Asia-Pacific News

Thai teens having sex earlier than their Californian counterparts

Feb 14, 2007, 3:31 GMT

Bangkok - Thai teens are having sex a year earlier than their counterparts in swinging California and a lot fewer are using condoms, a survey of the two teen population revealed on Wednesday, Valentine's Day.

According to a study recently published in the journal of the Royal College of Paediatricians of Thailand on teen sexual behaviour in Thailand and California, the average age for Thai teens to start having sex was 16 compared with 17 for Californians, said The Nation newspaper.

Other revelations called disturbing were that while the rate of condom use among Californian teens was 58 per cent it was only 23 per cent among Thais.

Not surprisingly, Thais have a much higher number of teenage pregnancies at 90 per thousand, compared with California's 50 per thousand, while the number of HIV-positive teens in Thailand was 60,000 compared with only 4,000 in California.

Both California and Thailand have similar teen populations of about 7 to 8 million.

Suriyadeo Tripathi, chief author of the study, said that unlike California, Thailand has failed to follow practical measures to deal with risky sexual behaviour among teens such as sexual education and safe-sex campaigns.

'It's time for Thailand to take action,' Suriyadeo told a seminar on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Bangkok Metropolitan Police on Wednesday launched a 'four don'ts' campaign to prevent teen girls from having unsafe sex on Valentine's Day.

The Four Don'ts, which were to be communicated to young girls in the capital on Wednesday, included 'Don't leave an opportunity, Don't expose your stuff, Don't give a green light and Don't disregard prevention.'