Mass Me dia Ex po sure among Ur ban Youth in Ne pal

Transcription

1 Articles Mass Me dia Ex po sure among Ur ban Youth in Ne pal Mass me dia in ter ven tions need to re duce the wide gaps in re pro duc tive health knowl edge that ex ist be tween sin gle and mar ried and be tween male and fe male Nep a lese ur ban youth By Shyam Thapa and Vinod Mishra* The mass me dia can serve to dis sem i nate in for ma tion about sex u al ity, health and other as pects of well-be ing to a va ri ety of au di ences, in clud ing ad o les cents and young adults. They can im prove knowl edge and shape per cep tions and at ti tudes about var i ous sub jects, and in flu ence sex ual and re pro duc tive be hav iour (Alan Guttmacher In sti tute, Henry J. Kai ser Fam ily * Shyam Thapa, Ph.D., Se nior Sci en tist, Fam ily Health In ter na tional, Arlington, Virginia, United States of Amer ica and Vinod Mishra, Ph.D., M.P.H., Fel low, Pop u la tion and Health Stud ies Pro gram, East-West Cen ter, Ho no lulu, Ha waii, United States. Asia-Pacific Population Journal, March

2 Foun da tion, and Na tional Press Foun da tion, 1996; McCauley and Salter, 1995; Strasburger, 1989). The ef fec tive ness of me dia cam paigns as pre ven tive strat e gies for ma jor so cial and health prob lems among youth is also well doc u mented (Hall, 1995; Sultz and oth ers, 1989). The mass me dia, how ever, can also be a source of mis in for ma tion, misperception, and neg a tive ideas and at ti tudes about re pro duc tive health is sues. They may even en cour age risky be hav iour, for ex am ple by pro mot ing in ef fec tive means of con tra cep tion. Ide ally, the me dia should pro vide ac cu rate guid ance about sex u al ity, re pro duc tive health and re spon si ble sex ual be hav iour, es pe cially to young peo ple, who are gen er ally thought to be more sus cep ti ble than older adults to their in flu ence. For these rea sons, it is im por tant to ex am ine ad o les cents and young adults ex po sure to the mass me dia and the fac tors as so ci ated with that ex po sure. This ar ti cle pres ents data on both life time and daily ex po sure to spe cific mass me dia sources among Ne pal s ur ban youth. It also pres ents in for ma tion on pre ferred ra dio sta tions and tele vi sion chan nels; the role of the mass me dia in dis sem i nat ing mes sages about so cial and health is sues; the mass me dia as a source of in for ma tion on con tra cep tive meth ods, HIV/AIDS and pu berty; and their role as a source of sex ed u ca tion for boys and girls. Fi nally, it ex am ines the fac tors that in flu ence ur ban youths ex po sure to the mass me dia in Ne pal. The anal y sis fo cuses on two char ac ter is tics of the young pop u la tion of mass me dia us ers their gen der and mar i tal sta tus. Be cause of women s gen - er ally low sta tus and lack of au ton omy in Ne pal (see, for ex am ple, Niraula and Lawoti, 1998), the pa per ex am ines whether gen der in flu ences young peo ple s ex po sure to the mass me dia. A qual i ta tive study of ad o les cents and young adults found gen der to be a pow er ful and re cur rent theme in re pro duc tive health is sues among Nep a lese youth (Waszak and oth ers, 2000). Early mar riage is an other so cial char ac ter is tic of the pop u la tion of Ne pal. As of 1996, about one half of fe males and just over one fifth of males were mar ried by age 17 (Thapa and oth ers, 1997), al though these per cent ages can be ex pected to be some what lower for the ur ban pop u la tion. Early mar riage has been found to be strongly as so ci ated with a low level of school ing, early en try into the la bour force and early moth er hood (ibid.). The data from the new sur vey make it pos si - ble to ex am ine the ex tent to which gen der and mar i tal sta tus are as so ci ated with aware ness and use of the mass me dia among ad o les cents and young adults. Evo lu tion of the mass me dia in Ne pal The his tory of the mod ern mass me dia in Ne pal goes back about one century. 1 It be gan with the news pa per Gorkha Patra at the be gin ning of the twentieth cen tury. Over the fol low ing 50 years, the State strictly con trolled the 6 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1

3 mass me dia, al low ing only the rul ers to have ac cess to them. Other cit i zens were not per mit ted to own ra dios un til Ra dio broad cast ing and pub lic screen ing of films be gan in the sec ond half of the 1950s. Ten years later, the Gov ern ment es tab lished the first Eng lish-lan guage news pa per, Rising Nepal, and a State-owned ra dio sta tion, Ra dio Ne pal. Tele vi sion was in tro duced in the mid-1980s with the es tab lish ment of State-owned Nepal Television in the capital. The 1990s saw rapid de vel op ments in Ne pal s mass me dia. The de vel op ments were as so ci ated with changes in the Nep a lese Con sti tu tion and a shift towards political liberalization. The decade witnessed an increasing role for the pri vate and com mer cial sec tors in pro vid ing broad ac cess to the mass me dia, in clud ing the Internet. Com mer cial FM ra dio sta tions were es tab lished, some thing that was un think able just a few years ear lier. The pri vate sec tor be gan to tele cast sev eral dozen (mostly for eign) tele vi sion chan nels. Movie halls, which un til 1990 were un der strict State con trol, were de reg u lated as well. Be fore 1990, Ne pal had just a hand ful of movie halls, con fined mostly to the cap i tal and a few large towns. Dur ing the 1990s, their num ber grew rap idly through out the coun try and to day even many small towns in Ne pal s interior have them. Fur ther more, house holds are now free to set up their own dish an ten nas to re ceive any do mes tic or for eign sat el lite chan nels on tele vi sion. Al though the mass me dia in Ne pal have been de reg u lated and pri vat ized, es pe cially since 1990, ac cess re mains highly con cen trated in cit ies and large towns. In the early 1990s, Ra dio Ne pal was es ti mated to cover about 70 per cent of the coun try s land area through its re gional sta tions, and Ne pal Television was es ti mated to reach 35 of Ne pal s 75 dis tricts. The num ber of news pa pers pub lished in Ne pal al most dou bled dur ing the first half of the 1990s, from 528 in to 1,006 in But the avail abil ity of news pa pers still var ies greatly by re gion, the Cen tral re gion ac count ing for the ma jor ity of all news pa pers pub lished. Internet ac cess is a re cent phe nom e non in Ne pal; and al though Internet serv ers and shops are pop ping up in large num bers in many parts of the coun try, ac cess to the Internet re mains con fined largely to the up per mid dle class in large ur ban cen tres. There are no regulations restricting access to web sites. Data and meth ods The data ana lysed here come from the Ne pal Ad o les cents and Young Adults (NAYA) Sur vey. The sur vey was con ducted in July and Au gust 2000 in ur ban and ru ral ar eas. The ur ban pop u la tion was oversampled to al low re li able es ti mates based on the ur ban ad o les cent and young adult pop u la tion. The Asia-Pacific Population Journal, March

