Landscaping the behaviors, drivers and norms influencing the wellbeing of very young adolescents: an exploration of stakeholders’ perspectives in Nigeria.
Outcomes: Child, Early, and Forced Marriage, Gender‑Based Violence, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Women’s Economic Empowerment
View SourceKey Social Norms Take-aways Harmful gender norms and sociocultural expectations operate across multiple areas of very young adolescents’ lives in Nigeria, reinforcing early marriage, gender-based violence, girls’ economic dependency, silence around sexuality, and vaccine hesitancy. The discussion emphasizes that these behaviors are embedded in unequal social structures and sustained by stigma, community expectations, misinformation, and institutional weaknesses. Norm change therefore needs to be community-led, context-specific, and combined with stronger services, economic opportunities, accountability systems, and trusted sources of information rather than relying on awareness-raising alone.
Objectives To explore the behaviors, drivers, and social and gender norms affecting the well-being of very young adolescents aged 10–14 across 12 Nigerian states, focusing on child, early and forced marriage; gender-based violence; girls’ economic empowerment; sexual and reproductive health; and human papillomavirus vaccination.
Methods This qualitative, multi-state study purposively engaged approximately 35 stakeholders per state through participatory consultative workshops representing diverse sectors and urban, rural, and conflict-affected settings. Workshops used structured discussion guides, behavioral mapping, root-cause analysis using the “Five Whys,” and dot voting to identify and prioritize behaviors and drivers. Thematic analysis used deductive and inductive coding, cross-case synthesis, and triangulation. Social norms were examined through a framework distinguishing descriptive norms (beliefs about what others do) and injunctive norms (beliefs about what others expect), as well as sanctions and individuals or institutions that enforce norms.
Results Harmful practices included early sexual initiation, transactional relationships, child and forced marriage, non-disclosure of violence, and limited health-service use. Cross-cutting drivers included poverty, patriarchal gender expectations, peer and community influence, misinformation, weak services, and stigma. Norms tied girls’ value to marriageability and obedience, normalized male dominance and violence, discouraged discussion and help-seeking around sexuality and abuse, restricted girls’ economic autonomy, and contributed to vaccine hesitancy through concerns about sexuality, fertility, and morality. Girls’ apparent compliance often reflected constrained agency and fear of stigma, punishment, exclusion, or loss of family support rather than genuine consent.
Conclusions Very young adolescents face interconnected risks produced by harmful norms, economic constraints, misinformation, structural inequalities, and service-delivery gaps. Addressing these risks requires coordinated, multi-level approaches that transform harmful norms while strengthening adolescent-friendly services, protective systems, reliable information, girls’ economic opportunities, and environments that enable adolescents to exercise greater voice, choice, and agency.
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