ANGELES CITY- A study covering 18,547 households nationwide has revealed that Metro Manila and Central Luzon have the most number of youths aged 15 to 24 who have had premarital sex.
The 2013 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study (YAFS 4) indicated that at least one of three Filipinos aged 15 to 24 has had sex before marriage, with the figures having increased more than 20 percent compared to study findings reported ten years ago.
The national study was released here by the regional office of the Commission on Population (Popcom). It showed that 49.9 percent of the youths in the surveyed households in Metro Manila admitted to having had premarital sex, followed by 39.1 percent in Central Luzon.
The survey also indicated that of the youths who admitted premarital experience, 35.5 percent were males while 28.7 percent were females. The study did not say why the sex of the others in the survey was not stipulated.
But it noted a smaller gap between males and females in the latest study, as it noted that a similar study conducted 10 years ago indicated 31.2 percent were males while 16 percent were females. YAFS 4 also reported that of those who have engaged in premarital sex, 78 percent did not use “protection.”
YAFS 4 is a joint-project of the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) and the Demographic Research and Development Foundation (DRDF). It is presented in three major areas of study, namely, Media and Lifestyle refl ected in Tweets and Facebook “likes”, non-sexual risk behaviors, and sexual risk behaviors.
The Popcom regional office said a total of 18,547 households nationwide participated in YAFS 4 which was co-funded by the Australian government, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Department of Health (DOH), and the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD).
