A non-neglible proportion of today's Filipino youth engage in pre-marital sex. Raymundo and Lusterio (1995) found 18 percent of the youth (26% of the boys and 10% of the girls) all over the country have had pre]-marital sex experience. The study found that two social institutions- the Church and the home have important bearings on pre-marital sex behavior. What are the youth's views on pre-marital sex? Is virginity still highly valued among youth? What factors are related to the views they hold?

PRE-MARITAL SEX

Only 12.8 percent of the youth categorically approved of a woman having sex before marriage. More than twice as many male respondents approved of the behavior (18.4%) than their female counterparts (7.5%).

% Approving of Sex Before Marriage of a Woman a Man % N % N
Males: 18.4 5234 40.6 5241 Single 16.8 4708 38.4 4717 Married 32.2 526 60.4 524 Females: 7.6 5601 - - Single 3.5 4277 - - Married 20.8 1324 - - Both Sexes: 12.8 10834 - -

However, when the male youth were asked whether they approved of a man having sex before marriage, 40.6 percent responded affirmatively with a significantly higher proportion shown by the marrieds (60.4%) than the singles (38.4%). Perhaps pre-marital sexual experience among the marrieds was a common experience thus explaining the higher proportion approving among them than the singles most of whom may not even have been engaged or bethed.

VIRGINITY

Views on woman's viginity were asked in two ways: (1) its importance to male and female respondents themselves, and (2) their perception of its importance to men.

Virginity of a woman before marriage is still important value to majority (91.5%) of thee youth today. Twice as many (61.1%) felt that female virginity was very important as those whon felt it was just important (30.4%).

% Feeling Virginity of a Woman is Important Before Marriage Very Impor- Impor- Both N tant tant
Males: 55.6 34.2 89.8 5228 Single 55.8 34.3 90.1 4702 Married 53.8 33. 1 86.9 526 Females: 66.2 26.9 93.1 5602 Single 70.0 25.1 95.1 4728 Married 54.1 32.8 86.9 1324 Both Sexes: 61.1 30.4 91.5 10829

Slightly more female youth (93.1%) valued female virginity as an important virtue before marriage than male youth (89.8%). Moreover, significantly more females (66.2%) than males (55.6%) felt virginity was very important The data indicate that female virginity before marriage is still highly valued by almost all the youth today anf this virtue was considered very important to more than two-thirds of the single females (70.0%), but to only slightly half among single males (55.6%), married females (54.1%) and married males (53.8%). The fact of being male and being married tended to reduce the importance of female virginity before marriage.

The perception of the importance of virginity to men overall was held at a lower than the youth's own value. Eighty percent of all the youth perceived virginity important in the choice of a wife. This level, however, varied between males and females, and between the marrieds and the singles. Slightly more female (81.5%) than male (79.4%) youth perceived that men consider virginity important in the choice of a wife, but significantly more singles (81.5%) than marrieds (75.6%) held the same perception. The marrieds appeared to hold a lower perception of the value of female virginity in a man's choice of a wife than the singles.

% Perceiving Virginity a Consideration of Men in Choice of a Wife % N Males: 79.4 5225 Singles 79.9 4699 Married 75.1 526 Females: 81.5 5996 Singles 83.3 4274 Married 75.9 1322 Both Sexes: 80.5 10821 Singles 81.5 8973 Married 75.6 1848

FACTORS RELATED TO PRE-MARITAL SEX VIEWS

Approval of a Woman Having Sex Before Marriage (Table 1)

Approval of a woman having sex before marriage was positively related with age Respondents 15-17 had significantly lower approval of a woman having pre-marital sex (7.7%) than those 18-20 (13.2%) or those aged 21-24 (18.3%).

Youth who ever-lived away from parents had significantly higher approval rates (15.1%) than those who never lived away from parents.

Those who attended private schools had significantly lower approval rates (10.8%) than those who attended non-sectarian (14.5%) schools.

Religiosity (measured by frequency of church attendance) was negatively related with approval rates. Those who attended Church services once a week or more frequently had a significantly lower approval rate (10.9%) than those who attended less than once a week (15.6%) or who never attended Church services (16.1%) at all.

Social activities such as frequenting discos, going to massage parlors, having nights out with friends, going to night clubs/strips shows, and frequenting beer houses were significantly associated with higher approval rates than not having of these social activities. Approval rates among those who frequented discos, massage parlors and spent night-outs with friends were around 16 percent, while those who went to night clubs showed an approval rate of 20 percent and to beer houses 26 percent. Those who neverr had any of these activities showed approval rates between 11 and 12 percent.

