African Girls Research Articles

Positive Effect of Large Birth Intervals on Early Childhood Hemoglobin Levels in Africa Is Limited to Girls: Cross-Sectional DHS Study.

BackgroundShort birth intervals are independently associated with increased risk of adverse maternal, perinatal, infant and child outcomes. Anemia in children, which is highly prevalent in Africa, is associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Birth spacing is advocated as a tool to reduce anemia in preschool African children, but the role of gender differences and contextual factors has been neglected. The present study aims to determine to what extent the length of preceding birth interval influences the hemoglobin levels of African preschool children in general, as well as for boys and girls separately, and which contextual factors thereby play a crucial role.Methods and FindingsThis cross-sectional study uses data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted between 2003 and 2011 in 20 African countries. All preschool children aged 6–59 months with a valid hemoglobin measurement and a preceding birth interval of 7–72 months as well as their corresponding multigravida mothers aged 21–49 years were included in the study. Hemoglobin levels of children and mothers were measured in g/l, while birth intervals were calculated as months difference between consecutive births. Multivariate analyses were done to examine the relationship between length of preceding birth interval and child hemoglobin levels, adjusted for factors at the individual, household, community, district, and country level. A positive linear relationship was observed between birth interval and the 49,260 included children’s hemoglobin level, whereby age and sex of the child, hemoglobin level of the mother, household wealth, mother’s education and urbanization of place of residence also showed positive associations. In the interaction models, the effect of a month increase in birth interval is associated with an average increase of 0.025 g/l in hemoglobin level (P = 0.001) in girls, while for boys the effect was not significant. In addition, for girls, the effect of length of preceding birth interval was highest in young mothers and mothers with higher hemoglobin levels, while for boys, the highest effect was noticed for those living in more highly educated regions. Finally, significantly higher hemoglobin levels of girls compared to boys were observed at birth but with increasing age, the sex difference in hemoglobin level gradually becomes smaller.ConclusionsA longer birth interval has a modest positive effect on early childhood hemoglobin levels of girls, and this effect is strongest when their mothers are in their early twenties and have a high hemoglobin level. Remarkably, although the physiological iron requirement is higher for boys than girls, birth spacing has little influence on hemoglobin levels of preschool boys. We speculate that the preference for male offspring in large parts of Africa significantly influences nutritional patterns of African preschool boys and girls, and as such also determines the different effect of birth spacing. Finally, gender aspects should be considered in intervention programs that aim to improve anemia in African children.

“Are You Trying to Play a White Woman?”La Mère Patrieand the Female Body in French West Africa

AbstractWhen they carved out a place for themselves in the colonial system of French West Africa, black and white women questioned how the romanticized white, bourgeois femininity that defined African girls’ education in the AOF (L’Afrique occidentale francaise) regulated and contested all women’s bodies, sexuality, and domesticity. Traditionally, administrators and observers construed white women as untouchable, opposing them to highly sensual and available black women. Yet in their everyday, lived experiences of colonialism, women and their bodies were not easy to manipulate, contain, or stereotype. This article analyzes how women in the French Empire pushed themselves to assume and resist normative interpretations of their race and gender and, in particular, how black African and white French women manipulated intersections between whiteness, sexuality, and femininity when establishing roles for women, black or white, in the French Empire. It pays particular attention to how women in the early twentiet...

‘Making Good Wives and Mothers’: The African Education Group and Missionary Reactions to the Phelps Stokes Reports

The discussions that took place between the Colonial Office and Christian missions over the implementation of the recommendations of the Phelps Stokes Education Commissions merit more historical investigation. While missions voiced little public opposition to the reforms of mission education outlined in the two reports, over time, in meetings and conferences sponsored by the International Missionary Council (IMC), missionary challenges to the recommendations mounted. This was especially the case with the recommendations concerning the education of African girls. Thomas Jesse Jones, leader of the two Phelps Stokes Education Commissions and author of the two reports, argued that schools for African girls should focus on the training of future Christian matriarchs, who would supply colonial states with the healthy, disciplined labour forces those states desperately desired. Jones identified the school maintained by the missionary Mabel Shaw at Mbereshi in Zambia as the model other missions might emulate. Based upon Jones' recommendations concerning Shaw and her school, the British Colonial Office placed before Christian missions a gendered educational policy that would feature the education of African girls as wives and mothers. J. H. Oldham of the IMC took the point in presenting the Phelps Stokes recommendations and the government proposals based upon the recommendations to missionaries. Oldham discovered that missionaries questioned Shaw's expertise and rejected the idea that girls should be educated only to be wives and mothers.

