Bride Price and Sexual Risk Taking in Uganda

Abstract

This study assessed the relationship of bride price to sexual risk taking based on a large, populationbased survey. Data were collected on bride prices for 592 married women in 12 districts in Uganda in 2001. Controlling for covariates, we found that having had a bride price significantly lowered the wife’s odds of sexual intercourse with a partner other than the spouse (OR= 0.222; 95% CI= 0.067, 0.737). Controlling for covariates, bride price increased the husband’s odds of non-spousal sexual intercourse (OR=1.489; 95% CI= 0.746, 2.972), although this finding is not statistically significant. Bride price payment is statistically significantly associated with lower rates of non-spousal sexual
contact in women, but is not statistically significantly associated with higher rates in men (Afr J Reprod Health 2009; 13[1]:147-158).