Psychosocial Characteristics of Urban Youth in Pakistan: Gender-Related Attitudes, Self-Efficacy and Interpersonal Support

Suruchi Sood, Johns Hopkins University
Shana Yansen, Johns Hopkins University

Pakistan one of the fastest growing Islamic countries in the world has one of the largest cohorts of young people in its history. 15-24 year olds comprise 19% of its population. This research used data from a face to face household survey with 1288 respondents: females (16-24); males (18-29) in Karachi and Lahore. The purpose of this paper is to examine the following psychosocial characteristics of urban youth: self-efficacy, gender attitudes, proactive attitudes and interpersonal support seeking. Factor analysis with varimax rotation and Cronbach alphas were computed to create individual scales and examine their internal validity. Cross-tabulations with gender and residence revealed significant differences. Young females in Karachi exhibited lowest levels of all psychosocial characteristics. In contrast, females from Lahore in some cases displayed more positive results than their male counterparts. Further exploration is suggested to delineate the relationships between these psychosocial characteristics and their impact on health seeking behaviors.