Socialization and Youth Sexual Behavior Article critique

Socialization and Youth Sexual Behavior Article critique

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Submission date: Article Introduction

This paper in essence will analyze explore a case study on socialization in relation to youth sexual behavior in developing countries. Socialization is the process of transmitting the values of a society from one generation to the next. The values are supposed to shape the overall behavior and conduct of an individual in society.

Gender socialization on the other hand the transmission of values to the children with regards to their biological sex. Activities are assigned depending on one’s sex. The topic of sex and sexuality is important and there are different values that are taught to either boys or girls and these values vary from one society to the other.

For the purposes of this critique I have decided to analyze the case study on Socialization. The case study was conducted by Manas Ranjan Pradhan and Usha Ram among the youth in India. It emphasized on the different attitude expectations with regard to sex and sexuality by men and women and analyzed the concept of stigmatization on this topic. The study critically views how socialization has caused early sexual behavior among the youth due to the fact that the topic of sex and sexuality is a taboo among many Indian communities.

In the next few sections lies the critique, where we will critique the methodology used in the articles, and analyze whether the objectives aforementioned in the article were met. In addition, the relevance of the article, especially as regards day to day life will be looked at. We will also look at the strengths and weaknesses of the article. The gaps not mentioned and underestimated will also be looked at. Then we will end this article critique, by going over the points the article wished to make, and if or not, they were clearly brought out. Points to be garnered from the article will also be looked at.

Article Highlight

The main objective of this case study was to explore youth’s perception about their gender role in the society. In addition to this, attempts were made to understand youth’s perception of ‘real man’ and ‘real woman’. Effort was also made to understand the association of perceived gender role on youth sexual behavior. Further, the study made an attempt to understand the treatment seeking behavior for any RTI/STI problem and its association with perceived gender role of youth.

Methodology

The present study was part of a larger study that had been conducted in three phases i.e. the pre-survey qualitative phase, the survey and the post-survey qualitative phase during 2006-07. In the pre-survey qualitative phase, there were Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) which ran separately with regard to male and females in some selected villages. The selection of those villages was done at random in the Tehsil (administrative unit of the district) selected for the main survey. Youths for the FGDs had been selected keeping in mind the age, education, occupation, caste and marital duration.

A multi-stage sampling design had been adopted for selecting the youth for the individual interviews. First of all, one district (administrative unit of the state) i.e. Puri had been selected at random out of the 30 districts of the state.

At the second stage, out of the 11 existing Tehsils of the district, one Tehsil was randomly selected.

At the third stage, 20 villages of about 300 households had been selected at random. There were ten villages for the men and ten for the women. Randomly, villages for conduction of interviews on young men and women were selected. There was a complete house listing of all 20 selected villages. It was also at this stage that information about sex and marital status of the persons aged 15-29 years was collected to identify the households having eligible youths for the survey. This created a list of households having at least one eligible youth which was prepared for each of the 20 villages.

In view of the non-response, over sampling of the sample size was conducted at about 20 percent. From the new list of households, 30 households from each village were selected using circular systematic random sampling. Problems that arose during data collection forced the samplers to come to a decision that they would interview only one youth from a household and separate village for the young men and women. Incases where more than one eligible youth in the selected household was found, the Kish table was used to select only one youth for the interview.

In the post-survey qualitative phase, for the in-depth interviews (IDIs) a few youth from the sample were selected.

Findings

It is important to note that the findings of this research were mainly based on the qualitative data collected during the three phases of the study.

It is worth mentioning that necessary ethical guidelines like informed consent of the youths have been taken into 5 consideration during data collection. Software packages like ANTHROPAC were used for analysis purpose.

The research revealed that 15 out of the total 34 young men chosen for FGDs were in the age group 20-24 while the remaining were in the age group 25-29 years. The remaining young men had completed 10 or more years of schooling. A majority of the young men covered in the FGDs is engaged in cultivation/daily labor. Three-fourth of them was the cultivators/laborers and the rest had their own business or worked in service sector. Further, three-fourth of them had experienced premarital sex and almost similar number of them had experienced any RTI/STI.

On the other hand, majority of the young women IDI participants were in the age group 20-24 years. Six of the participants were either non-literates or had completed up to five years of schooling, nine of them had completed six to nine years of schooling and the rest 10 or more years of schooling. Again, most of them were housewives. Three of these young women belonged to SC, eight to OBC and the rest to non-SC/OBC category. Notably, five of the ladies opened up and mentioned that they had had a sexual encounter before they were eighteen and twelve of them had contracted any RTI/STI. Besides this, more than half of these young women had experienced any unintended pregnancy.

The perception of the youth on the “real man, real woman” issue was that men and women are biologically different and are often differentiated on that ground. Societies usually have a host of predetermined list of qualities that one is expected to inherit in order to be a ‘real man or woman’.