Expert Evidence in Gender-Based Asylum Cases: Cultural Translation for the Court

This article examines the use of country conditions experts in gender-based asylum claims, with a focus on African women and girls facing gender-based violence in their countries of origin. Using anonymous case examples from the work of the Tahirih Justice Center's African Women's Empowerment Project, the article explores the role of experts and the critical bridge that experts can provide in asylum claims adjudicated at the asylum office and in immigration court. A brief overview of U.S. asylum law and procedures sets the stage for a deeper look at expert evidence.In the context of gender-based asylum claims, experts often play a pivotal role in explaining gender-based violence by providing information and opinions on the political, social, cultural, familial, and economic contexts for this violence. That country conditions experts add a great deal to an asylum claim is nothing new, but this issue has taken on even more critical importance with the evolution of the law around "particular social group" and the introduction of the concepts of social visibility and particularity. This article addresses the role of experts in: (a) explaining conditions on the ground in the country of origin and corroborating an applicant's asylum claim; (b) providing evidence to establish that persecution was "on account of" one of the five statutory grounds for persecution (race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group); (c) examining situations in which non-state actors act as persecutors and in explaining government unwillingness or inability to protect an applicant from persecution; (d) assessing the legal structure of the country in question and how that legal structure intersects with the reality of attitudes toward certain groups or cultural practices. The article concludes with practice pointers for both attorneys and potential expert witnesses in working together to present gender-based asylum claims in the United States.

Redefining Intersectionality Theory Through the Lens of African American Young Adolescent Girls’ Racialized Experiences

The research presented uses intersectionality theory as a lens to study the racial identity construction of four African American young adolescent girls. The findings suggest that race was largely situated in a Black–White discourse for the girls in the study. When limited information was provided in home, school, and community settings, the participants made meaning from dominant discourses about race and identity, although glimpses of critical thinking about race did occur. In conclusion, the potential of including youth identity within intersectionality theory to broaden the utility of the theory itself and also for making meaning of and advocating for marginalized adolescents is discussed.

The challenges of underweight and overweight in South African children: are we winning or losing the battle? A systematic review.

Underweight and overweight are adverse effects of malnutrition and both are associated with negative health consequences in children and adolescents. In South Africa, the burden of economic and social disparity coexists with malnutrition in children. The purpose of this study was to review available South African studies regarding the comprehensive summary of prevalence of underweight and overweight and evaluates government policies in addressing undernutrition and overnutrition in South African children and adolescents. We searched subject-specific electronic bibliographic databases of observational studies published on malnutrition, undernutrition, overnutrition, underweight and overweight in South African boys and girls from birth to 20 years of age in studies published on or after 1990. A total of sixteen cross-sectional, three longitudinal studies and one report met the criteria for inclusion in this review. Descriptive data synthesis revealed the small number of longitudinal studies highlights the dearth of research in tracking undernutrition and overnutrition in South African children. In this review, 0.7%–66% of underweight was reported among children in rural areas compared to a 3.1%–32.4% of overweight in urban areas. All studies reported a higher rate of underweight in boys than girls who were significantly more likely to have higher body fat. The data indicated that both underweight and overweight were positively related with health-related physical activity and psychological health problems such as low activity, low fitness, low self-image and self-esteem. Numerous recommendations were made in the reviewed studies, however effective strategic programs in eradicating both underweight and overweight are minimal. It is evident from the reviewed studies that the burden of underweight and overweight are still a problem in South African children. The most highly affected by underweight are rural children, while children in urban areas in transition are faced with burden of overweight. There is little evidence to suggest that government strategic programs are effective in addressing underweight and overweight in South African children. Based on these findings, sustainable school-based feeding schemes and physical education programmes are needed for optimal benefits in children and adolescents.

