Mothers’ practices and barriers in sexuality education for adolescents with intellectual disabilities
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Cultural taboos and stigma surrounding sexuality strongly shaped mothers’ attitudes and practices, discouraging open discussion and reinforcing silence around sexuality education. Mothers’ embarrassment, fear of making mistakes, and concern that discussing sexuality might encourage inappropriate curiosity interacted with limited institutional support to produce narrow, reactive teaching. The authors emphasize that culturally […]
Perspectives of adolescent girls (10-19 years) in Mahama camp on factors affecting accessibility of contraceptive services in the camp in 2022
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social and cultural expectations around adolescent sexuality substantially shape adolescent girls’ access to contraception in Mahama refugee camp. Community expectations favor abstinence before marriage and often frame contraception as appropriate only for married women. Girls therefore anticipate shame, gossip, stigma, and being labeled as sexually immoral if seen seeking contraception, discouraging […]
Gender-based violence and the inclusion of men in GBV prevention campaigns: perceptions of students in a university in South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Gender-based violence prevention should move beyond awareness-raising to actively address harmful gender norms, unequal power relations, and the social and institutional conditions that allow violence to persist. Participants viewed men as potentially important agents for transforming harmful masculinities and gender norms, but emphasized that male engagement must be carefully structured around […]
Drivers of adolescent pregnancy in rural Zambia: a qualitative study in Kalabo District, Western Province
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Adolescent pregnancy in rural Kalabo, Zambia, is shaped by intersecting gender norms, cultural expectations, economic pressures, and institutional barriers rather than individual behavior alone. The discussion emphasizes that the sikenge initiation rite reinforces expectations of obedience, domestic responsibility, marriage, and fertility, linking womanhood and family respectability to motherhood and limiting girls’ […]
Unveiling Adolescent Boys’ Perceptions of Menstruation: A Qualitative Study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Menstrual stigma among adolescent boys is reinforced through social silence, gender roles, peer interactions, and cultural and religious practices. Boys observed menstrual restrictions within families—such as prohibitions on prayer, cooking, and household activities—often without receiving explanations, which can lead them to internalize menstruation as impure or shameful. Parents’ and teachers’ reluctance […]
Experiences and actions taken by women to address delayed conception in Delhi, India: A qualitative study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social expectations surrounding motherhood strongly shaped women’s experiences of delayed conception and their responses to it. Women described internalizing conventional gender roles that positioned childbearing as central to women’s social value, while family and community expectations to conceive soon after marriage created pressure, stigma, and blame. These expectations encouraged women to […]
An intersectional analysis of social norms affecting adolescent access to sexual and reproductive health services in rural Tanzania.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms shape adolescents’ access to sexual and reproductive health services through intersecting systems of gender, age, economic inequality, religion, and geography. Girls—particularly those who are older, poor, rural, or from conservative religious households—experience compounded stigma, moral policing, restricted agency, and barriers to care, while boys often receive greater social tolerance. […]
Perspectives on post-violence support-seeking and service provision among adolescent girls and young women: Insights from community conversations in Lusaka, Zambia.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social and gender norms strongly shape whether adolescent girls and young women seek support after violence and how families, communities, and institutions respond. Norms emphasizing silence, secrecy, endurance of violence, preservation of marriage, and communal harmony can discourage disclosure and formal help-seeking, particularly for violence within marriage. However, participants also described […]
Barriers and facilitators to community-based, peer-led sexual and reproductive health intervention for adolescent girls and young women in northeastern Uganda: A qualitative study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms are central to whether adolescent girls and young women can safely participate in sexual and reproductive health programs. Community expectations around adolescent sexuality, contraception, fertility, and early childbearing create anticipated social sanctions—including being labeled “spoilt” or sexually active—that can lead girls to self-censor and avoid services. These norms are […]
Parents’ and guardians’ perceptions of sexual and reproductive health communication with youth: A qualitative study in Gurage Zone, Southern Ethiopia.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Sociocultural norms—including taboos, shame, secrecy, and gendered expectations—constrain parent–youth communication about sexual and reproductive health. The discussion emphasizes that simply encouraging parents to communicate is insufficient; interventions must address the cultural, relational, and structural conditions that determine whether these conversations are considered acceptable and possible. Gender norms also shape who communicates […]