A study of teenage behaviour in South Africa has come out with findings that girls are more terrified of getting pregnant than of contracting HIV.
The study says that "knowledge of HIV-Aids plays almost no role in shaping sexual behaviour; it is pregnancy that girls fear and which attracts stigma," <I>The Times</I> reported.
Data for the study in Western Cape titled 'Growing up in the 'New' South Africa: Childhood and Adolescence in Post-Apartheid Cape Town', were derived from an earlier survey of more than 5000 adolescents living in the Cape Metropole in South Africa.
The data from that study were augmented by information provided by youngsters from Fish Hoek -- a predominantly white neighbourhood, Ocean View -- a coloured area and Masiphumelele -- a black informal settlement, the daily said.
The "Growing up" study is described as the first major comparative study of childhoods in South Africa since 1986.
Researcher Dr Rachel Bray said most white and coloured children did not consider themselves at high risk of contracting HIV, despite intensive HIV-Aids education.
The study found that those who were sexually active suffered academically and that children who abstained from sex found it difficult to resist peer pressure and maintain their stance.
