Inter-provincial migration effect on youth risk behaviors in South Africa: A multilevel analysis of contextual- and individual-level factors

Background: This study compared the participation of inter-provincial migrant and non-migrant South African youths in risk behaviors (RBs), and investigated the contextual and individual factors that influenced their participation in RBs. Method: Data was from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS), wave 3 of 2014 which was a survey of individuals and households living in the nine provinces of South Africa. A total of 5590 young people aged 15–24 years were used for this study. Smoking of cigarettes and drinking of alcohol were used as the two outcome variables of risk behaviors. Data analysis was with univariate, bivariate, and multilevel logistic regression techniques. Results: While 12.67% of the youths were smokers, 26.70% were drinkers. In addition, more of the non-migrants were engaged in smoking and drinking compared to migrants. With the exception of self-rated physical health and marital status, the results showed significant differences in smoking and drinking among migrants and non-migrants in other contextual and individual variables. Province of residence and living in urban areas significantly increased the odds of smoking and drinking among the migrants and non-migrants. Other contextual factors that increased the odds of drinking and smoking in the study area were poor mental health status, and good self-rated health of non-migrants (1.42; p < 0.05), and migrants (1.40; p < 0.05). Conclusion: Intervention measures/strategies should include provision of counseling centers, improvement in the education of the youth and increased media reportage on the dangers of participation in these risk behaviors