How Young is "Too Young"? Comparative Perspectives on Adolescent Sexual, Marital, and Reproductive Transitions
How Young is "Too Young"? Comparative Perspectives on Adolescent Sexual, Marital, and Reproductive Transitions
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1728-4465.2008.00173.x
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发表时间：
2008-12-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Dixon-Mueller, Ruth
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Dixon-Mueller, Ruth
这项研究提出了三个标准来评估男女青少年的性、婚姻和生殖转变的时机在多大程度上可以被认为“太年轻”：(1)身体的生理成熟；(2)做出安全、知情和自愿决定的认知能力；(3)法律框架和国际标准中反映的“足够大”同意性行为和婚姻的制度化概念。建议将青春期的年龄组从传统的15-19岁扩大到三个年龄组--青春期早期(10-14岁，或10-11岁和12-14岁)、青春期中期(15-17岁)和青春期晚期(18-19岁)--以更好地捕捉男性和女性性、婚姻和生殖事件轨迹的特定年龄变化。在发展中国家的人口与健康调查中观察到，将这三个青春期发展标准应用于转变的时机，得出的结论是，14岁及以下的男孩和女孩普遍“太年轻”，无法进行安全和自愿的转变；15-17岁的人可能太年轻，也可能不太年轻，这取决于他们的情况；18岁的人通常“足够大”。政策和方案应侧重于能力建设和创造有利环境，以便在所有年龄段中进行安全和自愿的过渡，特别是在10-14岁的青少年中，因为他们的性健康和生殖健康及权利显然处于危险之中。
This study puts forth three criteria for assessing the extent to which the timing of sexual, marital, and reproductive transitions among male and female adolescents could be considered "too young": (1) the physiological maturation of the body; (2) the cognitive capacity for making safe, informed, and voluntary decisions; and (3) institutionalized concepts of "old enough" for consent to sexual intercourse and marriage as reflected in legal frameworks and international standards. Expansion of the age grouping of adolescence is proposed, from the customary 15-19 into three age categories-early adolescence (ages 10-14, or 10-11 and 12-14), middle adolescence (15-17), and late adolescence (18-19)-to better capture the age-specific variations in the trajectories of male and female sexual, marital, and reproductive events. An application of the three adolescent development criteria to the timing of transitions observed in Demographic and Health Surveys in 64 developing countries leads to the conclusion that boys and girls aged 14 and younger are universally "too young" to make safe and consensual transitions; that 15-17-year-olds may or may not be too young, depending on their circumstances; and that 18-year-olds are generally "old enough." Policies and programs should focus on capacity building and the creation of an enabling environment for making safe and voluntary transitions among all age groups, but particularly among 10-14-year-olds, whose sexual and reproductive health and rights are so clearly at stake.