Approaches to Regulating Adolescent Sexual Behavior in Ghana: Qualitative Evidence from Somanya and Adidome
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study highlights how collective community norms — especially informal surveillance and shared social responsibility — play a key role in delaying adolescent sexual behavior. In Adidome, strong communal norms and active neighborhood monitoring contributed to lower HIV rates, while in Somanya, weakened cultural practices and lower community cohesion were linked […]
“Girls Have More Challenges; They Need to Be Locked Up”: A Qualitative Study of Gender Norms and the Sexuality of Young Adolescents in Uganda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: In Uganda, restrictive gender norms are instilled in children from an early age, deeply shaping adolescent girls’ experiences of sexuality and limiting their agency. Boys are encouraged to express and explore sexuality, while girls are expected to be passive, modest, and solely responsible for preventing sexual activity and its consequences. These […]
‘I wanted to enjoy our marriage first… but I got pregnant right away’: a qualitative study of family planning understandings and decisions of women in urban Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights how social norms around marriage, fertility, and womanhood shape postpartum family planning in urban Yogyakarta. There was a strong expectation that women should become pregnant soon after marriage, particularly among those who married in their late twenties or thirties. These norms often overrode women’s personal desires to delay […]
Ring your future, without changing diaper – Can preventing teenage pregnancy address child marriage in Zambia?
Key Social Norms Take-aways: In Eastern Zambia, social and gender norms play a major role in driving both teenage pregnancy and child marriage. Cultural expectations around early sexual debut, family honor, and the role of girls as wives and mothers push young people—especially girls—into early sexual activity and marriage. Initiation ceremonies, transactional relationships, and stigma […]
Early Marriage, Social Networks, and the Transmission of Norms
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study finds that early marriage contributes to the transmission and reinforcement of traditional gender norms in Bangladesh, shaping women’s beliefs and weakening their social networks. Women who marry earlier are more likely to agree with gender-biased statements and report fewer progressive role models in their networks. Crucially, the study tested […]
Beyond the statistic: Exploring the process of early marriage decision-making using qualitative findings from Ethiopia and India
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms around marriage readiness based on physical maturity rather than age, limited roles for unmarried girls, and pressure from elders and peers sustain early marriage in Ethiopia and India. Legal deterrents are often ineffective compared to strong social sanctions. Girls’ voice and agency are constrained, especially in socially vulnerable contexts. […]