Intervention Increases Physical Activity and Healthful Diet Among South African Adolescents Over 54 Months: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: Scant research has investigated whether health promotion interventions have sustained effects in increasing physical activity and healthful diet among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, which is experiencing an epidemiological transition from infectious diseases to noncommunicable diseases as leading causes of mortality. We examined whether an intervention increased adherence to 5-a-day diet and physical activity guidelines during a 54-month postintervention period among South African adolescents and whether its effects weakened at long-term (42 and 54 months postintervention) compared with short-term (3, 6, and 12 months postintervention) follow-up.

Methods: We randomized 18 randomly selected schools serving grade 6 learners (mean age = 12.

Effect of a Behavioral Intervention on Perpetrating and Experiencing Forced Sex Among South African Adolescents: A Secondary Analysis of a Cluster Randomized Trial.

Importance: Scant research has investigated interventions to reduce forced sexual intercourse among adolescents. The need for such interventions is especially great in South Africa, which has some of the highest rates of sexual assault in the world.

Objectives: To determine whether an HIV/sexually transmitted disease risk-reduction intervention that reduced sexual risk behavior and sexually transmitted disease prevalence also reduced the perpetration and experience of forced sex among South African adolescents.

Predictors and psychological pathways for binge drinking among South African men.

Objective: To develop targeted interventions for high-risk drinkers among South African men, we assessed whether sociodemographic factors and history of childhood sexual abuse predicted binge drinking at six-month follow-up assessment and their psychological pathways according to the extended Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA).

Design: Survey responses with a sample of 1181 South African men from randomly selected neighbourhoods in Eastern Cape Province were collected at baseline and six-month follow-up. Multiple logistic regression analysis examined the baseline predictors of binge drinking.

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Sociodemographic Factors Prospectively Associated with Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration Among South African Heterosexual Men.

Background: Intimate partner violence directed at women by men continues to be a global concern. However, little is known about the factors associated with perpetrating intimate partner violence among heterosexual men.

Purpose: History of childhood sexual abuse and other sociodemographic variables were examined as potential factors associated with severe intimate partner violence perpetration toward women in a sample of heterosexual men in South Africa.

HIV/STI risk-reduction intervention efficacy with South African adolescents over 54 months.

Objective: Little research has tested HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk-reduction interventions' effects on early adolescents as they age into middle and late adolescence. This study tested whether intervention-induced reductions in unprotected intercourse during a 12-month period endured over a 54-month period and whether the intervention reduced the prevalence of STIs, which increase risk for HIV.

Method: Grade 6 learners (mean age = 12.

Cognitive-behavioural health-promotion intervention increases fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity among South African adolescents: a cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Rates of chronic diseases are high among Black South Africans but few studies have tested cognitive-behavioural health-promotion interventions to reduce this problem. We tested the efficacy of such an intervention among adolescents in a cluster-randomised controlled trial. We randomly selected 9 of 17 matched pairs of schools and randomised one school in each pair to the cognitive-behavioural health-promotion intervention designed to encourage health-related behaviours and the other to a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk-reduction intervention that served as the control.

School-based randomized controlled trial of an HIV/STD risk-reduction intervention for South African adolescents.

Objective: To test the efficacy of a school-based human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted disease (HIV/STD) risk-reduction intervention for South African adolescents.

Design: A cluster-randomized, controlled design with assessments of self-reported sexual behavior collected before intervention and 3, 6, and 12 months after intervention.

Setting: Primary schools in a large, black township and a neighboring rural settlement in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

South Africa youths' higher-risk sexual behaviour: an eco-developmental analysis.

Despite their high levels of knowledge about HIV and AIDS, young people ages 15-24 years in South Africa remain disproportionately affected by the epidemic. Young people's continued susceptibility to HIV infection has been consistently linked to intractable higher-risk sexual behaviours. This paper uses multivariate techniques and secondary data from two nationally representative surveys to illuminate individual and socio-structural factors that play a significant role in youths' continued engagement in higher-risk behaviour, despite their high awareness about HIV and AIDS.

Older people as resources in South Africa: Mpumalanga households.

The extended family used to be relied upon to provide subsistence and care for older people in sub-Saharan Africa. However, recently South Africa has seen a reversal of roles, where older people now provide subsistence and care to younger generations; this role reversal is being accelerated by HIV/AIDS deaths among young adults. In most rural households, the non-contributory old age pension (OAP) that is means-tested is an important factor in making older people breadwinners.