Adolescent girls' access to contraceptive information and services: An analysis of legislation and policies, and their realisation, in Nigeria and South Africa

Adolescents' early sexual debut contributes to their huge burden of sexual and reproductive ill-health, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Reports continually reveal that female adolescents, in particular, constitute a large portion of the 34 million people living with HIV worldwide. Other consequences associated with early adolescent sexuality include unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexually-transmitted infections. In light of this, the article analyses approaches adopted by Nigeria and South Africa in fulfilling their international law obligations to respect, protect and fulfil adolescent girls' right to access contraceptive information and services, specifically, in their domestic legislation, policy documents and court decisions. Sexuality education is compared, as well as actual access. There is extensive evidence of the measures put in place to ensure adolescent girls' access to contraceptive information and services in Nigeria and South Africa. Although the level and extent of the barriers faced by adolescent girls when accessing contraceptive services and information vary, the consequences are similar: We find that Nigerian and South African adolescent girls, generally, lack access to contraceptive information and services. Despite measures to ensure adolescent girls' access to contraceptive information and services in Nigeria and South Africa, several gaps remain.

“I Don't Want to Claim America”: African Refugee Girls and Discourses of Othering

In this article I draw from the Imani Nailah Project, a participatory action research initiative with a group of African refugee girls living in the US. I examine a particular fusion of racialized, gendered, and nationalized narratives that discursively construct the refugee girl. I interrogate this discursively produced refugee girl construct and highlight how actual refugee girls interact with this discourse with a focus on resistance strategies and emergent counter narratives of citizenship. Throughout the article, I use italics when I am referring to the refugee girl construct in order to maintain a central focus on interrogating a sociopolitical discourse—the refugee girl—as a construct distinct from actual refugee girls. My central aim is to highlight spaces and moments when actual refugee girls are in conversation with this imposed refugee girl discourse.

Young Adult South African Daughters’ Perceptions of Paternal Involvement and Nurturance

This study aimed to assess current and retrospective levels of reported and desired paternal involvement experienced by young adult daughters, as well as current and retrospective levels of paternal nurturance. A sample of 89, female, third year South African Psychology students completed self-administered questionnaires, consisting of a biographical questionnaire, four Father Involvement Scales and two Nurturant Father Scales. Daughters reported their fathers as having been involved and nurturing while growing up. Although they indicated that they perceived fathers as somewhat less involved in young adulthood; they reported being satisfied with the level of father involvement. Daughters also reported high current paternal nurturance. The findings therefore indicate that a group of middle to upper middle-class South African daughters perceived their fathers as relatively involved in their lives and suggest that their fathers’ involvement extends beyond traditional father roles.

When caring is not enough: The limits of teachers’ support for South African primary school-girls in the context of sexual violence

Between 2011 and 2012, 40.1% of all sexual offences in South Africa involved children under 18. Important scholarship has demonstrated how large-scale social and economic inequalities structure African girls’ risk to and experience of sexual violence leading to a condemnation of violent masculinities and the social processes that produce it. Under conditions of chronic poverty and unstable living conditions, girls’ vulnerability to sexual violence is increased. Schools located in extreme settings, without adequate material and social resources are often in the frontline in dealing with sexual violence. This paper examines how a selected group of teachers located in a township primary school understand their role in the social protection of young girls in the context of sexual violence. An ethic of care dominated teachers’ responses to girls’ rendered vulnerable to sexual violence, but as this paper argues, caring is both vital and inadequate. This point becomes particularly clear as turbulent social conditions and material struggles beyond the school limit teachers’ potential to safeguard the needs of girls, resulting in their silence and fear contracted by their difficulty to work with parents. These social processes underscore the need to attend to interconnected interventions beyond and within education recognizing that teachers’ work in addressing sexual violence in extreme setting exceeds the terrain of schools. The paper concludes with recommendations within schools and beyond that address teachers and the social, gendered and economic contexts which give rises to girls’ sexual vulnerability.

"If you don't have honesty in a relationship, then there is no relationship": African American girls' characterization of healthy dating relationships, a qualitative study.

The quality of dating relationships in adolescence can have long lasting effects on identity development, self-esteem, and interpersonal skills, and can shape values and behaviors related to future intimate relationships. The aims of this study were to: (1) investigate how African American adolescent girls characterize healthy relationships; and (2) describe the meanings of these characteristics in the context of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) 12 healthy dating relationship qualities. We conducted semi-structured one-on-one in-depth interviews with 33 African American high school girls in the mid-Atlantic region. Trained staff transcribed interviews verbatim and entered the data into ATLAS.ti for coding and analysis. Participants' specified and vividly described eight healthy relationship characteristics: good communication, honesty, trust, respect, compromise, understanding, individuality, and self-confidence. Of these characteristics, three (good communication, compromise, and respect) were described in ways discordant with CDC's definitions. Findings highlight a need to better understand how girls develop values and ascribe characteristics of healthy relationships in order to reduce their risk for teen dating violence.

