High school teenage girls’ perceptions of human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome in Gauteng Province, South Africa: Age-mixing sexual partnerships

Abstract

Age-disparity relationships between High School teenage girls and adults’ male partners above 21 years were transactional in nature and believed to be spreading human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Teenage girls lacked the capacity to negotiate condom use due to lack of autonomy, coupled with sexual violence. This resulted in HIV transmission and an increase in teenage pregnancies. The study explored and described the risky behaviours of High School teenage girls with regard to HIV and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) transmission in Gauteng Province, South Africa. A non-experimental descriptive design was used in this study. The 109 respondents between 15 and 19-years were studied using modified, self-administered, structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23. The 90% of the 19-year-old respondents had multiple concurrent sexual relationships and condom use was low. High School teenage girls had a low perception of HIV risk because they were involved in concurrent multiple sexual relationships with low condom use.