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 […]
A Social-Ecological Model to Explore Multi-Faceted Drivers of Child Marriage: An Iterative Qualitative Study in Southern Bangladesh.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social and community norms emerged as some of the most influential drivers of child marriage in southern Bangladesh. Norms surrounding adolescent sexuality, gender, religion, family honor, girls’ mobility, and the “ideal” bride reinforce one another and interact with poverty, girls’ limited agency, and institutional weaknesses. In particular, expectations that girls remain […]
Contradictions in value systems, social norms, and the disconnect between expectations and reality of sexuality and contraceptive use among youth in Karamoja, Uganda.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Young people in Karamoja navigate contradictory, gendered social norms that simultaneously restrict premarital sexuality while encouraging early marriage and, in some circumstances, legitimizing sexual violence as a pathway to marriage. Social sanctions, stigma, and misconceptions also discourage modern contraceptive and condom use. However, the study identifies potentially protective norms around child […]
Exploring barriers, facilitators, and preferences for the uptake of contraceptive methods among adolescents aged 15-19 years in Neno district, Malawi: a qualitative study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms are central to low adolescent contraceptive uptake in Neno district. Despite widespread recognition of the harms of early pregnancy, cultural and religious norms discouraging premarital sex and adolescent contraception often outweigh health concerns. Stigma associates contraceptive use, particularly among girls, with promiscuity, while masculine expectations linking fertility with virility […]
Adolescents’ agency in negotiating social norms governing sexual and reproductive health services among the Nyasa people of Rural Tanzania.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Adolescents and young people are not simply constrained by social norms; they actively reproduce, resist, and negotiate them to balance sexual and reproductive health needs with social acceptance. Restrictive gender expectations, stigma, fear of community judgment, and concerns about confidentiality shape service use, while trusted peer networks provide important pathways for […]
Social ecosystems of trafficked conflict-related sexual violence survivors and their children: navigating and coping with intersecting stigma and violence in Nigeria and Iraq.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Community-level social and gender norms are central drivers of stigma toward women and girls who survived trafficking and conflict-related sexual violence and their children born of war. Norms surrounding premarital sex and childbirth, virginity, purity, family honor, marriageability, paternity, and community identity interact with conflict-related fear and perceptions of affiliation with […]
A Qualitative Study on Youth and Healthcare Provider Perspectives on Youth Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Northern Ghana: Implications for a Peer-Led Intervention.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social and gender norms substantially shape young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health services in northern Ghana. Expectations of abstinence before marriage, religious discouragement, and stigma linking contraceptive use with promiscuity create fear of judgment and discourage care-seeking. Young women face particularly strong social consequences because of gendered expectations surrounding […]
Where shame meets vulnerability: unintended adolescent pregnancy within the cultural context of the rural district of Rwandan Eastern Province.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social and cultural norms surrounding premarital adolescent sexuality, gender, and motherhood shape both the risk and consequences of unintended adolescent pregnancy in rural Rwanda. The discussion emphasizes that norms portraying adolescent sex as immoral and pregnancy as shameful can generate internalized and enacted stigma, silence girls’ sexual agency, reinforce gender and […]