Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
12-14
0
7
1
6
14
0
3
0
3
6
15-17
4
1
3
3
11
2
5
3
10
20
18-19
0
1
0
2
3
0
2
0
0
2
Total
4
9
4
11
28
2
10
3
13
28
Figure 3 - Study sample broken down by sex and age of first sexual experience As the latter table suggests, the majority of young people - of both sexes - had had no sexual experience prior to their inclusion in the sample. However, the nature of the study was such that this did not prevent us from gathering sufficient information about those who were sexually experienced.
Figure 4 outlines the age at which girls in the sample had their first menstruation: Villa del Mar
Villa del Sol
When did you have your first menstruation?
Age
Yes
No
Total
Yes
No
Total
THE CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
28
12-14
5
3
8
2
2
4
15-17
5
0
5
12
0
12
18-19
2
0
2
0
0
0
Total
12
3
15
14
2
16
Figure 4 - Study sample broken down by age of first menstruation Research methods
Given the importance of the in-depth, qualitative interviews to the ultimate success of the project, considerable investment was made to ensure that they were carried out in an appropriate fashion. Consultants were hired to provide training to the interviewers, and to assist in the preparation of an interview guide.
In addition to the interviews, participant observation was also incorporated into the methodology of this study. It provided a means of obtaining information about youth and their sexual practices in a non-threatening, unobtrusive manner. In order to carry out these observations, project ethnographers frequented the bars, discotheques, beaches and others places where young people gather. Moreover, they also participated in religious, cultural and sporting events, and recorded key details concerning the nature and location of youngsters‟ activities.
A series of focus groups were also carried out by field staff. These provided a means of obtaining additional information about young people‟s sexual culture, while at the same time serving to corroborate the findings of project ethnographers and interviewers. In this way, they were helpful in casting further light upon each community‟s social milieu, as wel as the nature of young people‟s relationships, life styles and emotions.
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Preparation of an interview guide
Having drawn up a guide to assist those who were charged with carrying out the in-depth interviews, the latter was subjected to three series of tests: first during initial training of staff; second during the project pilot; and third during the final training workshop (see time table of activities for dates in question).
In essence, the interview guide provided a list of questions on a wide range of topics ( eg.
religion, gender relations, family, sex, education, bodily perceptions and so forth), whose underlying purpose was to elicit information about sexual discourses, their inter-relationships and contradictions, along with young people‟s resistance to them. The specific issues addressed by the guide are summarized below:
1.
Questions related to formal sexual discourses and their impact on young people (in the home, on the street, at school):
1.1
What is the substance of sexual information and discourses to which young people are exposed in the street, in the home, and at school? What principles, norms, ideals, behaviour and practices do they promote? How do they vary among the two communities?
1.2
What differences distinguish one discourse from another, and what are their contradictions? To the extent that discourses promote different practices depending upon individuals’ gender or religion, how might one characterize their variable impact upon those who benefit and those suffer from them most?
1.3
How might one characterize young people’s perception of discourses, along with their norms, rules, principles and objectives? How do young people respond to the latter? How are messages internalized and how do they influence young people's sexual life?
1.4
What is the role of such external factors as unemployment, drug addiction, sexual abuse, divorce, abandonment and how do they influence young people's sexuality and their view of the world?
2.
Questions related to Christian fundamentalist discourse and its impact on sexuality: 2.1
How does this discourse influence young people's sexuality?
THE CONSTRUCTION OF LATIN YOUTH
30
2.2
What is the relationship between this discourse and non-fundamentalist sexual discourses, and what implications (if any) do their interactions hold for young people?
3.
Questions related to sexism in Costa Rica and its influence on sex education in schools: 3.1
How, when and for what reason are sexist discourses established in Costa Rican society?
3.2
What are the consequences of sexism? These may include, but are not limited to, sex-based discrimination, sexual aggression, sexual precocity, prostitution and unsafe sexual practices.
3.3
What factors are significant in reinforcing or undermining sexism and double standards among different groups of young people?
3.4
How does sexism influence young people's view and practice of sex, and to what extent are variables such as age, gender, class, religion, place of residence and education significant in this regard?
3.5
What is the relationship between sexual stereotyping, knowledge of AIDS, and the practice of safe sex among men and women?
3.6
What could be done to counter sexism and sexual violence among young people, and promote a healthier, more equitable relationship between men and women?
4.
Questions related to the inter-relationship between discourses and activities which place individuals at high risk of contracting HIV:
4.1
In what ways does practice differ from theory and how do young people sort out the contradictions and inconsistencies which may be inherent within dominant discourses?
4.2
To what extent does sexual expression and understanding vary along lines of age, gender, place of residence, religion, and social class?
4.3
What factors are at work in inducing young people to engage in, or refrain from engaging in, sexual intercourse? Relevant factors may include, but are not limited to, parties, religion, substance use, peer pressure, sexual aggression, economic problems, parental influence, sex education and myths.
4.4
In what contexts is the pressure to engage in sexual intercourse most strongly felt?
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Needless to say, the quantity of data gathered during the course of the interview process was enormous.
However, rather than attempting to condense the material through interviewer syntheses or the preparation of case histories, we deemed it crucial that the young people be allowed to speak for themselves. Otherwise, we were afraid that the conservative nature of Costa Rican society, particularly in relation to adolescent sexuality, would cause people to disbelieve or reject our findings.
Selection and training of interviewers
Given the key role played by the interviewer in the qualitative research process, considerable time and resources were devoted to the task of recruiting appropriate field staff. In the paragraphs below we summarize some of the issues taken into account as we embarked upon this exercise.
First, it was essential that interviewers be able to display an appropriate degree of sensitivity to research participants. While acknowledging that a post-secondary education is no guarantee of the latter, we felt that, by focusing our recruitment campaign on university campuses, our field staff would at the very least be likely to possess the background necessary to conduct the interviews in a professional manner. Moreover, any gaps in interviewers’ knowledge base would be corrected through specialized training.
Second, it was considered likely that the interview process would arouse strong emotions on the part of some participants, particularly if they had suffered sexual, physical or psychological abuse in the past. Thus, as part of their training, field staff (many of whom were upper-year psychology students) were taught crisis intervention techniques and given a list of professionals to whom participants could be referred.
Finally, it was emphasized to us during scoping exercises that young people would be extremely leery of discussing personal matters with fellow community members, and that they would prefer to be interviewed by people they did not know.
As one might imagine, these considerations forced us to look beyond the communities themselves for suitable interview staff. Had we not planned for this contingency from the outset, the costs involved may have been prohibitive, but as it was the administrative coordinator was able to facilitate the process through judicious management of interview logistics.
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32
1994
1995
Activities
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 1
1
1
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9
1
1
1
0
1
2
0
1
2
Phase 1: Scoping;
Preparation
Training of
interviewers
Visits to communities
Recruitment of
interview participants
Pilot study
Report on pilot study
Modification of
interview guide
Modification of
project methodology
Final training
workshop for
interviewers
Phase 2: Data
collection;
In-depth interviews
Focus groups