RESEARCH ARTICLE


A Systematic Review of the Relationship Between Family Structure and Health Risk Behaviours Amongst Young People: An African Perspective



José Frantz*, 1, Zinzi Sixaba2, Mario Smith3
1 Department of Physiotherapy, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
2 Faculty of Arts, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
3 Department of Psychology, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2015
Volume: 7
First Page: 3
Last Page: 11
Publisher Id: TOFAMSJ-7-3
DOI: 10.2174/1874922401507010003

Article History:

Received Date: 23/10/2014
Revision Received Date: 7/11/2014
Acceptance Date: 19/1/2015
Electronic publication date: 31/3/2015
Collection year: 2015

© 2015 Frantz

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distributin, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag, x17, Bellville 7530, South Africa; Tel: 27219592163; Fax: 27219592755; E-mail: jfrantz@uwc.ac.za


Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to review the published literature on the relationship between family structure and engagement in health risk behaviour amongst youth in African countries. Methods: A systematic review was conducted between 2000 and 2014. Suitable titles were identified from database searches. Thereafter, abstracts were evaluated along specific inclusion criteria. Eleven full text articles were evaluated for methodological quality using a modified critical appraisal tool and six studies were included in the final review that satisfied the threshold criterion of 70%. A narrative synthesis was completed for all included records to provide a textual answer to the research question.

Results: Findings indicated that there was a relationship between family structure and engagement in health risk behaviour, specifically risky sexual behaviour. The importance of family structure was evident, and the active involvement of parents in the activities of youth is cardinal. The review further underscores that there is lack of methodologically rigorous research that can provide empirical support for and insight into the relationship between family structure and engagement in health risk behaviour.

Discussion: Risky sexual behaviour was the most prevalent outcome assessed across studies. Family structure impacted positively on delaying or reducing engagement in risky sexual behaviour. Diverse family structures were identified and orphans living with caregivers were identified as a particular structure that might be more prevalent in the African context. Parental involvement and investment in adolescent activities were more strongly identified as an important factor. There is a lack of and need for more methodologically rigorous research to gain empirical support for and insight into the relationship between family structure and health risk behaviours.

Keywords: Africa, family structure, health risk behaviour, Systematic review, youth.