Effects of Family Environment on Timing of Adolescents’ First Sexual Intercourse in Burkina Faso

Yode Miangotar, Université de Montréal

In Africa, the relation between adolescent sexual behavior and family environment is not sufficiently known and its mechanisms not specified enough. However, many individuals depend on family settings for their education and socialization. This research aims to identify the family determinants of sexual initiation of Burkinabes adolescents (12-19 years), dint data of the adolescents’ national survey 2004. The sexual initiation of half of adolescents intervened at the biological and social immaturity ages. For seven variables of family environment, only the “family type” and the “parents’ survival” could predict the girls’ first sexual intercourse. Any of the seven variables had significant effect on boys’ sexual initiation. Family processes -in particular adolescents control and parents-adolescents relations- were found to be the best predictors of the adolescents’ first sexual intercourse.