Key Social Norms Take-aways Peer sexual norms are an important influence on adolescents’ protective sexual behaviors. Adolescents who perceived their peers as more accepting of sexual activity were less likely to abstain or practice safer sex. The discussion further emphasizes that these peer influences operate within broader gendered norms: girls may face unequal sanctions for premarital sex while simultaneously experiencing economic dependence and unequal power that constrain condom negotiation and sexual autonomy. The authors therefore argue that interventions should address peer expectations alongside gender norms, economic vulnerability, and family influences rather than focusing only on individual attitudes or knowledge.

Objectives The study examined parental and adolescent factors associated with protective sexual behaviors among in-school adolescents in Osun State, Nigeria, using a positive deviance approach. Specifically, it assessed parental sexual and reproductive health communication, support, and monitoring, as well as adolescents’ sexual attitudes, peer norms, sexual and reproductive health knowledge, and religiosity.

Methods This quantitative cross-sectional study included 1,283 adolescents aged 14–19 from eight secondary schools, selected through multistage sampling. Anonymous self-administered questionnaires were collected in March 2021. Protective sexual behavior was categorized as abstinence, safer sex, or high-risk sexual behavior based on sexual activity, condom use, and sexual fidelity. Descriptive analyses, chi-square tests, and multinomial logistic regression were conducted. Social norms were incorporated through a five-item peer sexual norms measure assessing perceived peer attitudes and acceptance regarding sexual activity; sexual attitudes were measured separately as individual attitudes toward unmarried sex, pregnancy, cohabitation, and casual sex.

Results Higher parental support and monitoring were significantly associated with greater odds of abstinence and safer sex, while parental sexual and reproductive health communication was not significant. More permissive peer sexual norms were associated with lower odds of abstinence (odds ratio=0.61) and safer sex (odds ratio=0.85), and permissive sexual attitudes showed similar negative associations. Greater religiosity predicted both protective outcomes, while greater sexual and reproductive health knowledge predicted safer sex but not abstinence. Girls were disproportionately represented in the highest-risk category involving inconsistent condom use and lack of sexual fidelity.

Conclusions Protective sexual behaviors are achievable even within restrictive social environments and are shaped by interconnected family, peer, individual, economic, and gender influences. The authors recommend strengths-based, contextually grounded interventions that build on existing protective behaviors, strengthen supportive parental and peer influences, and address the social norms and structural inequalities that can constrain girls’ ability to practice safer sex.