4 anal y sis pre sented fo cuses on the ur ban sam ple. Ap prox i mately 15 per cent of Ne pal s pop u la tion lives in ur ban ar eas. The sur vey s sam pling uni verse in cluded the five larg est ur ban ar eas, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Pokhara, Biratnagar, and Birgunj, which to gether ac count for ap prox i mately 50 per cent of the coun try s ur ban pop u la tion. Pro spec tive re spon dents aged 14 to 22 years were se lected by means of a strat i fied, two-stage sam pling de sign with prob a bil ity pro por tional to the es ti mated num - ber of dwell ings in the enu mer a tion area (Bastola, 2000). Fifty nine per sons (11 su per vi sors and 48 in ter view ers) were as signed to work in the field for the ur ban com po nent of the sur vey. Of those, 31 were men and 28 were women. On av er age, each su per vi sor over saw 4.4 in ter view ers. The su per vi sors were slightly older than the in ter view ers (31 years on av er age, com pared with 25 years). The ma jor ity of the sur vey staff were stu dents with an av er age of 14 years of school ing. More than two thirds had spent their child - hood in ru ral ar eas. Forty-four per cent of the field staff were mar ried. To make the in ter views gen der-friendly, women in ter viewed fe male re spon dents and men in ter viewed male re spon dents. House hold heads, how ever, were in ter viewed by in ter view ers of ei ther gen der, de pend ing on con ve nience and the work load of the in ter view ers and su per vi sors. Upon com plet ing the field work, the sur vey re search staff met with the in ter view ers and su per vi sors to ob tain their com ments on re sponses to par tic u larly sen si tive and per sonal sur vey ques tions. The find ings from these feed back meet ings are re ported by Thapa and oth ers (2000, 2002). A to tal of 18,311 houses were vis ited in all the ur ban sam ple blocks (Thapa and oth ers, 2000). Ninety-six per cent of the se lected house holds were suc cess fully in ter viewed. This per cent age was some what lower for in di vid ual re spon dents (92.5 per cent), rang ing from 90.9 per cent for mar ried males to 94.7 per cent for mar ried fe males. A to tal of 2,824 re spon dents (51 per cent fe males and 49 per cent males), were suc cess fully in ter viewed in the five ur ban ar eas: 1,054 sin gle fe males, 391 mar ried fe males, 1,278 sin gle males and 101 mar ried males. Given the small sam ple size for mar ried males the re sults for that sub group should be in ter preted with cau tion. The non-re sponse rate (in clud ing in com plete in ter views) was 7.5 per cent. Of the 228 non-re sponse cases, 42 per cent were not in ter viewed be cause they were not at home (de spite up to three at tempts by in ter view ers to con tact them), 29 per cent re fused to par tic i pate in the in ter view, 13 per cent had their in ter - views terminated primarily because of interference by family members, and 17 per cent could not be in ter viewed for other rea sons (Thapa and oth ers, 2002:8). 8 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1

5 The sur vey ques tion naire in cluded sev eral ques tions about re spon dents ex po sure to the mass me dia, in clud ing tele vi sion, ra dio, the Internet, news pa pers and mag a zines. The re sponses to those ques tions form the ba sis for the present analysis. Separate questionnaires were designed for single females, mar ried fe males, sin gle males, and mar ried males (Fam ily Health In ter na tional and Val ley Re search Group, 2000). Life time ex po sure to the mass me dia Results The re spon dents were asked if they had ever lis tened to a ra dio, watched tele vi sion, read a news pa per or mag a zine, or used the Internet. Ta ble 1 pres ents the per cent ages re port ing life time ex po sure to these me dia sources, by re spon dents sex and mar i tal sta tus. Most had been ex posed to tele vi sion (98 per cent) and ra dio (93 per cent) at least once in their life time. Three out of four had ever read a news pa per or mag a zine, but only one out of five had ever used the Internet. Rel a tively low life time ex po sure to the Internet was ex pected, given its re cent in tro duc tion in the coun try and the higher cost and skill level re quired to ac cess it. Con sid er ably higher ex po sure to tele vi sion and ra dio than to the print me dia was also ex pected be cause watch ing tele vi sion or lis ten ing to ra dio does not re quire read ing skills. Al most all re spon dents had been ex posed to at least one of the four types of mass me dia in their life time. In con trast, the pro por tion re port ing life time ex po sure to all four me dia sources was only 12 per cent. Three quar ters of re spon dents had been ex posed to the three most com mon me dia (tele vi sion, ra dio and print me dia) at least once in their life time. Life time ex po sure to each of the four me dia sources was higher among sin gle than among mar ried re spon dents. Whereas ever use of tele vi sion and ra dio was only slightly lower among mar ried re spon dents than among their sin gle coun ter parts, mar ried re spon dents were much less likely than sin gle re spon dents to have ever read a news pa per or mag a zine (65 per cent com pared with 88 per cent for males and 37 per cent com pared with 84 per cent for fe males, re spec tively). About two thirds of sin gle males and fe males (66 per cent of males and 63 per cent of fe males) had heard of the Internet, com pared with only 29 per cent of mar ried males and only 18 per cent of mar ried fe males (data not shown). Use of the Internet also var ied sub stan tially by sex and mar i tal sta tus. One in four sin gle males (26 per cent) and one in five sin gle fe males (19 per cent) had used the Internet at least once in their life time, com pared with only 6 per cent of mar ried males and fe males. As shown in ta ble 1, al most ev ery one in all four sub groups had ex pe ri enced ex po sure to at least one of the four me dia sources dur ing their life time, the per cent ages rang ing nar rowly from 97 per cent among mar ried Asia-Pacific Population Journal, March

