HIV Risk and Marriage In Rural Malawi.

Using both quantitative and qualitative data from the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change survey conducted in 2004, this paper investigates how sexual behaviors and HIV risks change as adolescents and youth approach and cross into marriage. Despite widespread acknowledgement that marriage is typically not a discrete event in most of sub-Saharan Africa, the details of this often extended process remain largely enigmatic. In this paper, we take a closer look at the evolving relationships between HIV risks, sexual behaviors, and marriage, by focusing on the period immediately before and after marriage for adolescent and young women and men in Malawi. We find that the links between marriage and HIV perceptions and risks are quite strong, but also complex. In general, we find that marriage puts young women at increased risk of infection, but that marriage does not work in the same way for men. Having a more nuanced understanding of how the process of marriage shapes and is shaped by HIV risks is critical for developing better HIV protection policies among this high risk age group. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]