High risk behaviors such as smoking, drinking and use of dangerous drugs were all significantly associated with higher approval rates than not having any of these behaviors.

Indicators of socio-economic status such as household characteristics, mother's and father's education, and mother's and father's occupation all were negatively associated with approval rates. That is, lower status was significantly associated with higher approval rates while higher status with lower approval rates.

Stability of parent's marriage was significantly related with lower approval rates while non-stability (including parents separated, one parent dead) was significantly related with higher approval rates.

Being raised by the father alone was associated with lower than average approval rates (11.1%), but being raised by father and other person was associated with significantly higher approval rate (21.3%). On the other hand, being raised by mother alone was associated with higher than average approval rate (14.5%), but being raised by mother and other person was associated with lower than average approval rate (10.8%). Being raised by other persons was associated with above average approval rate (16.0%). Fathers are often considered disciplinarians while mothers are often prone to "spoil" their children. Father's influence appear to promote conservatism while mother's influence engender permissiveness among the youth. What is interesting is the fact that youth raised by a parent and another person tended to swing the youth's attitude towards pre-marital sex for women in the opposite direction. While those who were raised by other persons tended to promote liberal attitudes towards pre-marital sex among women.

Approval of a Man Having Sex Before Marriage (for male R's only) (Table 2)

Approval of a man having sex before marriage showed very similar relationship in the factors that were found related to its approval for a women except that the levels were about four times higher (40.6% vs. 12.8%).

There were, however, three exceptions. Dormitory life emerged to be an important factor. Boys who ever lived in a dormitory showed a significantly higher approval rate (47.3%)than those who never lived in a dorm (39.3%). The other exception was that non-stability of parent'smarriage was related both with higher and lower than average approval rates unlike approval rates of pre-marital sex among women where this was related to higher approval rates . For male youths who considered their parent's marriage somewhat stable or are separated, approval rates were lower than average (34-39%), while those who considered their parent's marriage was unstable or one parents is dead, the approval rates were higher than average (42-43%). Parent's marital instability had varied effects on views or male pre-marital sex among the male respondents.

Being raised by father alone , mother alone or parent with another person were associated with approval of pre-marital sex among men in much the same way as they did with attitudes o n pre-marital sex among women. There was however one difference. Being raised by other persons was associated with more conservative attitudes towards pre- marital sex among men. Others persons apparently have stronger moral influence/control over male youths attitudes than both father and mother but this influence was weaker than that of father alone.

Importance of Woman's Virginity Before Marriage (all R's) (Table3)

The importance to themselves of virginity before marriage declined with age of respondent. Almost all youths 15-17 years of age (93.7%) felt this was an important virtue, a slightly lower proportion was exhibited by those 18-20 years (91.6) and the lowest proportion by those 21-24 years of age (88.9%).

Living away from parents was associated with lower than average importance of virginity before marriage (90.6%) while living with parents was associated with higher than average importance (93.2%).

Attendance in private exclusive schools was significantly related with lower importance of virginity before marriage (88.6%) than attendance in private coed (91.2%) schools.

More frequent (greater than or more than once a week) Church attendance was associated with higher importance of virginity before marriage (92.2%) than less frequent (lesser than once a week ) attendance (90.5%) or no attendance in church services (90.95).

Social activities such as engaging in fraternity/soronity activities, spending nights-out with friends, going to night club/strip shows and going to beer houses were all associated with significantly lower importance of virginity before marriage than never having engaged in this activities.

High risk behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages and use of dangerous drugs all were associated with significantly lower importance of virginity those marriage than not having these high risk behaviors.

Being an only child was significantly related with greater importance of virginity before marriage (97.9%) than being one of two or more siblings (91-93%) in the family.

Socio- economic status was indexed by mother' and father's levels of education. Low educational status (elementary or high-school) of both father mother was associated with lower importance of virginity before marriage .

Stability of parent' s marriage was associated with higher importance of virginity. Significantly more youth who percieved their parents marriage as stable or somewhat stable felt virginity was important (92.1%) while far fewer of those whose parents were separated felt it was important (87.0%).

Percieved Importance of Female Virginity to Men (all R's) (Table 4)

Significantly lower urban youth percieved a women's virginity before marriage is important in the choice of wife among the men (78.5%) than those who lived in rural areas (83.0%).