6 fe males to 100 per cent among sin gle males. How ever, life time ex po sure to all four sources not only was much lower among all four sub groups but also var ied con sid er ably by sex and mar i tal sta tus, from only 1 or 2 per cent among mar ried males and fe males to 11 per cent among sin gle fe males and 17 per cent among sin gle males. These very low lev els and sharp dif fer en tials by sex and mar i tal sta tus in life time ex po sure to all four me dia sources were due mainly to low lev els and sharp dif fer en tials in the use of the Internet. Dif fer en tials in life time ex po sure to the three me dia sources other than the Internet closely re sem bled the dif fer en tials for the print me dia dis cussed above. Ta ble 1. Life time ex po sure to tele vi sion, ra dio, news pa pers, and the Internet among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22), by sex and mar i tal sta tus: Ne pal, 2000 (per cent age) Me dia type Over all, males had higher life time ex po sure to the mass me dia than fe males, and sin gle males and fe males had higher ex po sure than mar ried males and fe males. A great ma jor ity of mar ried males and fe males had not heard of the Internet, and most of them had never used it. Ex po sure to the print me dia was es pe cially low among mar ried fe males. Rel a tively low life time ex po sure to the mass me dia among fe males, par tic u larly to the print me dia and the Internet, re flected their lower lev els of ed u ca tion and lack of the spe cial skills re quired to ac cess the Internet. Lower ex po sure among mar ried re spon dents may have been due to the fact that mar ried youth in the age range are more likely than their sin gle coun ter parts to come from lower socio-eco nomic strata. Young peo ple from the lower socio-eco nomic strata are less likely to have ac cess to the mass me dia. More over, mar ried youth, par tic u larly fe males, may have less time than sin gle youth to en joy the mass me dia be cause of their house hold chores and childcare re spon si bil i ties. Daily ex po sure to the mass me dia Male Female Sin gle Mar ried Sin gle Mar ried To tal Tele vi sion Ra dio Newspaper Internet Any one All ex cept the Internet All four Re spon dents were asked whether they watched tele vi sion, lis tened to the ra dio, or read a news pa per or mag a zine at least once a day. Ta ble 2 pres ents the per cent age of ur ban youth re port ing daily ex po sure to these me dia, by sex and 10 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1

7 mar i tal sta tus. Given the re cent in tro duc tion of the Internet into the coun try, the sur vey did not col lect in for ma tion on daily ex po sure to that me dium. Daily ex po sure to each of the other three me dia was much lower than life time ex po sure. Sev enty-two per cent of re spon dents watched tele vi sion daily, 35 per cent lis tened to a ra dio daily, and 25 per cent read a news pa per or mag a zine daily. Four out of five youths were ex posed daily to at least one of the three me dia sources, but only one out of nine was ex posed daily to all three. Me dia type Ta ble 2. Daily ex po sure to tele vi sion, ra dio and news pa pers among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22), by sex and mar i tal sta tus: Ne pal, 2000 (per cent age) Male Female Sin gle Mar ried Sin gle Mar ried To tal Tele vi sion Ra dio Newspaper Any one All three Note: The NAYA Sur vey did not col lect data on daily use of the Internet. Dif fer en tials in daily ex po sure to tele vi sion, ra dio and the print me dia, by re spon dents sex and mar i tal sta tus, were more pro nounced than were dif fer en tials in life time ex po sure. Eighty per cent of sin gle fe males and 62 per cent of mar ried fe males watched tele vi sion daily, com pared with 72 per cent of sin gle males and only 36 per cent of mar ried males. Males lower ex po sure to tele vi sion prob a bly re flects their ten dency to spend more time out doors than fe male youth. In con trast, daily ex po sure to ra dio and the print me dia was much higher among males than among fe males and much higher among sin gle than among mar ried re spon dents. Daily ex po sure to ra dio ranged from only 17 per cent among mar ried fe males to 44 per cent among sin gle males; and daily ex po sure to news pa pers and mag a zines ranged from just 4 per cent among mar ried fe males to 33 per cent among sin gle males. Daily ex po sure to at least one of the three ma jor me dia sources was greater among fe males than among males, even though fe males, es pe cially mar ried fe males, were much less likely than males to lis ten to a ra dio or read a news pa per or mag a zine each day. This was be cause males, es pe cially mar ried males, were much less likely than their fe male coun ter parts to watch tele vi sion each day. Dif fer en tials by sex and mar i tal sta tus in daily ex po sure to all three me dia sources re sem bled the dif fer en tials in daily ex po sure to ra dio and the print me dia, al though at a much lower level. Asia-Pacific Population Journal, March

