The association between Ugandan adolescents’ viewing of specific television genres and sex-related normative beliefs and behaviours

Growing evidence in Western nations indicates that exposure to high levels of sexual media content influences adolescents’ sexual attitudes and behaviours in those countries. Although media in many sub-Saharan markets contain increasingly higher levels of sexual content, little research has investigated the effects of that content on adolescents’ HIV-related risk and protective behaviours. This project used cultivation theory to examine Ugandan adolescents’ media use, and to test the relationship between their exposure to specific television genres and their sex-related normative beliefs and behaviours. Three hundred and sixty secondary school students from four purposively sampled schools filled out a questionnaire about their television viewing, their beliefs about the prevalence of sexual intercourse among their peers, and their own sexual behaviours. Preliminary evidence of relationships between watching comedy and cartoon programming, and high estimates of the proportion of adolescents who engage in sexual intercourse, were observed. Watching comedy programming and non- African programming was associated with the higher likelihood to have ever had sexual intercourse.     

“新农保”个人缴费“捆绑制”的实践考察与理论研判

在实现快速发展、取得显著成果的同时,“新农保”在实施过程中也暴露出了一些问题,其中,个人缴费“捆绑制”引发了巨大争议。批评者认为,“捆绑制”系“新农保”制度设计的最大败笔,已成为制约其深入发展的“桎梏”。从实践来看,“捆绑制”虽存在一些问题,但绝非如批评者所言之“不堪”。立足农村现实情况,综合考量相关因素,目前还应坚持“捆绑制”,同时须在具体制度设计上加以完善。