Social capital and premarital sexual activity in Africa: The case of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Prior research has pointed to several factors that may affect sexual behavior in Africa, but much of the work has been atheoretical or descriptive, thus reducing the explanatory value of some findings. In this study, the influence of individual characteristics and family background were examined in a sample of 2,000 women aged 14 - 24 interviewed in Kinshasa in 1995. The analysis was guided by the social capital framework and the discussion focused on three theoretical perspectives: rational adaptation, social disorganization, and patrilineal bias. The results from the event history analysis showed that poverty, exposure to mass media, patrilinearity, and AIDS awareness greatly reduce the risk of premarital sexual activity. In contrast, social capital, as measured by the number of siblings, was positively associated with sexual permissiveness, suggesting a dilution of adults' attention to children in larger families.