Hamid et al. BMC Public Health 2010, 10:164 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/164 their answers on community perceptions and not on personal feelings [17]. Data Management and Analysis Most of the interviews and FGDs were conducted in the local language by the principal investigator (PI) who also transcribed and translated them into English. The transcripts were read several times to gain an in-depth understanding of participants’ life experiences and their views on their preparation for and knowledge about sex- ual and childbearing activity. The data were analyzed by the research team using latent content analysis, with a focus on the description and interpretation of message meanings and concepts. Latent content analysis entails a constant comparison of different parts with a constant attention to the overall individual- and group-level data in a search to achieve an accurate understanding of the underlying meaning [15]. It is only through this careful examination of the women’s perspectives that authors were able to understand the situation of the young women in the study. In the interviews and FGDs mean- ing-units were identified, condensed and then coded. The codes were grouped into categories and abstracted into sub-themes and a main theme, always maintaining the practice of constant comparison during the coding process. Trustworthiness Various assurances were integrated into this study in order to ensure trustworthiness of the data during data collection and analysis. During data collection, informa- tion was collected using both in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The women that participated in the interviews were visited several times to increase interviewer-participant rapport, to provide participants with the opportunity to recapitulate their story, and to provide the interviewer to confirm what had been told and understood. Two interviews and the FGDs were coded by other qualitative researchers who were not involved in the study and compared to the coding done by the research team. Any differences in coding were discussed and a consensus was reached about the final set of codes. The codes generated from the interviews Page 3 of 7 and FGDs were similar, which added to the credibility of the data. The findings were brought back to the com- munity worker for verification. Ethical Considerations Ethical clearance for the study was granted by the Pakistan Medical Research Council and the Karolinska Institute. Verbal consent was taken from the decision maker in the house and the respondent. In most cases the decision maker was the mother who gave consent in the absence of the father. The consent statement, which explained the study objectives and the expectations of the study participants, was read aloud to facilitate their understanding. Study participants were assured of confidentiality. Results The two sub-themes illustrate the ideals, submissiveness and silence, that the Pakistani women are socialised into from childhood. These were combined into the theme of the study, security lies in obedience, thus illuminating the situation of young women in a poor setting in Pakistan. The data are presented starting with the sub- themes and their relation to the categories of analysis and concludes with how they contribute to the main theme (Table 1). Socialization into submissiveness The first sub-theme refers to the experiences of the young women who described how they were socialised from childhood into submissiveness and obedience. These ideas represent the expected ideals in the social environment of the local society, which underlie the customs guiding the socialisation of girls. The psycho- logy of participants’ parents became apparent in the varying degree of freedom and opportunity that different parents allowed their daughters. This socialization into submissiveness was achieved by: Living up to family expectations The young women described the behaviours, duties and responsibilities they were brought up to fulfil. They understood their primary role to be tending to their household and listed the typical duties such as cooking Table 1 Analysis Process for moving from Categories to Themes Category 1 Category II Category III Category 1 Category II Living up to family expectations Finding security in learning Level of Becoming a woman in Finding obedience freedom defined by silence cracks in the wall of silence family Sub-theme I Socialization into submissiveness Sub-theme II Adulthood transition in and into silence Main Theme Security lies in obedience