Exploring Gender Differences in the Connectedness of South African Adolescents

The literature on adolescent development refers to the adolescent's need to be connected to others in a meaningful way. However, research on adolescent connectedness in the South African context is limited, particularly with regard to gender influences. This exploratory, descriptive research project therefore aimed at investigating gender differences in the connectedness of Grade 8 and Grade 11 adolescents of the respective racial groups. Data was collected using the Hemmingway: Measure of Adolescent Connectedness questionnaire. Four hypotheses related to differences between the genders of the sample and the genders of the racial and age groups were tested. The results revealed that the girls in the sample were significantly more connected with regard to most of the variables tested than the boys. The Mixed descent boys and girls differed substantially with regard to connectedness to teachers; the Caucasian boys and girls differed in five domains, while the African boys and girls differed in eight domains. The younger adolescents were also more connected overall than the older ones, particularly the African girls and Caucasian boys. Follow-up research is needed to explain these differences.

Physical activity and sedentary behavior among adolescents in rural South Africa: levels, patterns and correlates

BackgroundPhysical inactivity is increasing among children and adolescents and may be contributing to the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity. This study examines physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns, and explores associations with individual, maternal, household, and community factors amongst rural South African adolescents.MethodsIn 2009, 381 subjects, stratified by ages 11-12-years and 14-15-years, were randomly selected from 3511 children and adolescents who had participated in a growth survey two years previously. Weight and height were measured and self-reported Tanner pubertal stage was collected. A questionnaire quantifying frequency and duration of physical activity (PA) domains and sedentary time for the previous 12 months was administered. Moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA mins/wk) was calculated for time spent in school and club sport. Socio-demographic and other related data were included from the Agincourt health and socio-demographic system (HDSS). The Agincourt HDSS was established in 1992 and collects prospective data on the community living in the Agincourt sub-district of Mpumalanga Province in rural north-east South Africa.ResultsPuberty, maternal education and socio-economic status (SES) contributed significantly to the mulitiple linear regression model for sedentary behavior (R2 = 0.199; adjusted R2 = 0.139; p < 0.000), and sex, SES and maternal education contributed to the tobit regression model for school and club sport MVPA (p < 0.000). MVPA, calculated from school and club sport, was higher in boys than girls (p < 0.001), and informal activity was lower (boys: p < 0.05 and girls: p < 0.01) while sedentary time was higher (girls: p < 0.01) in the older than the younger groups. Ninety-two percent (92%) of the sample reported walking for transport.ConclusionsIn this study of rural South African adolescent boys and girls, SES at the maternal, household and community level independently predicted time spent in sedentary behaviors, and school and club MVPA. This study provides local data that can be used to develop health promotion strategies specific to this community, and other similar communities in developing countries.

Re-covered: Wangechi Mutu, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, and the postcolonial potentiality of black women in colonial(ist) photographs

By pasting on, cutting into and drawing over images of bodies, artists Wangechi Mutu and Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle re-cover colonialist photographs to recover postcolonial black female subjectivities. In her project, The Uninvited, ongoing since 2009, Hinkle has literally and conceptually drawn upon colonial-era postcards that feature photographs of nude West African girls and women, while Mutu has strategically combined images of black African and black American women from ethnographic and pornographic magazines to create her Ark Collection (2006). In the artists’ hands, the black female body is no longer shot, captured, framed or otherwise subjected to the camera. The narrative force and assumed veracity of photography is denied by ambiguous re-presentations of the multifaceted, processual nature of both art and the self. Moreover, rather than merely suggest the subjugation and fragmentation of black women, the works represent the postcolonial potentiality of transformation and agency.

