Risky Behaviours and Hiv/Aids

South Africa’s HIV/AIDS rate is growing at a rapid rate, with the highest occurrences being amongst adolescents between the age of fifteen and twenty four, most of them being females. This essay will identify the reasons why South African adolescents partake in risky behaviours in relation to HIV/AIDS.

These reasons are, peer pressure which is the influence that peers have on a person’s decisions and actions ( Brown, Classen & Eicher,1986), the need to conform, which is the need for an individual to fit in, substance abuse, and the role of gender in society.

Although sexual education is being incorporated in the school system, a study done by CASE in 1995 indicates that, very little individuals consider themselves being at risk of contracting HIV. They also do not take the seriousness of safe sex to heart and do not see the virus as a threat to their health. This is because they see themselves as being incapable of being harmed and being ignorant of the threat that the virus has on their health

One of the reasons why adolescents partake in unsafe safe is due to the fact that their peers pressure them into having sexual intercourse, with the reason that they would have gone through a rite of passage and in turn become an adult.

As a female in a society that is mostly male dominated, contracting the virus due to the fact that they have been a victim of sexual abuse is a reality. Crime Stats (2013), report that in the Western Cape, a total of 8683 sexual crimes were committed against women in 2013 alone.

In most cultures, there are great pressures to get married and to have a child before the age of 25. By the sexual partners refusing to take an HIV test due to the fact that they think that they are excluded from contracting the virus, the female is at risk of contracting the virus without her even knowing that the partner has it, this normally occurs in a male dominated society.

Boyfriends, who have the idea that a relationship is not complete without...