Family formation and economic insecurity among youth in South Africa

Figures & data

Figure 1. Cohort follow-up.

Table 1. Percentage distribution of demographic characteristics among youth, Wave 1 (2008).

Characteristic	Frequency (n = 2536)	Percentage
Sex
Male	1 389	54.77
Female	1 147	45.23
Youth groups
15 to 19 years	1 508	59.46
20 to 24 years	1 028	40.54
Race
African	2 239	88.29
Other	297	11.71
Religion
None	313	12.5
Christian	2 038	81.39
Traditional	93	3.71
Other	60	2.40
Education
None	20	0.79
Primary	353	13.92
Secondary	2 163	85.29
Health
Poor	128	5.05
Good	487	19.20
Excellent	1 921	75.75

Table 2. Percentage changes in economic security over time, Wave 1 (2008) and Wave 3 (2012).

Economic security measure	Wave 1 (2008) (%)	Wave 3 (2012) (%)
Employment status
Yes	7.61	25.67
No	92.11	74.30
Missing	0.28	0.03
Type of employment^a
Limited	22.28	14.51
Unspecified	42.49	28.50
Permanent	34.20	56.99
Net income per month^a
≤ZAR 2404.46	80.52	67.21
≥ZAR 2404.44	19.48	32.79
Social grant recipient
Yes	2.09	20.81
No	97.91	79.19

^aOnly of those employed.

Figure 2. Description of the study sample at Wave 3 by family status and economic security status.

Table 3. Multinomial logistic regression showing the odds of economic security by union status.

			95% confidence interval
Wave 3	Relative risk ratio	p value	Lower	Upper
Partial security (base)
Complete
Sex (RC = males)
Female	0.65	0.054	0.41416	1.00744
Age group (RC = 18 to 25 years)
26+ years	2.69	0.000	1.90200	3.79883
Race (RC = African)
Coloured	2.51	0.000	1.62265	3.87614
White/Asian/Indian	0.58	0.606	0.0755	2.50883
Religion (RC = none)
Christian	1.60	0.113	0.89466	2.87317
Other	2.06	0.055	0.98601	4.31759
Education (RC = none)
Primary	0.73	0.0045	0.08298	2.4663
Secondary	1.03	0.036	0.01273	2.40526
Tertiary	1.11	0.022	0.01312	2.44448
Health status (RC = excellent)
Good	0.28	0.199	0.87985	1.84899
Poor	0.57	0.358	0.60067	4.09338
Family type (RC = unmarried no children)
Married with children	0.51	0.177	0.18439	1.36436
Married no children	2.64	0.035	0.83314	2.37755
Unmarried with children	0.22	0.003	0.00044	0.38532
Insecure
Sex (RC = males)
Female	2.35	0.045	1.02084	5.42242
Age group (RC = 18 to 25 years)
26+ years	1.07	0.553	0.85273	1.34686
Race (RC = African)
Coloured	0.59	0.005	0.41319	0.8545
White/Asian/Indian	0.83	0.844	0.13386	5.17306
Religion (RC = none)
Christian	0.67	0.094	0.4247	1.06938
Other	0.68	0.191	0.38863	1.20735
Education (RC = none)
Primary	0.33	0.163	0.06833	1.56976
Secondary	0.21	0.045	0.04305	0.96854
Tertiary	0.14	0.013	0.01139	0.66091
Health status (RC = excellent)
Good	0.87	0.27	0.67063	1.11812
Poor	0.54	0.15	0.85572	2.77409
Family type (RC = unmarried no children)
Married with children	0.68	0.000	0.00807	0.04589
Married no children	0.02	0.000	0.0022	0.13932
Unmarried with children	1.09	0.003	0.00397	0.88717

Note: RC = reference category.