throughout the thesis is that blatant discrimination involves a clear rejection situation. Because of this clarity, the factors that are addressed in this dissertation are not expected to determine responses to this type of unfair group-based treatment. However, when situational cues fail to indicate the cause of the negative outcome such as in case of subtle discrimination, targets are more dependent on their level of self-esteem, the tolerance of social norms, and the opinion of others regarding the discriminatory treatment. This thesis provides us with insightful information about responses to multi-interpretable rejection situations where people are unsure about whether the negative treatment is due to their individual qualities or due to the prejudice the other holds about their social group. Furthermore, the thesis clarifies why group-based rejection can sometimes have negative and at other times have positive consequences by comparing responses of the targets to blatant and subtle discrimination. Show less