8 Preferred radio stations and television programmes Respondents who had ever lis tened to a ra dio were asked which ra dio sta tions they usu ally lis tened to, those who had ever watched tele vi sion were asked what kind of tele vi sion programmes they usu ally watched, and those who had ever read a news pa per were asked what type of news pa per (daily, weekly or monthly) they usu ally read. Ta ble 3 pres ents the pref er ences of ur ban youth for spe cific ra dio sta tions, tele vi sion programmes, and news pa per types, by sex and mar i tal sta tus of re spon dents. The per cent ages are based on mul ti ple re sponses for each one of the three me dia types, and there fore their sum is more than 100 per cent. Table 3. Exposure to specific radio stations, television programmes and news pa pers among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22), by sex and mar i tal sta tus: Ne pal, 2000 (per cent age) Me dia type Males Females Sin gle Mar ried Sin gle Mar ried To tal Ra dio sta tions Radio Nepal FM sta tions All In dia Ra dio BBC In ter na tional Tele vi sion programmes Se ri als Mov ies Music News Sports Car toons Newspaper types Daily Weekly Monthly Note: Data in this ta ble re fer to only those re spon dents who had ever used each type of mass me dia. Me dia types men tioned by fewer than 10 per cent of re spon dents in all four sub groups are not shown. Over all, Ra dio Ne pal, the old est pub lic-sec tor form of elec tronic mass me dia in the coun try, was the most pop u lar ra dio sta tion among re spon dents, 84 per cent of whom lis tened to it. Next in pop u lar ity were FM sta tions (41 per cent), All In dia Ra dio (23 per cent), and the BBC (10 per cent). Less than 1 per cent lis tened to other ra dio sta tions. Sex and mar i tal-sta tus dif fer en tials in the per cent ages who usu ally lis tened to Ra dio Ne pal were small, though slightly 12 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1

9 more mar ried fe males than sin gle fe males lis tened to this sta tion. FM sta tions were much more pop u lar among sin gle than among mar ried youth. Forty-seven per cent of sin gle fe males and 43 per cent of sin gle males usu ally lis tened to FM sta tions, com pared with only 23 per cent of mar ried fe males and 25 per cent of mar ried males. All In dia Ra dio was much more pop u lar among males than among fe males, and much more pop u lar among mar ried than among sin gle youth. Forty-six per cent of mar ried males and 32 per cent of mar ried fe males usually listened to All In dia Ra dio, com pared with only 25 per cent of sin gle males and 15 per cent of sin gle fe males. Males were more likely than fe males to tune to the BBC sta tion, but the dif fer ences by mar i tal sta tus were small. With re gard to spe cific types of tele vi sion programmes, re spon dents most com monly watched se ri als or soap op eras (84 per cent) and mov ies (77 per cent). Other com monly watched programmes in cluded mu sic (72 per cent), news (60 per cent) and sports (42 per cent). Se ri als and mu sic programmes were more pop u lar among fe males than among males, but news and sports were more pop u lar among males. The per cent age usu ally watch ing mov ies on tele vi sion did not vary much by re spon dents sex or mar i tal sta tus. Sin gle youth were gen er ally more likely than mar ried youth to watch any of the types of tele vi sion programme listed in ta ble 3, the ex cep tion be ing that mar ried fe males were some what more likely than other youth to watch mov ies. On the other hand, mar ried fe males were much less likely to watch news and sports on tele vi sion than were sin gle fe males or males (mar ried or sin gle). The pop u lar ity of car toons also var ied greatly by mar i tal sta tus; 13 per cent of sin gle males and 18 per cent of sin gle fe males usu ally watched them, com pared with only 5 per cent of mar ried males and 2 per cent of mar ried fe males. Among re spon dents who had ever read a news pa per, 77 per cent re ported usu ally read ing a daily news pa per and 72 per cent re ported usu ally read ing a weekly news pa per. Only 31 per cent re ported usu ally read ing a monthly news pa per. There was lit tle vari a tion by re spon dents sex and mar i tal sta tus in the per cent ages usu ally read ing daily or weekly news pa pers, but fe males were some what more likely than males to read monthly news pa pers, as were sin gle youth. Me dia ex po sure to spe cific so cial and health top ics Re spon dents who had ever watched tele vi sion, lis tened to ra dio, or read news pa pers were asked if at any time dur ing the six months pre ced ing the sur vey they had seen, heard or read about spe cific top ics from each of the three me dia sources. The six top ics were con doms, drug ad dic tion, sex u ally transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS, family planning, girl-trafficking, and do mes tic vi o lence. In the case of ra dio, re spon dents were also asked whether they had lis tened to Ram Bilas & Dhaniya (a ra dio se rial drama named af ter Asia-Pacific Population Journal, March

10 two fic tional male and fe male char ac ters), or Ghanti heri haad nilaun (Cut Your Coat Ac cord ing to Your Cloth), an other se rial drama. Large ma jor i ties of re spon dents re ported watch ing or lis ten ing to programmes about the six top ics, or read ing about them, dur ing the six months pre ced ing the sur vey (ta ble 4). Two thirds or more of all re spon dents had seen a programme on each of the top ics on tele vi sion, had heard about them on ra dio, and had read about them in news pa pers. Fewer had heard the programmes Ram Bilas & Dhaniya (58 per cent) and Ghanti heri haad nilaun (46 per cent). Ta ble 4. Spe cific top ics learned about on tele vi sion, on ra dio or in news pa pers at any time dur ing the six months pre ced ing the sur vey among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22), by sex and marital status: Nepal, 2000 (percentage reporting) Me dia type and topic Male Female Sin gle Mar ried Sin gle Mar ried To tal Tele vi sion Con doms Drug ad dic tion HIV/AIDS/STIs Fam ily plan ning Girl-traf fick ing Domestic violence Ra dio Con doms Drug ad dic tion HIV/AIDS/STIs Fam ily plan ning Girl-traf fick ing Domestic violence Ram Bilas & Dhaniya Ghanti heri haad nilaun Newspaper Con doms Drug ad dic tion HIV/AIDS/STIs Fam ily plan ning Girl-traf fick ing Domestic violence Note: The data in this ta ble re fer to only those re spon dents who had ever used each type of mass me dia. Males were slightly more likely than fe males to have seen, heard or read about con doms, drug ad dic tion and HIV/AIDS or other sex u ally trans mit ted in - fec tions; but fe males were more likely to have seen, heard or read about fam ily plan ning, girl-traf fick ing and do mes tic vi o lence. This is not sur pris ing, given 14 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1

