AIDS-Related Risk, Knowledge, and Prevention Behavior among Young Men in the Philippines by Deborah Balk, Tim Brown, and Grace Cruz. East-West Center Working Papers, Population and Health Series, No. 100. February 1998. 32 pp.

Abstract

This study of AIDS risk-related behavior among Filipino men age 15-24 examines three aspects of high-risk sexual behavior: commercial sex experience, number of lifetime sexual partners, and condom use. The analysis uses data from the 1994 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey (YAFS-II) to test a causal model, the Health Belief Model.

The study found that young men's sexual activity, with girlfriends or acquaintances and with sex workers, is not uncommon. Approximately 8 percent of all young men in the sample reported having paid for sex in their lifetimes, with the percentage growing steadily from less than 1 percent at age 15 to nearly 20 percent by age 24. Of the roughly one-quarter of the sample who had been sexually active, 14 percent of the married men and 11 percent of the single men reported five or more sexual partners in their lives. While almost 92 percent of all respondents knew about condoms, only 22 percent of this group had every used a condom. Among those who had paid for sex in the past 12 months, only 22 percent reported consistent condom use. These findings indicate significant opportunities for HIV transmission through the premarital and commercial sexual activities of young Filipino men.

Three factors amenable to policy intervention are important determinants of condom use: the affordability of condoms, their accessibility, and the awareness that condom use prevents HIV transmission. However, no obvious policy-relevant factors were identified (except perhaps an association with drinking) that could reduce the chances that young men will engage in sex with prostitutes or have large numbers of sexual partners.

Background demographic, socioeconomic, and religious characteristics, which are fundamental determinants of sexual activity, did not turn out to be strong determinants of the risk factors for HIV transmission. All in all, the Health Belief Model cannot readily be endorsed by the present analysis.