الفهرس 
Acknowledgements
AdolescentsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Exposure of adolescents to risk events in childhood and adolescence affects their living a healthy life later on in their lives. The WHO estimated that overall 10–20% of youth under 19 years in developed and developing countries have behavioural and mental disorders. Behaviours established during adolescence often continue into adulthood, eventually resulting in substantial morbidity and mortality. There is limited research on adolescents in Arab countries. Even studies that were conducted in Egypt, focus only on reporting the prevalence of these problems rather than exploring predictors. In addition, previous researches are either focusing on adolescents less than 19 years as one group or on those aged 15 and above. However, there is a lack of attention to the age group 10 -14 years, which necessitates further research to tackle this age group especially girls. SYPE gives a good opportunity to re-analyze the data on a nationally representative sample of adolescent girls aged 10 -14 years old and to address some of the risks that those girls may be exposed to in their early adolescent life.
9.2 Aim of the study:
The present study aims to measure the prevalence as well as to identify the correlates of exposure to domestic violence, sexual harassment and FGM\C among adolescent girls aged 10 to 14 years in Egypt.
9.3 Subjects and methods:
The study was a secondary analysis using Survey of Young People in Egypt (SYPE) data 2009. The SYPE sample is a nationally representative stratified, multi-stage cluster sample.
Out of the 11,372 households included in the SYPE samples with a total number of 20,200 young people (males and females aged 10-29), our study sample included 2012 adolescent girls aged 10 – 14 years belong to 2012 households.
9.4 Results:
The analyzed data of the current thesis were organized into four sections
9.4.1 Section (1): Description the study population:
• The total sample is 2012 adolescent girls; the majority of them were from rural areas. Almost one third of the study participants were from rural lower and rural Upper Egypt. Nearly all of the girls were in the primary and preparatory schools.
9.4.2 Section (2): Circumstances of adolescent girls` exposure to different forms of violations:
9.4.2.1. Violence:
• Nearly three quarters of the study participants were exposed to violence. Largest percentage (39.5 %) were exposed to one form of violence, i.e. either verbal, emotional or any of the physical forms, while (29.1%) were exposed to two forms of violence. The most common form for violence exposure was being shouted, yelled or screamed upon (58.4%), while other exposed early adolescent girlsfaced physical violence in the form of being hit or slapped on the body (one third) or on the face (one quarter).
9.4.2.2. Sexual harassment:
• Nearly one quarter (23.7%) of Egyptian adolescent girls aged 10 -14 years had been exposed to sexual harassment. The vast majority of them experienced verbal harassment (99.6%). Strangers by far were the most common perpetrators of sexual harassment (96.7%). Less than one third of sexual harassment occurred in transportation (29%) followed by schools (12.4%). More than half of the study participants (58.5%) told someone about their exposure to sexual harassment. Among those, nearly two-thirds of them told their parents, while (34.7%) told their friends.
9.4.2.3. FGM\C:
• More than two third ofearly adolescent girls were exposed to FGM/C (64.8%). It was carried in the majority of them by medical personnel (70.7%) followed by dayas (22.4%). More than half of them were circumcised at home (53.6%) followed by private health facilities (40.3%).
9.4.3 Section (3): Bivariate analysis to show the characteristics of adolescent girls exposed to
9.4.3.1. Violence:
• Concerning to socio–demographic characteristics, it was clear that rural residents have a higher percent to be exposed to any form of violence (65.6%), with statistically significant difference. Rural Upper Egypt and rural Lower Egypt showed a statistically significant higher difference in the exposed group compared to the non-exposed group. Adolescent girls belonging to the lowest wealth quintile have a higher risk of exposure to violence than non-exposed group.
• Regarding the health conditions of study participants exposed to violence; partially sighted disability was the most common type of disability among exposed participants compared to non-exposed (61.2% versus 17.8%). Study participants who had lung disease were at higher risk of exposure to violence (29.2%) compared to the non-exposed with a statistically significant difference.
• Adolescent girls whose parents were illiterate were more exposed to violence, with statistically significant difference.
9.4.3.2. Harassment:
• Concerning socio–demographic characteristics, older early adolescent girls aged 13 - 14 years old (56.7%) residing in urban or informal areas (57.4%) were more at risk of exposure to sexual harassment with a statistically significant difference. Preparatory and secondary school students were more exposed to harassment compared to the other group (63.5%, 36.2%) respectively. Among different geographical areas, urban governorates and urban Lower Egypt showed a significant association in exposure to sexual harassment. Exposure to harassment increase as the wealth quintile increase.
• As the level of education of the mother increases, the exposure of their early adolescent girls to harassment decrease with a statistically significant difference.
9.4.3.3. FGM\C:
• Concerning socio–demographic characteristics, early adolescent girls living in rural areas, who never went to school and who belonged to the poorest families were more at risk of being exposed to FGM/C (73%, 4.8% and 28.2% respectively).
• Regarding parental education, the illiterate mothers and fathers had a significant higher association for their daughters to be circumcised.
9.4.4 Section (4): Multivariate analysis to identify correlates of early adolescent girls’ exposure to different risks:
9.4.4.1. Violence
• The positive significant predictor for violence included being a rural resident (OR= 2.977, 95%CI =1.033-8.580). On the other hand, negative significant predictor included; adolescent girls whose mothers are in the highest educational level (post-secondary and university) were less likely to be exposed to violence (OR= 0.554, 95%CI =0.313-0.979).
9.4.4.2. Harassment
• The positive significant predictors for harassment included older age, being in families in fourth wealth quintile and reporting more absenteeism days at school in the last year prior to the survey. Older age participants were more likely to report exposure to harassment compared to younger age girls (OR= 1.551, 95%CI =1.412-1.705). Adolescent girls belong to wealthier families had two times higher probability to report exposure to harassment compared to girls belong to less wealthy families. However, the odds were only significant in the fourth quintile group (OR= 2.304, 95%CI =1.331-3.987).
• On the other hand, negative significant predictor included: time to school; adolescent girls reported spending more than half an hour on the way to school had lower odds of being exposed to harassment (OR=0.449, 95%CI =0.303-0.665).
9.4.4.3. FGM\C
• The positive significant predictors for FGM/C included older age and being a rural resident. Older girls were nearly one and half time more likely to be exposed to FGM/C than younger girls. Also girls who were rural residents were nearly two times more likely to be exposed to FGM/C (OR=2.130, CI= (1.595-2.844)).
• On the other hand, negative significant predictors included: wealth and mother education; girls who belonged to richer families (forth and richest wealth quintiles) (OR= 0.647, 95% CI =0.425-0.986), (OR= 0.347, 95% CI =0.208-0.580) respectively and whose mothers had high school (general or vocational) level of education (OR=0.688, CI= 0.455-1.039) had a lesser probability to be exposed to FGM/C and girls
9.4.4.4. Exposure to more than one form of violence, harassment or FGM/C.
• The positive significant predictor for exposure included older age. Older age participants were more likely to report exposure compared to younger age girls (OR= 1.630, 95%CI (1.344-1.978)). On the other hand, negative significant predictor included: being in richest wealth quintile. Adolescent girls belong to the richest group were less likely to be exposed compared to girls belonging to less wealthy families (OR= 0.300, 95%CI (0.106-0.845)).
9.4.5 In highlight of these results, the study recommends:
• Parental educational programs should be directed to newly married parents to guide them towards proper ways of raising children and dealing with conflicts among early adolescents.
• National media campaigns need to be established to raise awareness about the risks of early adolescent girl exposure to violence, harassment and FGM/C.
• School educational programs should be directed to teachers and students both boys and girls to raise awareness about ways to combat harassment Strict legal sanctions must be taken against medical personnel performing FGM/C as well as against private institutions at which this violation occurs.