11 that in Ne pal, con dom use, drug ad dic tion and HIV/AIDS are usu ally as so ci - ated with men, whereas fam ily plan ning, girl-traf fick ing and do mes tic vi o lence are of greater con cern to women. Mar ried re spon dents were gen er ally less likely to have seen, heard or read about each of the top ics than their sin gle coun ter parts, with the no ta ble ex cep tions that mar ried fe males were more likely than sin gle fe males to have read about fam ily plan ning in news pa pers, and mar - ried males were more likely than sin gle males to have heard the programme Ram Bilas & Dhaniya. The mass me dia as a source of in for ma tion about con tra cep tion The re spon dents who had heard of at least one method of fam ily plan ning (mod ern or tra di tional) were asked about their sources of in for ma tion on con tra cep tive meth ods. All sources re ported by each re spon dent were re corded. Ta ble 5 pres ents the pro por tions re port ing spe cific sources of in for ma tion about con tra cep tive meth ods. Over all, tele vi sion was by far the most com monly re ported source of in for ma tion about con tra cep tive meth ods. Nine out of ten re spon dents who knew of at least one con tra cep tive method re ported learn ing about con tra cep tion from this source. Ra dio and news pa pers or mag a zines were the sec ond and third most com monly re ported sources of in for ma tion on con tra cep tive meth ods, re spec tively. These find ings in di cate that the mass me dia play an im por tant role in pro vid ing in for ma tion about fam ily plan ning to ur ban youth in Ne pal. Other fre quently re ported sources of in for ma tion on con tra cep tive meth ods were friends (33 per cent), schools (25 per cent) and post ers or pam phlets (20 per cent). Ta ble 5 also shows the sources of in for ma tion about con tra cep tive meth - ods by re spon dents sex and mar i tal sta tus. Tele vi sion and ra dio were the two most fre quently men tioned sources of fam ily plan ning in for ma tion in all four groups of re spon dents, but sin gle re spon dents were more likely than their mar - ried coun ter parts to have ob tained such in for ma tion from tele vi sion or ra dio. News pa pers or mag a zines were also men tioned far more fre quently by sin gle than by mar ried re spon dents. In con trast, mar ried re spon dents were much more likely than sin gle ones to re port friends as their source of in for ma tion about con tra cep tive meth ods. Sixty-two per cent of mar ried males and 32 per cent of mar ried fe males men tioned friends, com pared with 46 per cent of sin gle males and only 14 per cent of sin gle fe males. Over all, males were much more likely than fe males to re port friends as a source of in for ma tion about con tra cep tive meth ods. As ex pected, schools were men tioned more fre quently by sin gle youth, who were more likely to be still at school, than by mar ried youth. Post ers or pam phlets as a source of fam ily plan ning in for ma tion were men tioned much more fre quently by males than by fe males; 30 per cent of sin gle males and 27 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, March

12 Source Table 5. Sources of information about contraceptive methods among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22), by sex and mar i tal sta tus: Ne pal, 2000 (per cent age re port ing) Male Female Sin gle Mar ried Sin gle Mar ried per cent of mar ried males men tioned them, com pared with only 13 per cent of sin gle fe males and 6 per cent of mar ried fe males. Mar ried fe males were much more likely to men tion neigh bours (28 per cent) and rel a tives (13 per cent) as a source of fam ily plan ning in for ma tion than were other re spon dents (only 3 to 7 per cent of whom men tioned neigh bours and 1 to 5 per cent of whom men tioned rel a tives). Mar ried fe males (26 per cent) were also much more likely than mar ried males (4 per cent) to re port their spouse as a source of fam ily plan ning in for ma tion. Over all, it ap pears that in ad di tion to heavy re li ance by both sexes on the mass me dia for such in for ma tion, mar ried fe males are much more likely than other youth to rely on their so cial net works, in clud ing hus bands, neigh bours and rel a tives, for in for ma tion on con tra cep tive meth ods. The mass me dia as a source of in for ma tion about HIV/AIDS To tal Tele vi sion Ra dio Newspaper/magazine Friend School Poster/pam phlet Hos pi tal/phc/health post/shp Cin ema Neigh bour Fam ily mem ber Rel a tive Spouse n.a. 3.6 n.a Notes: Per cent ages in this ta ble are based on mul ti ple re sponses. Sources men tioned by fewer than 10 per cent of re spon dents in all four sub groups are not shown. n.a. = not ap pli ca ble; PHC = pri mary health centre; SHP = sub-health post. The re spon dents who had heard of the hu man im mu no de fi ciency vi rus (HIV) or ac quired im mu no de fi ciency syn drome (AIDS) were asked about their sources of in for ma tion on this par tic u lar sex u ally trans mit ted in fec tion. As in the case of in for ma tion about con tra cep tive meth ods, tele vi sion and ra dio were the two most com monly men tioned sources of in for ma tion about HIV/AIDS, men tioned re spec tively by 91 per cent and 75 per cent of re spon dents (ta ble 6). News pa pers and mag a zines were the third most fre quently men tioned source of HIV/AIDS in for ma tion, men tioned by 48 per cent. These re sults in di cate that, as in the case of fam ily plan ning, the mass me dia play a ma jor role in 16 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1

