Title
Risky sexual behavior among out-of-school Thai and non-Thai youth in urban Chiang Mai, Thailand
Date Issued
01 January 2017
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Musumari P.M.
Tangmunkongvorakul A.
Srithanaviboonchai K.
Manoyosa V.
Tarnkehard S.
Techasrivichien T.
Ono-Kihara M.
Kihara M.
Chariyalertsak S.
Kyoto University
Publisher(s)
Oxford University Press
Abstract
Out-of-school youth in Thailand engage in risky sexual behavior that puts them at risk for contracting HIV infection and can have other negative sexual reproductive health outcomes. No study has examined risky sexual behaviors and compared them between Thai and non-Thai out-of-school youth. The current study compares sexual risk behavior and HIV testing behavior between out-of-school Thai and non-Thai youth. We conducted face-to-face interviews in this study population in urban Chiang Mai during 2014. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling from two main sources: non-formal education centers (NFECs) and social meeting places. We recruited 924 youth, aged 15-24 years, of whom 424 (45.9%) were Thai and 500 (54.1%) were non-Thai. The majority were attending NFECs (82.3%). Of the sexually experienced participants (57.7%), 75.4% did not use condoms consistently, and 50.3% had at least 2 lifetime sexual partners. Among the study participants, the Thai studied youth had significantly higher odds of ever having had sex (AOR=2.33; 95% CI: 1.56-3.49; p<0.001), having an earlier sexual debut (AOR=5.52; 95% CI: 2.71-11.25; p<0.001) and having a larger number of lifetime sexual partners (AOR=2.31; 95% CI: 1.37-3.88; p=0.002) than non-Thai participants. There was no significant difference between the Thai and non-Thai participants in terms of having HIV testing. The Thai studied youth were more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior than the non-Thai youth. However, both groups displayed risky sexual behaviors. Future research should explore in-depth the drivers of risky sexual behaviors among both Thai and non-Thai youth.
Start page
213
End page
226
Volume
48
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias socio biomédicas (planificación familiar, salud sexual, efectos políticos y sociales de la investigación biomédica) Enfermedades infecciosas
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85034585370
Source
Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health
ISSN of the container
01251562
Sponsor(s)
This study was part of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Program among out-of-school young people in Chiang Mai, supported by the Chiang Mai University Center for Excellence in HIV/AID Sesearch, and the Nationalesearch University Project under Thailand’s Office of Higher Education Commission. We thank the participants in this study. We also thank the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Program for Advancing Strategic International Networks to Accelerate the Circulation of Talentedesearchers, “The Japan-ASEAN Collaborativeesearch Program on Innovative Humanosphere in Southeast Asia: In Search of Wisdom Toward Compatibility Growth and Community in the World” for supporting the collaboration between Kyoto University and research Institute for Health Sciences (IHES), Chiang Mai University.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus