Page 11 - IJPS-9-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Reproductive transition of Ethiopian youths

incidence of transition to PMS among female youths in male and female youths. By the age of 15, one in every
the most recent birth cohort was found to be higher than five female youths had begun childbearing, whereas the
the corresponding male youths (Figure 1D). Concerning transition to parenthood for male youths was completely
the transition to marriage, a significant reduction in the absent. In addition, the results showed that a large volume
cumulative incidence rate in both male and female youths of the transition to parenthood of female youths happened
was observed. For male youths, the inter-cohort gap before age 20; however, for male youths, a large proportion
became noticeable after age 19; while for female youths, of it occurs after age 20 (Figure 1C and F).
the gap started to steadily expand starting at age 15 The competing risk regression analysis result showed
(Figure 1B and E). that the inter-cohort differences in the CIF of premarital sex

The transition to parenthood after the onset of PMS and marriage were significant and the difference is not the
or marriage, however, revealed a marginally positive but same for male and female youths. For premarital sex, the
statistically insignificant gap between birth cohorts of both inter-cohort difference has shown a statistically significant
increase, and an extremely higher rate of increase was
Table 2: Percent distribution of characteristics of youths of observed among female youths than males. Contrarily,
the 1985–1989 birth cohort by sex the transition to marriage has shown a significant risk
reduction with female youths having a higher risk reduction
Characteristics 1985 – 1989 birth cohort than males. For transition to parenthood, although females
Male Female were at a higher risk of transition to parenthood than
(n = 750) (n = 1003) males, the birth cohorts had a similar risk of transition to
Attended primary and 72.7 32.5 parenthood for both sexes (Table 3).
above level of education
Have exposure to media 66.8 39.2 Distribution of debut to sex, either PMS or marriage,
Living in a well-off household 43.5 39.6 at ages 20 and 25 was compared and decomposed into
components for male and female youths. The gender
Use modern contraceptive method 31.7 28.3 gap in the prevalence of debut to sex at age 20 amounted
Became sexually active before age 20 45.7 79.3 to 28.4% and the corresponding figure at age 25 was

A B C

A D E F

Figure 1. Cumulative incidence of premarital sex, marriage, and parenthood among youths
Note: (A) displays the cumulative incidence for male youths for the two birth cohorts. (B) shows the cumulative incidence for transition to first marriage
for male youths for the two birth cohorts. (C) portrays the cumulative incidence of transition to first fatherhood for the two birth cohorts. (D) captures
the cumulative incidence for female youths for the two birth cohorts. (E) displays the cumulative incidence for transition to first marriage for female
youths for the two birth cohorts. (F) shows the cumulative incidence of transition to first motherhood for the two birth.

Volume 9 Issue 2 (2023) 5 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.476