13 dis sem i nat ing in for ma tion about HIV/AIDS among ur ban youth in Ne pal. Other fre quently men tioned sources of in for ma tion about HIV/AIDS were friends (39 per cent), schools or teach ers (38 per cent) and bro chures or post ers (20 per cent). Source Table 6. Sources of in for ma tion about HIV/AIDS among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22), by sex and mar i tal sta tus: Ne pal, 2000 (per cent age re port ing) Male Female Sin gle Mar ried Sin gle Mar ried To tal Tele vi sion Ra dio Newspaper/magazine Friend School/teacher Brochure/poster/leaflet Neigh bour Spouse n.a. 3.7 n.a Notes: Per cent ages in this ta ble are based on mul ti ple re sponses. Sources men tioned by fewer than 10 per cent of re spon dents in all four sub groups are not shown. n.a. = not ap pli ca ble. Dif fer en tials in the sources of in for ma tion about HIV/AIDS by re spon dents sex and mar i tal sta tus were quite sim i lar to those for sources of in for ma tion about con tra cep tive meth ods (ta ble 6). Mar ried re spon dents were less likely than their sin gle coun ter parts to re port re ceiv ing in for ma tion about HIV/AIDS from tele vi sion, ra dio and news pa pers or mag a zines, par tic u larly less so in the case of news pa pers or mag a zines. For them, friends were a more im por tant source of in for ma tion about HIV/AIDS. Over all, males were much more likely than fe males to men tion friends as in for mants and to re port re ceiv ing HIV/AIDS in for ma tion from bro chures or post ers. Sin gle re spon dents men tioned schools or teach ers much more fre quently than did mar ried re spon dents. Mar ried fe males were much more likely than other youth to re port neigh bours as a source of HIV/AIDS in for ma tion (17 per cent com pared with 1 to 5 per cent), and they were also much more likely to men tion their spouse (31 per cent) than were mar ried males (4 per cent). All re spon dents were asked if, in their opin ion, it was ac cept able or un ac - cept able to dis cuss sex u ally trans mit ted in fec tions or HIV/AIDS on the ra dio, on tele vi sion, in news pa pers and in mag a zines. An over whelm ing ma jor ity of re spon dents (95 to 96 per cent) found it ac cept able to dis cuss those top ics on each one of the four me dia sources. Dif fer en tials by sex and mar i tal sta tus in the pro por tion who thought it was ac cept able to dis cuss them in the mass me dia were gen er ally small. Over all, mar ried fe males were some what less likely than Asia-Pacific Population Journal, March

14 other youth to find such dis cus sions ac cept able in the mass me dia. Even among this sub group, how ever, more than four fifths found it ac cept able for each of the four me dia sources to dis cuss sex u ally trans mit ted in fec tions or HIV/AIDS. The mass me dia as a source of in for ma tion about pu berty and re lated phys i cal changes Phys i cal and psy cho log i cal changes re lated to pu berty are of ten dif fi cult for young peo ple as they make the tran si tion to adult hood. The sur vey asked all re spon dents about their ini tial source of in for ma tion about pu berty and re lated phys i cal changes. Over all, 46 per cent of ur ban re spon dents learned about pu berty and re lated changes on their own (ta ble 7). Among those who re ceived some in for ma tion about pu berty and re lated phys i cal changes from other sources, friends and schools were the most fre quently men tioned sources, 19 and 14 per cent of re spon dents men tion ing each re spec tively. For only 8 per cent of ur ban youth, par ents were the source of ini tial in for ma tion. Only 2 per cent of re spon dents men tioned the mass me dia as their ini tial source of in for ma tion on this topic. Clearly, the mass me dia have the po ten tial to play a much greater role in ed u cat ing ad o les cents about pu berty and re lated phys i cal changes. Par ents and schools can also play a more im por tant role. Ta ble 7. Ini tial source of in for ma tion about pu berty and re lated phys i cal changes among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22), by sex and mar i tal sta tus: Ne pal, 2000 (per cent age dis tri bu tion) Source Male Female Sin gle Mar ried Sin gle Mar ried To tal None (own ex pe ri ence) Friends School Parents Books other than school books Neigh bours/rel a tives Magazines/newspapers Ra dio Tele vi sion Other No re sponse/miss ing Total Ta ble 7 shows that more than half of fe males and about two fifths of males re ceived no in for ma tion about pu berty and re lated phys i cal changes from any source other than their own ex pe ri ence. Mar ried re spon dents were slightly more likely than sin gle ones to have learned about pu berty and re lated changes on their own. Friends were the ini tial source of in for ma tion for about one 18 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1

15 fourth of mar ried and sin gle males, com pared with 10 per cent and 16 per cent of sin gle fe males and mar ried fe males, re spec tively. Schools were a more com - mon source for sin gle youth than for mar ried youth. Sin gle fe males were more likely than sin gle males to have learned about pu berty from their par ents, but mar ried males and fe males were about equally likely to have learned from their par ents. Very few youth in all four sub groups re ported learn ing about pu berty from the mass me dia. The mass me dia as a source of sex ed u ca tion Re spon dents were asked what they thought were ap pro pri ate sources of sex ed u ca tion for girls and boys. The most fre quently men tioned source con sid ered to be ap pro pri ate for both boys and girls was tele vi sion, men tioned by about three fifths of all re spon dents (ta bles 8 and 9). Next in fre quency of men tion were for mal ed u ca tion and ra dio call-in programmes, men tioned by more than two fifths of re spon dents in each case. Peer ed u ca tion and group meet ings also re ceived fre quent men tion, more than two fifths of re spon dents in each case. Men tioned much less fre quently were health work ers, train ing programmes, coun sel ling, and other forms of the mass me dia such as street drama, news pa pers or mag a zines, and films or vid eos. Over all, the per cent ages of youth men tion ing spe cific sources of sex ed u ca tion as ap pro pri ate for girls also men tioned them as be ing ap pro pri ate for boys, a re sult that sug gests there is no gen der bias in the sources that young ur ban Nep a lese con sider ap pro pri ate for sex ed u ca tion. Table 8. Spe cific sources men tioned as ap pro pri ate for sex ed u ca tion for girls among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22), by sex and mar i tal sta tus: Ne pal, 2000 (per cent age men tion ing) Source Male Female Sin gle Mar ried Sin gle Mar ried To tal Tele vi sion Formal education Ra dio call-in programmes Peer education Group meet ings/dis cus sions Health worker Training Coun sell ing Street drama Newspaper/magazine Parents Film/video Note: Per cent ages in this ta ble are based on mul ti ple re sponses. Sources men tioned by fewer than 10 per cent of re spon dents in all four sub groups are not shown. Asia-Pacific Population Journal, March

