The social mapping of Asian youth at risk: An example from the Philippines by Peter Xenos and Corazon Raymundo. East-West Center Working Papers, Population and Health Series, No. 94. October 1997. 22 pp.

Abstract

In modern times the social demography of Filipino youth has been transformed. Among the forces at work are delayed marriage and rising percentages single, extended schooling and rising school enrollment rates, and declining labor force participation rates. The interplay of these trends has produced rapid change in the numbers of youth in various social categories, such as married youth or single and out-of-school youth. Drawing on data from the Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey of 1994 (YAFS-II), this paper examines two dimensions of these compositional changes in the Filipino youth population. One is the compositional importance of various kinds of risk-taking behavior, including substance abuse (smoking, drinking, drug use) and sexual risk-taking (premarital sex without protection of condoms, commercial sex) as well as risk-enhancing background (deceased parents, living away from parents, living alone, living in dormitories). The other dimension is modes of societal influence upon youth, including schools, the mass media, and the churches. Youth exposure to these "adult world" influences is measured through behavioral information on school enrollment, media exposure, and religious participation. A cross-tabulation of categories of risk-taking behavior against modes of influence indicates relative numbers of youth engaged in particular forms of risk-taking, according to the modes by which these youth might be influenced.