Conhecimentos, práticas e vivências da sexualidade em jovens são-tomenses

Abstract

Neste artigo apresentamos alguns resultados preliminares da pesquisa que está a ser realizada na Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto (FPCEUP/CIIE) com o objetivo de identificar conhecimentos, práticas e vivências da sexualidade dos jovens São-tomenses e o papel da Educação Sexual Escolar (ESE) na adopção de comportamentos preventivos e saudáveis. Estudo qualitativo, exploratório, realizado através de um questionário de autopreenchimento, aplicado a 280 jovens, (135) rapazes e (145) raparigas entre os 15 e os 19 anos de idade, frequentando a 10ª classe do ensino secundário em estabelecimentos públicos e privados. Resultados: observamos que há mudanças em curso no sentido de um maior controlo dos/as jovens estudantes sobre a sua vida sexual, nomeadamente através do prolongamento da idade de abstinência e da monogamia no namoro. O início da atividade sexual é mais precoce nos rapazes (3 anos mais cedo do que as raparigas) e é mais observada, para rapazes e raparigas, quando não tem associada a relação de namoro. É de admitir a hipótese de que a ancoragem da prática sexual na relação afetiva possa ser protetora e libertadora, particularmente para as raparigas, do peso da identidade de género herdada, permitindo uma escolaridade mais prolongada e um projeto de vida mais autónomo.

Adolescent pregnancy in Sao Tome and Principe: a cross-sectional hospital-based study

“…Other characteristic notable of discussion is that both adolescents and older women acknowledged that the baby´s father was also living with another woman, which is probably associated with a “polygamous” marital informality that is known in the country to be around 22.4% [ 28 ]. This can be explained by the fact that in STP, many families live in a kind of non-marital union, which consists of regular or irregular visits by the male spouse to the women with whom he has sexual relations, usually a young woman, with children resulting from this relationship [ 35 , 36 ].…”

“…The reason why they have planned to be pregnant at such a younger age was not questioned but we suppose that it is due to some culture incentives. In the country there is a saying that “for every union a woman should offer a baby to her men”, what could be related to these planned pregnancies at a younger age [ 35 , 36 ]. In STP prevails a culture aspect that promotes young girls into believe that, by conceiving a child, they will be bond to their partner having access to a better quality of life and to a social upgrade.…”

“…To highlight that most adolescent girls in this study were neither studying nor working at the time they got pregnant. Paradoxically, those who were students, had to dropped out from school due to the government disciplinary act prohibiting pregnant girls in the third month of pregnancy from attending classes or school activities [ 35 , 36 ]. The same sanction was applied to male students involved in the pregnancies.…”

“…With a population of about 200.000, STP has a high adolescent fertility rate of 94.8 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 years compared for example to 68 in South Africa or 61 in Sudan [ 23 , 27 – 30 ]. Although, adolescent pregnancy is recognized as a major public health issue in the country and the government seeks to be able to reduce it to a rate of 15% [ 28 , 31 – 36 ] ( https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/popfacts/PopFacts_2019-1.pdf ), it has not been yet properly studied [ 21 , 31 – 33 , 37 ].…”