16 Ta ble 9. Spe cific sources men tioned as ap pro pri ate for sex ed u ca tion for boys among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22), by sex and mar i tal sta tus: Ne pal, 2000 (per cent age men tion ing) Source Male Female Sin gle Mar ried Sin gle Mar ried To tal Tele vi sion Formal education Ra dio call-in programmes Peer education Group meet ings/dis cus sions Health worker Training Coun sell ing Street drama Film/video Parents Newspaper/magazine Note: Per cent ages in this ta ble are based on mul ti ple re sponses. Sources, in clud ing an un spec i fied source, men tioned by fewer than 10 per cent of re spon dents in all four sub groups are not shown. The re sponses to this ques tion, how ever, in di cated con sid er able dif fer ences by re spon dents sex and mar i tal sta tus in their pref er ences for spe cific sources of sex ed u ca tion for boys and girls. Mar ried males were much less likely to men tion tele vi sion as an ap pro pri ate source for the sex ed u ca tion of girls (35 per cent) than were sin gle males (53 per cent) or ei ther sin gle or mar ried fe males (70 and 61 per cent, re spec tively). A sim i lar pat tern is ob served for the sex ed u ca tion of boys. As in the case of tele vi sion, males, es pe cially mar ried males, were less likely than fe males to men tion ra dio call-in programmes, peer ed u ca tion, group meet ings, train ing programmes, news pa pers or mag a zines, and par ents as ap pro pri ate sources for the sex ed u ca tion of girls or boys; but males, es pe cially sin gle males, were more likely than fe males to men tion for mal ed u ca tion as an ap pro pri ate source. Mar ried re spon dents were gen er ally less likely than sin gle re spon dents to ap prove each spe cific source as ap pro pri ate for the sex ed u ca tion of girls or boys, group meet ings be ing the most no ta ble ex cep tion. A con sid er able pro por tion of re spon dents ei ther did not an swer this ques tion or said that they did not know of any ap pro pri ate source for sex ed u ca tion for young chil dren. Males were more likely than fe males, and mar ried re spon dents more likely than sin gle ones, to give no re sponse or a Don t know re sponse. To find out where young ur ban Nep a lese ob tained their in for ma tion on sex ual mat ters, the sur vey asked re spon dents, If you want to know more about sex ual mat ters, what do you usu ally do? All re ported re sponses were re corded. 20 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1

17 Ta ble 10 shows that friends were the most com monly sought source of in for - ma tion on sex ual mat ters (men tioned by 47 per cent), fol lowed by books (38 per cent) and phy si cians or clin ics (37 per cent). Mass me dia sources were also men tioned fre quently, 31 per cent of re spon dents say ing they sought in for ma tion on sex ual mat ters from mag a zines, 28 per cent from tele vi sion and 19 per cent from ra dio. Few men tioned teach ers, fam ily mem bers or neigh bours. Table 10. Specific sources preferred if needing additional information about sex ual mat ters among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22), by sex and mar i tal sta tus: Ne pal, 2000 (per cent age men tion ing) Preferred source Male Female Sin gle Mar ried Sin gle Mar ried To tal Friends Books Phy si cian/clinic Magazines Tele vi sion Ra dio Teacher Neigh bours Other Sis ter Spouse n.a. 8.0 n.a Other Notes: Percentages in this ta ble are based on mul ti ple re sponses. n.a. = not ap pli ca ble. Males were much more likely than fe males to seek in for ma tion on sex ual mat ters from friends, books and phy si cians or clin ics. In con trast, fe males were much more likely than males to seek such in for ma tion from tele vi sion, neigh bours and rel a tives. Mar ried re spon dents were gen er ally less likely than sin gle ones to seek such in for ma tion from each spe cific source. The ex cep tional case was neigh bours, whom mar ried re spon dents were more likely to men tion than were sin gle re spon dents. The per cent ages who said they would seek in for ma tion on sex ual mat ters from books, mag a zines and teach ers were much lower among mar ried fe males than among the other re spon dents. Fifty-two per cent of mar ried fe males said they would ask their spouse for in for ma tion on sex ual mat ters, but only 8 per cent of mar ried males said they would ask their spouse for such in for ma tion. A con sid er able pro por tion of fe males, es pe cially sin gle fe males, would turn to their moth ers and sis ters for sex ual in for ma tion, but al most no males said they would re quest such in for ma tion from their moth ers or sis ters. Asia-Pacific Population Journal, March

18 Factors affecting regular exposure to the mass media Some of the dif fer en tials in the sub groups ex po sure to the mass me dia dis cussed ear lier may be as so ci ated with dif fer ences in their socio-eco nomic characteristics, such as urban locale, ethnicity, household living standard, age, education, and work status. To ex am ine the in flu ence of these fac tors on ur ban youths me dia ex po sure and to es ti mate the net ef fects of sex and mar i tal sta tus on that exposure, multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed. Un der stand ing the fac tors as so ci ated with youths reg u lar ex po sure to the mass me dia is im por tant from a pro gram matic point of view. In the anal y sis, reg u lar ex po sure to the mass me dia is de fined as daily ex po sure to tele vi sion, ra dio or news pa pers. Ta ble 11 pres ents ad justed ef fects of se lected socio-eco - nomic fac tors on daily ex po sure to tele vi sion, ra dio and news pa pers, as well as daily ex po sure to any one of the three and all three sources. Over all, reg u lar ex po sure to the mass me dia was greater among fe males than among males, and also among sin gle than among mar ried youth, af ter the authors con trolled sta tis ti cally for the ef fects of ur ban lo cale, eth nic ity, house hold liv ing stan dard, age ed u ca tion, and work sta tus. Fe males greater ex po sure was due mainly to their greater daily ex po sure to tele vi sion. Ta ble 11 shows that the ad justed odds of daily ex po sure to tele vi sion among sin gle and mar ried fe males were higher than among sin gle and mar ried males, re spec tively. The ad justed odds of daily ex po sure to ra dio and news pa pers, how ever, were much lower among fe males than among males. The ad justed odds of daily ex po sure to each me dia source were much lower among mar ried re spon dents than among their sin gle coun ter parts. Daily ex po sure to all three me dia sources was much higher among sin gle males than among other youth. The ad justed odds of daily ex po sure to any one of the three ma jor me dia were some what lower in Pokhara, Biratnagar, and Birgunj than in Kathmandu or Lalitpur; but the dif fer ences were not sta tis ti cally sig nif i cant. For spe cific me dia sources, how ever, the dif fer en tials in daily ex po sure by ur ban lo cale were sub stan tial. In ter est ingly, the odds of daily ex po sure to tele vi sion were con sid er ably lower among youth liv ing in Kathmandu than among those liv ing in other ur ban lo cales. In con trast, the odds of daily ex po sure to ra dio and news pa pers were gen er ally higher in Kathmandu. The odds of daily ex po sure to ra dio, news pa pers and all three me dia sources were par tic u larly low in Biratnagar and Birgunj than in Kathmandu, Lalitpur or Pokhara. By eth nic ity, the ad justed odds of daily ex po sure to any one of the three ma jor mass me dia were high est among Newars, fol lowed by Brah mans, Chhetris, and oth ers. Again, as in the case of ur ban lo cale, the dif fer en tials were much larger for spe cific me dia sources. In the case of tele vi sion, Newars 22 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1