Ethnic differences in eating attitudes, body image and self-esteem among adolescent females living in urban South Africa

Objective: To examine differences between black and white female adolescents in eating attitudes, body image perceptions, and self-esteem, and the association of these with body mass index (BMI). Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 340 urban South African adolescent girls aged 13, 15 and 17 years, attending private and government (public) high schools. EAT26, body image and self-esteem questionnaires were administered, and height and weight was measured to determine BMI. The associations between BMI and EAT-26, body image perceptions, and self-esteem scores were determined in the different ethnic and age groups. Results: There was a significant difference in eating attitudes, body image perceptions, and self-esteem between the ethnic groups (P<0.05). Significantly more black girls (31.2%) reported an EAT-26 score ≥ 20 (predisposition to an eating disorder) compared to white girls (19.7%) even though the prevalence of overweight/obesity among the white girls was higher (29.5%) than in their black peers (25.1%) (P=0.37). White girls had a higher BMI and lower self-esteem, yet better body image score compared to their black peers. Black girls exhibited a greater tendency to control what they ate compared to white girls, while more white girls had a desire to be thinner compared to black girls. Conclusion: The results suggest that exposure of Western norms of thinness in a multiethnic and cultural urban setting is influencing both eating attitudes and behaviour. These findings are highly relevant for all African countries undergoing transition, and important in the development of interventions to optimise adolescent health prior to adulthood.

Thirty Girls by Susan Minot

Bohumil Hrabal Rambling On David Short, tr. Karolinum Press This beautifully illustrated assortment presents nineteen uncensored short stories by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal (1914–97). The stories take place in Hrabal’s Kersko and humorously portray the surreal surroundings of a miniscule mountain community in the midst of a totalitarian regime, creating an exquisite fusion of calamity and comedy. Andrea Hirata The Rainbow Troops Angie Kilbane, tr. Sarah Crichton Books Andrea Hirata’s novel is a story of a fight for education rooted in the vivid culture of Indonesia. A boy and his friends, known as the Rainbow Troops, struggle to keep their school open and their voices heard. Full of cheerfulness and remarkable characters, this book is one not soon forgotten. Nota Bene such as a notorious real-life political policeman (Sérgio Fleury), a moderate general in the Brazilian armed forces, and numerous professors at the University of São Paulo participating in a vote to fire their missing chemistry colleague in the wake of her disappearance. Two chapters take the form of letters, one written by the disappeared woman and the other by her husband. Throughout the novel, the protagonist ’s missing daughter remains a pulsing absence. Yet Kucinski resists turning the plot into a mystery or thriller. K reveals less about the disappeared than about the devastating effect of disappearance on those left behind. Indeed, a key theme of the novel is the father’s overwhelming sense of guilt for his daughter’s tragic fate. Originally published in Portuguese in 2011 (the same year Brazil inaugurated its National Truth Commission to investigate the crimes of the military dictatorship), K is a compelling novel that illustrates how fiction can be a more powerful mode of bearing witness than testimony. Of the lamentably few contemporary Brazilian novels translated into the English language, K is certainly one of the most important to emerge in recent years. Rebecca Atencio Tulane University Susan Minot. Thirty Girls. New York. Knopf. 2014. isbn 9780307266385 The temptation to use the term “ripped from the headlines” is strong, but this remarkably moving novel about the kidnapping of thirty African girls predates recent events and yet presages them. In 2012 Joseph Kony was an acknowledged force of evil in Uganda, and Susan Minot’s riveting new novel is based on some of his actions. Thirty Girls opens with Sister Guilia, the headmistress of St. Mary’s, awakened by banging at the school’s doors. In a series of cinematic and harrowing scenes, Minot conveys the terror of the rebels’ attack and subsequent kidnapping of 139 girls, of whom 109 were offered to be released if 30 would stay. Sister Guila ’s Solomonic quandary is rendered exquisitely and sets the stage for the novel and the appearance of Esther, who remains captive and narrates the saga of the thirty girls. Minot’s other narrator, an American journalist named Jane Wood, has arrived in Uganda to cover this story, but first she must find her way to meet the girls. Her journey through Uganda is at times romantic and at others harrowing. Jane is, in a way, quite fragile following the death of her ex-husband, and the reader is privy to her innermost thoughts during much of the novel. The alternating narratives allow the reader to contrast the difficult life of Esther, wise beyond her years, November–December 2014 • 59 reviews and the much more pampered life of Jane, despite her difficulties. In traveling to find the girls, she sets off on a road trip with a group of white Africans who are self-indulgent and romantic, and she begins an affair with one of them, Harry, a man seventeen years her junior. At times she is like a dazed schoolgirl in love; at others she shows enormous sensitivity to her surroundings. But Esther is the character with whom the reader falls in love. She can be terse but is often poetic as she provides a clear-eyed description of the rebels and their abuse of the girls. Her voice is pure and devastating: “A rebel ran and caught up to the shadow. He picked it up. It was a smaller girl, I think Penelope. He...

