Developmental Assets and Sexual and Reproductive Health among 10 to 14 Year Olds in Uganda

With support from USAID, Georgetown University’s Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) and Search Institute collaborated to conduct a study of very young adolescents (ages 10 to14) in a developing country setting (north central Uganda), examining the link between internal and external assets the youth may experience, and their sexual and reproductive health. Specifically, we investigated whether positive relationships, opportunities, values, skills, and self-perceptions (developmental assets) as measured by Search Institute’s Development Assets Profile (DAP) survey, are significantly associated with indicators of sexual and reproductive health (SRH), including measures such as SRH knowledge, ability to access SRH services, and availability of adult and peer resources for discussing SRH matters. We also looked at differences between boys and girls in both the prevalence of SRH indicators and the association between developmental assets and those SRH measures. This report describes the rationale for the study, our research questions, how the study was conducted, and the study results.