19 Ta ble 11. Ad justed ef fects of sex, mar i tal sta tus and other fac tors on daily ex po sure to tele vi sion, ra dio and news pa pers among ur ban youth (ages 14 to 22): Ne pal, 2000 (rel a tive odds ra tios) Factor Watches tele vi sion daily Lis tens to ra dio daily Reads a newspaper daily Any one of the three a All three Sex and mar i tal sta tus Sin gle male 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) Married male *** *** * Sin gle fe male ** *** *** *** Married female *** *** *** Urban area Kathmandu 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) Lalitpur Pokhara ** *** Biratnagar *** *** *** *** Birgunj *** *** *** *** Eth nic ity Brah man 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) Chhetri *** Newar *** ** *** Other *** *** * *** House hold liv ing stan dard b Lower 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) Higher *** *** *** *** Age group *** * (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) *** ** Ed u ca tion None *** * *** Pri mary 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) Sec ond ary * *** ** High school or higher *** * *** *** *** Work sta tus c Not work ing 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) 1.0 (r) Work ing *** ** log like li hood N 3, ,824 3, ,824 2, ,824 2, ,824 1, ,824 Notes: (r) = reference category. * p 0.05; ** p 0.01; *** p 0.001; a Watched tele vi sion, lis tened to ra dio or read a news pa per on a daily ba sis; b House hold liv ing stan dard is a com pos ite vari able. Higher sta tus re fers to a house hav ing all four of the fol low ing at trib utes: piped wa ter, toi let with pan or flush sys tem, roof made of con crete ma te ri als, and floor made of ce ment, tile or mar ble; c Work sta tus re fers to whether a re spon dent was, at the time of sur vey, en gaged in any type of in come-gen er at ing ac tiv ity. Asia-Pacific Population Journal, March

20 were much more likely to watch tele vi sion ev ery day than were Brah mans, Chhetris or other eth nic groups. By con trast, the odds of daily ex po sure to ra dio and news pa pers were con sid er ably higher among Brah mans than among other eth nic groups. Ur ban youth be long ing to eth nic groups other than Brah man, Chhetri or Newar were the least likely to have daily ex po sure to each spe cific me dia source, as well as to any one or all three sources. A youth s ed u ca tional level and house hold liv ing stan dard had large pos i tive ef fects on reg u lar ex po sure to the mass me dia. By ed u ca tion, the ad justed odds of reg u lar ex po sure to any one of the mass me dia in creased from 0.5 among il lit er ate youth, to 2.3 among those with a high school or higher level of ed u ca tion. Sim i larly, the odds of reg u lar ex po sure were 2.1 times greater among youth liv ing in house holds with a higher stan dard of liv ing than among those liv ing in poorer house holds. Sim i lar ad justed ef fects of ed u ca tion and liv ing stan dard were also ob served for tele vi sion and news pa pers sep a rately, but not for ra dio. The odds of daily ex po sure to ra dio were lower for youth in better-off house holds than for those in poorer house holds, but the re la tion ship be tween ed u ca tion and daily ex po sure to ra dio was weak. Age had a pos i tive but gen er ally small ef fect on reg u lar ex po sure to the mass me dia. Work ing youth were less likely to be reg u larly ex posed to the mass me dia than non-work ing youth. This was pri mar ily due to their lower odds of watch ing tele vi sion ev ery day. There was no sig nif i cant dif fer ence by work sta tus in the odds of daily lis ten ing to ra dio or read ing news pa pers. In ad di tion to the vari ables shown in ta ble 11, the authors ex am ined the ad justed ef fects of own ing a ra dio or a tele vi sion set and that of age at mar riage on both life time and daily ex po sure to the mass me dia. The authours did not in clude these two vari ables in the fi nal mod els pre sented in ta ble 11, how ever, for the fol low ing rea sons. As ex pected, youth who lived in house holds that owned a tele vi sion set or ra dio were con sid er ably more likely to have had both life time and daily ex po sure to the mass me dia than were youth who did not live in such house holds. But in clud ing house hold own er ship of a ra dio or a tele vi sion set in the equa tion did not al ter much the ef fects of other vari ables in cluded in ta ble 11, ex cept that the ef fects of house hold liv ing stan dard were re duced con sid er ably. This may be be cause own ing a ra dio or a tele vi sion set was highly cor re lated with the house hold s liv ing stan dard. To avoid multicollinearity prob lems, we there fore ex cluded own er ship of a ra dio or tele vi sion set from the mod els shown in ta ble 11. In order to es ti mate the ad justed ef fects of age at mar riage, the sex and mar i tal-sta tus vari able were redefined to in clude age at mar riage for mar ried 24 Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1