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Malawi • Lowest level of GDP per capita in the world (Worldbank

2010 – 2014). • Over 70% of population lives on less than $1.25 a day. • The growing population of 16.8 million is youthful and

rural; 45% is under age 15, 85% of the population lives in rural areas.

Health & Family • HIV/AIDS prevalence > 10% among adult population,

slightly higher for women. • Family planning was banned until the 1990s• Contraceptive use among married women age 15-19 is

low, at 26%. The rate for unmarried girls is even lower (Chintsanya, 2013).

• Traditional values are strong and gender inequality practices such as early marriage (50%) and polygamy make girls and women less autonomous (Matinga and McConville 2002).

Self-determination theory (SDT)• Theory of human motivation. • Concerned with the factors that support natural or

intrinsic tendencies to behave in effective and healthy ways.

• Involvement and autonomy supportiveness of parents have been found to be meaningful influences in the domain of parenting.

• Autonomy supportive parenting: Parents provide children with a rationale for the decisions that they make and provide the child with choice instead of mere directives.

• Involved parenting: Parents express an interest in the child’s life.

Research questions 1. What is the role of parents as SRH knowledge

providers? 2. Do parenting styles make a difference for girls’

likelihood to use contraception? 3. What is the role of the girls’ self-esteem in the

relationship between parenting styles and healthy SRH behavior?

INTRODUCTION

1. Sources of SRH health knowledge

2. Parenting styles & contraceptive use

Participants• 134 Malawian girls (9 -18 years old), whose

menstruation had started: Mage = 13, SDage = 1.77

• Girls were sampled across 10 districts in the Central and Southern regions of Malawi.

Measures• Rosenberg self-esteem scale (1965). • Parental involvement: single items for both

mother and father involvement from the child rated Perception of Parents Scale ((POPS, Grolnick et al., 1991)

• Parental autonomy support: single items for both mother and father involvement from the POPS.

Procedure• Structured interviews were conducted by

female, native interviewers in Chichewa.1. In line with SDT, the positive effect of self-

determined parenting by a father figure on SRH behaviour is due to the fact that autonomy supportive parenting enhances the girls‘ self-esteem.

2. Results speak for the need to involve fathers and male family members in interventions that aim to change female SRH behavior.

Marieke van Egmond1, Jennifer Benton2, Tariq Omarshah3 & Andres Navarrete3

1FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany; 2Theatre for a Change Malawi; 3One South LLC

The Neglected Role of Fathers: Paternal Autonomy Support as a Predictor of Girl’s Healthy SRH Behaviour in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Data was collected as part of the Theatre For A Change and Dfid's Girls Education Challenge Project, Tiphunzire!

Dr. Marieke van Egmond Community Psychology

Universitätsstraße 3358097 Hagen

Tel. +49 2331 9872557Email: marieke.vanegmond@fernuni-hagen.de

*** p < .001* p < .05

The bootstrapped unstandardized indirect effect was .0895% confidence interval ranged from .03 to .19

Source*Mother figure 98%Father figure 39%Peers 41%Elder 13%

*Multiple responses allowed

Father Autonomy Supportiveness

Predicted future condom use

Girls‘ Self-Esteem .27*** .30***

.17*

Parenting styles

High vs. Low Predicted future

contraception use χ2

Maternal Autonomy support

2.40

Involvement 7.05Paternal Autonomy

support 7.96*

Involvement 5.78AIDS Impact Conference, July 2015, Amsterdam

METHOD

RESULTS

Neither maternal involvement nor autonomy supportiveness were found to have an effect on the girl’s likelihood to use contraceptives. Only the degree to which the father is autonomy supportive matters.

3. The mediating role of self-esteemMediation analysis revealed that the effect of paternal autonomy supportiveness on predicted condom use occurs through the girls’ self-esteem

CONCLUSIONS

Acknowledgment & Contact

RESULTS