It was observed that both young men and young women are in agreement with the attributes like the ability of a man to earn and maintain family, to take decision, to physically satisfy spouse/partner and to procreate besides having a well-built body as the essential characteristics of a ‘real man’.

Many of the young men also view that a ‘real man’ should be physically strong enough to fight other men (if needed), should have moustache, should be out-spoken and hard-working. A few other young men viewed a ‘real man’ as one with an ability to attract a woman, to control his wife and portraying manly behavior by not always obeying the wife.

However, many of the young women seemed to have very different view about a ‘real man’ as most of them perceived a man who keeps away from alcohol as well as other women as a ‘real man’. Besides this, a few other young women perceived man’s good behavior towards his wife, respect for others and educational status as the must of a ‘real man’.

Similarly, there were some other characteristics expected to be possessed by a woman in order to be regarded as a ‘real woman’ and there existed sex differences in the perception too. It was noted that for many young men, a ‘real woman’ should be beautiful; educated; adjustable; walks and speaks slowly; virgin till marriage besides being faithful to husband.

Many of the young women also viewed ‘a good character’ and ‘respect for husband’s decision’ as essential characteristics of a ‘real woman’. However, there seemed to be consensus between the young men and women on the attributes of this ‘real woman’. A woman’s ability to bear child, to efficiently perform household chores and be caring towards her family was a qualification to this group.

Many young people perceived RTI/STI as a disease primarily of women. Further, many young men perceived these problems as natural and that they could be cured automatically coupled with many others who preferred to ignore these problems as they thought men were not required to worry of these problems.

On the other hand, stigmatization with regard to these sexually transmitted diseases and the outdated misconception that women were responsible for their source and transmission inhibited many from seeking medical care (Martin, 749).

Critique

The case was able to meet its objective in analyzing the perception of the youth with regard to socialization in society in relation to the topic and issues related to sex and sexuality (Forste & Hass, 172). The research took place in three stages; the pre-survey qualitative phase, the survey and the post-survey qualitative phase. Each stage was characterized by in-depth interviews separately for men and women. The study was able to cover several states and therefore the results are reliable and not inclining on one part of India. In other words, the views are diverse clearly reflect the perception of the youth of India as a whole.

However, due to the sample being mainly from the cultivator/laborer areas, the methodology is biased in the fact that only the views of this group are presented. Perceptions of the high class, literate youth are overlooked and there is a major assumption that the group of youth in the sample is a representation of all youth in India.

Gaps underestimated or unexplored

The average age youth from the sample is twenty four. The age bracket twenty to twenty six cannot in essence represent views of all ages considering that a youth is a person between the ages of eighteen to thirty five ( Davis & Friel, 672).

Another weakness is that the study does not indicate how the software packages such as ANTHROPAC were used in the analysis of the raw data in order to validate its usefulness in the presentation of accountable and transparent data.

Applicability to the local housing environment

This case study proved to be so effective in the fact that it presents the perfect scenario for developing countries in relation to socialization, sex and sexuality. Many of the youth in these countries live in such conditions and are presented by these socialization instructions that makes them identify with the group in the sample (Gage, 160). Most of them are illiterate and hence their perception on the RTI/STI condition is not based on medical ground but on the fact of what society teaches.

Relevance

The issue of sex and sexuality is very vital in the fact that the youth are the leaders of tomorrow. For any society to advance, the youth must be in the forefront in understanding issues that affect them and their remedies. The case study proves to be relevant because it portrays the uninformed perception of the youth which will definitely ruin them. It is a learning platform where societies can change their socialization process in order to favor the health and advancement of the youth.

Application to specific needs

The case study also proves to be a resourceful tool to be used to direct the government and other youth initiatives in the implementation of health education and application of civil education to the youth not only in India but also in other developing countries. This is because it addresses the youth from their own point of view and therefore, one can be able to recruit initiatives tailored made for them in order to educate them on some of these issues that seem misinformed.

Conclusion

On the balance of reviewing the weaknesses and strengths of this research, I conclude that great effort has been made to ensure that the target group has been presented in the sample especially by the methodology used where interviews are at phase levels.

The perception that youths are under an obligation to adhere to ascribed roles of the society with regard to their gender is uncalled for especially for women who are in this case even viewed as the normal carriers of sexually transmitted diseases. The misconception leads to unwarranted sexual activities which could lead to unintended parenthood.

The paper seems to infer that youths who are especially illiterate or semi-illiterate are more likely to have misconstrued perceptions about sex and sexuality due to their socialization. I disagree with this view because levels of sexual behavior among the urban youth are also high and the same perceptions are found in the city youth only that the degree or orientation varies.

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