Age of respondents was negatively related to percieved importance of virginity among men . A significantly higher proportion among youths age was 15-17 percieved virginity is important to men (84.2%) than those aged 18-20 (80.5%) or those aged 21-24 (76.2%).

A significantly lower proportion of youth who ever - lived in a city (78.3%) percieved virginity is important to men than those who never lived in a city (81.9%).

Attendance in private coed schools was associated with a significantly lower proportion percieving virginity is important to men (77.5%) than attendance in public (82.1%) or private exclusive (79.4%) schools

Attendance in non-sectarian (75.8%) or private Catholic (78.6%) schools was associated with lower than average perception of the importance of virginity to men while Protestant and other non- Catholic private was associated with higher average than perception (81.5%).

Social activities such as frequenting massage parlor (77.9%), going to movies (79.6%), engaging in fraternity/sorority activities (77.8%), spending nights-out with friends(79.6%), going to shows/nights clubs (73.2%) and frequenting beer houses (72.9%) all were significantly associated with lower perception of importance of virginity to men than those who never engaged in these activities. Non- sociable youth showed percentages between 81-82 percent .

Risk behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages and use of dangerous drugs all showed significantly lower than average perception of the importance of virginity to men (72-77%). In contrast , youthwho never engaged in any of these risk behavior showed significantly higher than average perception (81-84%).

Youth who ever-lived in a dormitory showed significantly lower proportion percieving the importance of virginity to men (78.5%) than those who never-lived in a dormitory (81.0%).

Socio-economic as indexed by home appliance ownership and mother's and father's education were all negatively associated with perception of the importance of virginity to men. The lower the socio-economic status, the higher is the perception of the importance of virginity to men

Youth who judged their parents marriage as stable or somewhat stable showed significantly higher proportions who percieved virginity is important in the choice of wife to men (80-83%), than those whose parent's marriage was deemed unstable , parents are separated or one parent is dead (76-79%).

Being raised by both parents, father alone or father with other persons were all associated with higher proportion who percieved the importance of virginity to men (80-82%), while being by mother alone or mother with other persons was associated with lower proportion of the same perception(78-79%),. Being raised by other persons was associated with the lowest proportion who percieved the importance of virginity to men 975.6%).

E. Summary Sex and of Factors Associated with Views on Premarital with Perceptions on Virginity

Pre-marital Sex Views

Approval of pre- marital sex among women and men was positively related with age, having lived away from parents, attendance in non-sectarian schools and less frequent or no attendance in church services. This supports the findings of Raymundo and Lusterio (1995) which highlighted the influence of the school and the church on per-marital sex behavior. Experience of city living was associated with greater approval of pre-marital sex for men but not for the women . Apparently, male views (who were only the respondents to the questions on pre- marital sex of men was greatly influenced by exposure to the city living than their views on pre-marital sex of women.

Engaging in social activities were almost invariably associated with higher approval of pre - marital sex . Approval of pre- marital sex among women and among men was highest for those who go to strip shows/night clubs and beer houses, and for men engaging in fraternity activities.

Risk behavior such as smoking, drinking and use of drugs were all associated with higher approval of per-marital sex among women and among men . Of the three behaviors, use of drugs showed the highest approval of rates.

Dormitory living was significantly related with higher approval of pre- marital sex among men but was not significantly related with approval rates for women . Apparently, the male pre-marital sex views are influenced by dormitory life than those who never lived in dorms.

Being an only child was associated with lower approval of pre-marital sex among women and men . This may reflect more parental control exerted on the only child than on greater number of siblings.

Social status, regardless of indicators used, showed negative relationships with pre-marital sex approval for the women and the men. Youth who belong to the lower strata of the society are more liberal on their pre-marital sex views than those in the upper strata of society.

Stability of parent's marriage was negatively associated with pre-marital sex among women and among men than those who belong to families with unstable marital relationships.

Youth raised by father alone was associated with significantly proportion of pre-marital sex approval for both women and men, while youth raised by mother alone with significantly higher approval. Youth raised by both mother and father held average approval rates . However, youth raised by father and other persons showed significantly higher approval rates while those who raised by mother and other person with significantly lower approval rates. Parental control appears highest with single parenting as reflecting by more conservative pre-marital sex views, becomes laxed when raised by father and another person, and becomes stricter when raised by mother and another person.

