PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – Adolescents in Ethiopia primarily rely on their mothers for medical advice and assistance when seeking treatment, but a new study led by PSTC Associate and Professor of Sociology David Lindstrom reveals that fathers, extended family members, and other trusted adults in the family network also distinctly influence how young people seek healthcare services, especially in rural areas. 

Published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, the research is the first to examine the family and social context of health-seeking behaviors of adolescents in urban and rural communities in southwest Ethiopia. To date, little information exists about the health-seeking behaviors and health services utilization patterns of young adults throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In these developing countries, adolescents can comprise a considerable part of the population, and when in good health, become critical contributors to the family unit, community, and economy. 

Lindstrom led a research team that includes PSTC Alumna Mao-Mei Liu in collecting survey data, sampling approximately 2,000 young people, between the ages of 13 and 17, to examine the roles of parents, extended family members, and other adults in the family’s network as sources for health advice and treatment. The findings reveal substantial gendered differences in the roles of mothers and fathers, though the results differed by residence. In urban areas, girls and boys were equally likely to go to their mothers for medical advice and to be accompanied by them in seeking treatment. Urban youth occasionally went to their fathers for medical advice and assistance, especially boys, but at lower rates than to their mothers. In contrast, in rural areas, fathers were the most important source of advice for sons and were more likely than mothers to accompany their daughters and sons to get treatment. Other adults in the extended family network, often an active male relative in female-headed households, also significantly increased the likelihood of boys receiving treatment. 

“In the adolescent ages when youth seek greater independence from their parents in making decisions and interacting with institutions outside of the home, they continue nevertheless to rely very heavily on their parents for advice and support with health-care,” says Lindstrom. “Recognizing the important role that fathers, mothers and other adults play in the health-seeking behavior of boys and girls, and especially in rural areas, is crucial to getting adolescents into formal health system for information and treatment.”