Filipino Youth and Premarital Sex

5 million or 23% of Filipino adolescents, aged 15-24, have already engaged in premarital sex. In 1994, only 18% of youth engaged in PMS. 20 percent of premarital sex occurs among high school students.

35% of those who engage in premarital sex are out-of-school youth and nonworking youths.
Young men who had their sexual debut at 13 years old would have anywhere between 10 and 60 sex partners during their adolescence alone

2 out of 10 said they had sex for the first time out of curiosity, while 14 percent did so to relieve sexual tension

Qualities of youth engaging in PMS
• Living away from parents at an early age (boys and girls);
• Regular exposure to x-rated movies (boys and girls).
• Frequently go to discos, massage parlors and clubs
• Does not attend religious services
• Unstable Family Life
• Addiction to Drugs, Smoking and Alcohol

Preventive factors against PMS
• Regular participation to religious activities
• Being employed (for boys);
• Staying longer in school (both boys and girls);
• Receiving population education in school (both);
• Living with parents (girls);
• Having a liberal-minded father who serves as a guardian (girls)