Adolescent Girls and Their Mothers Talk About Experiences of Binge and Loss of Control Eating.

Evidence suggests that adolescents' experience of binge eating (BE) might differ in important ways from that of adults. Moreover, although BE appears more common in African American women than other disordered eating behaviors, little is known about the influence of cultural factors on this behavior in adolescents. The current investigation used qualitative methodology to examine the perceptions of White and African American adolescent girls and their mothers regarding experiences of binge and loss of control eating. Five focus groups were completed with 19 adolescent girls (aged 13-17, 58 % African American, 41 % White) who endorsed loss of control eating behaviors. Their mothers (N = 19) also completed separate, concurrent focus groups addressing food and eating behaviors. Responses to focus group questions were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis. Adolescents' awareness of their eating behaviors varied greatly. Girls reported some awareness of how emotions influence their eating behaviors, and described using food to achieve autonomy. Mothers evidenced awareness of their daughters' problematic eating behaviors, the effects of emotions on eating for both their daughters and themselves, and sociocultural factors influencing diet. Data from these focus groups can inform the development of innovative interventions for adolescent girls engaging in loss of control eating.

Feasibility of Delivering Evidence-Based HIV/STI Prevention Programming to a Community Sample of African American Teen Girls Via the Internet

The current study examined the feasibility of an HIV/STI prevention intervention for African American female adolescents. The intervention SiHLEWeb is a web-based adaptation of the evidence-based intervention, Sistas, Informing, Healing, Living, and Empowering (SiHLE). Participants were 41 African American girls aged 13 to 18 years, recruited in collaboration with community partners (local high schools, Department of Juvenile Justice, child advocacy center, medical university). Results support the feasibility of recruitment, screening, and follow-up retention methods. The majority (63.4%) of recruited participants completed the intervention, taking an average of 4.5 (SD = 3.63) site visits. Completers of SiHLEWeb demonstrated increases in knowledge regarding HIV/STI risks and risk reduction behavior [t(18) = 4.74, p < .001], as well as significant increases in condom use self-efficacy [t(16) = 2.41, p = .03]. Findings provide preliminary support for the large-scale, randomized-controlled trial of the efficacy of SiHLEWeb to reduce high-risk sexual behavior among female African American adolescents.

Weight-related teasing, emotional eating, and weight control behaviors in Hispanic and African American girls

PurposeTo assess the association among parent and peer weight-related teasing, emotional eating, and weight control behaviors in minority girls. Methods141 Hispanic and African American preadolescent girls (mean age=11.1years, SD=1.5years) participated. Most of the participants were of Hispanic origin, had a bicultural orientation, and were obese. Participants completed surveys assessing weight-related teasing, emotional eating, weight control behaviors, demographic, and acculturation characteristics. Body weight and height were also assessed. Hierarchical regression analyses were run to determine the associations among study variables. ResultsFifty-nine percent of participants reported being weight-related teased by peers and 42% participants reported weight-related teasing by parents. Weight-related teasing by parent was associated with emotional eating and binge eating, whereas peer weight-related teasing was only associated with emotional eating. ConclusionsFindings demonstrated the differential association of weight-related teasing from peers and parents to emotional and binge eating in minority girls.

The Influence of Older Classmates on Adolescent Sexual Behavior in Cape Town, South Africa

This study examines the influence of exposure to older within-grade peers on sexual behavior among students in urban South Africa. Data are drawn from the Cape Area Panel Study, a longitudinal survey of young people conducted in metropolitan Cape Town from 2002 to 2006. The combination of early sexual debut, high rates of school enrollment into the late teens, and grade repetition create an environment in which young people who progress through school ahead of many in their cohort interact with classmates who may be several years older. We construct a measure of cumulative exposure to classmates who are at least two years older and show that such exposure is statistically significantly associated with early sexual initiation among adolescent girls. This exposure also increases the age difference between these girls and their first sexual partner, and helps explain a significant proportion of the earlier sexual debut of African girls, compared with colored and white girls in Cape Town.