Today’s youths more sexually active
YAFS4 STUDY RESULTS
SO what’s with today’s youth?
The latest Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality (YAFS) study revealed many new trends in the lifestyle, emotions and preferences of today’s young that many parents, teachers and elders may not be aware of or continue to deny to be real.
The highlights of that 2013 study that covered 19,000 young persons nationwide (aged 15 to 24 year-old) or about 1,000 youths from each region were discussed during the YAFS4 Regional Dissemination Forum held at Hotel Consuelo in Lingayen, recently.
First the good news. The trend from the year 1994 to 2013 is showing an overall decrease in the number of young persons that smoke, drink alcohol and use illegal drugs. It “suggests a more health conscious youth population, as supported further by the finding of a high prevalence of physical exercise.”
The bad news is the youth’s sexual risk behaviors have increased over the last decade, with more young persons engaging in premarital sex (PMS).
The study revealed that aggravating the trend for PMS, few opted to use contraception that led to an increase in rate of teenage pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases. (The survey showed that 6.2-million youth have already engaged in PMS, and 4.8-million (77%) of which did not use any form of protection).
Corollary to this finding, the youths actively engage in new forms of sexual activities with the advent of internet and new technology, namely, cybersex, and phone sex, among others.
According to Dr. Juan Antonio Perez III, the executive director of the Commission on Population (Popcom) These provide opportunities for meeting sexual partners that increase the risk of unprotected sex, health problems and poverty.
“Though they’re (results) are not saying it directly, it (new technology) is the most obvious culprit,” Perez said.
However, Popcom also recognized that the new technologies, on the other hand, can be used in mitigating risks, as well by “increasing awareness and discernment rather than limiting the media.”
Among the adverse consequences of the increase in sexual risk behaviors is the increase in actual suicide attempts among those who thought of committing suicide significantly increased. The study showed more female teens than male teens had attempted suicide.
A major factor being attributed to for the surge in sexual risks behavior is the inability of the youth to ask for advice and information about sex and reproduction.
The study bared that a high percentage of youth reported having nobody to ask for information about sex or reproduction.
Perez said most of those who get pregnant drop out of school so education remains the best solution to check poverty and its related problems.
Dr. Josefina Natividad of UPPI attributed to a “change in norms” among the young people for the evolving trends.
She cited as an example the stigma of felt by earlier generations for pregnancy before marriage in contrast to today’s norm for live-in arrangements before marriage or without marriage in mind.
YOUTH PROGRAMS
Popcom’s program “Youth for Youth” has an interactive internet-based education support. It has been launched initially in La Union.
Ellsworth Gonzales of the Pangasinan provincial population office said symposiums on adolescent sexuality and fertility awareness symposium are being conducted for third and fourth year high school students.
The YAFS study, funded by the Australian Government, United Nations Population Fund, Department of Health and the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, is a series of national surveys on the Filipino youth, conducted since 1982 by the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) and the Demographic Research and Development Foundation.
REGION 1
Here in Region I, the study showed the most of the youths are:
At least high school education (91%) while the rest (9%) have no schooling or have at most an elementary education. At least 23 percent have reached college. Of this, 29 percent are females while 17.79 percent are males. The proportion of youth in the region who have reached college is the fifth highest among all regions in the country.
‘Rich’ and digitally wired as 86.8 percent own a cellular phone, (second highest in the country); 66.3 percent use the internet (4th highest); 60.3% own an email account (3rd highest) and 86.2 percent watch the television regularly.
Very high consumers of ‘unhealthy’ food and drink like hamburger (47.9%), fried chicken (485); instant noodles (73.1%), fried street food (62.7%), carbonated drinks(79.8%) and coffee or tea ( 67.45%). (Johanne R. Macob/PIA).
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