Virginity: Its Importance and Perception

Virginity of a woman before marriage is still highly valued traitamong (91.5%) of male and female youth today. However, youth perception of its importance to men in the choice of wife appeared to be held at a lower level (80.5%). As the youth become older, the importance to themselves and the perception of the importance of virginity decline. Of the two views, the importance of virginity declined much less with age (by 5.1%) than the perception of its importance to men in the choice of a wife (9.5%).
There is thus more stability in individual respondents perception of its importance than in the perception of its importance to men in the choice of wife.

Both perceptions of virginity's importance to the youth themselves and to men in the choice of a wife were related in a similar ways to various personal and familial background factors as well as to social behaviors. These are:

Experience of living in a city was associated with significantly lower importance of virginity than not having lived in a city at all.

Living away from parents was associated with significantly lower importance of virginity than not having lived in a city from parents.

Attending a private exclusive schools was associated with significantly lower importance of virginity than a public or private coed school.

Less frequent church attendance was associated with lower importance of virginity than attending church services once a week or frequently.

Mother's and father's education was negatively associated with importance of virginity. Youth whose parents who reached elementary and high-school showed higher proportions who considered virginity important than those whose parents reached college.

Youth who considered their parents marriage as stable was associated with significantly higher proportions who considered virginity important than those who reported their parents marriage was unstable.

Youth who engaged in fraternity/soronity activities, went nights-out with friends, went to night clubs/strip shows, and frequented beer houses were more likely to consider virginity important than who never engaged in this activities.

High risk behaviors such as smoking , drinking and use of dangerous drugs were all associated with lower importance of virginity than not engaging in high risk behaviors.

Perhaps the greater instability held on the importance of virginity to men may be due to the fact that urban residence and dormitory experience were significantly associated with perceived importance of virginity to men but these factors were not significantly related with the importance of virginiy to themselves.

RELATIONSHIP OF PRE-MARITAL SEX VIEWS AND BEHAVIOR

The data thus far point to the fact that the males are in general more liberal in their views in pre-marital sex than the females. Being married increases this liberal attitude but the male-female differential still persists. Does pre-marital sex experience influence this views ? Significantly higher proportions of those with pre-marital sex experience approved of pre-marital sex for a woman (33.8%) than those who have not had pre-marital sex experience (8.7%). There did not seem to be any differential between males and females in approval rates among those who had pre-marital sex experience. However, for those without pre-marital sex experience, significantly more males approved than females. Apparently, those who had pre-marital sex experience tended to justify or rationalize their behavior by adopting favorable attitudes towards pre-marital sex than those who had no pre-marital sex experience.

Having had pre-marital sex experience was significantly associated with higher approval of pre-marital sex for men (66.3%) than those who have not had pre-marital sex (33.2%) experience.

UNMARRIED PARENTHOOD

Views on unmarried parenthood were directly elicited by the following question: "Now, if an unmarried women got pregnant by a man she likes but with whom she has not discussed marriage, which one of the following do you think she ought to do? should she:

Try to end pregnancy (abortion)
Have the baby and put it up for abortion
Have the baby and keep it even without getting married
Try to get him to marry her
Other(SPECIFY)

Majority (58.2%) of the youth respondents felt they should "have the
baby and keep it even without getting married" , over a third felt she should "try to get him to marry her " (36.1%) and only a few felt she should "have the baby and it up for abortion "(4.1%) or "try to end the pregnancy" (1.5%). More important differences were observed between male and female respondents, than between the singles and the marrieds .over two-thirds (69.3%) of female respondents felt they would keep the baby and over one-fourth (26.8%) said they would marry the father of the child, while almost half of male respondents felt the women should keep the baby even without getting married (46.3%) and another half felt the women should marry the father of the child (46.2%). The male youth thus felt they should stand by their acts, while the female youth felt greater responsibility for the child than in forcing a marriage.

ACCEPTABILITY OF AN UNMARRIED MOTHER

To gauge the depth of the respondent's perception on unmarried parenthood, five reference groups were used in which the respondent was asked about the acceptability to the group of a young unmarried mother. The question was: ''Do you think the following groups of the people will accept a young unmarried mother?"

a. Society, in general
b. People in this neighborhood
c. Her closest girlfriend
d. Her family
e. Her male friends

The perceived acceptability of a young unmarried mother to the youth
was lowest to people in their immediate neighborhood (78.6%) and to society in
general (80.0%) .It was slightly higher to her male friends (81.9%) and to her
family (84.6%) but it was highest to her closest girl friends (83.8%). The youth
to rely on greater moral from their peers than from their family, and they perceive
the neighborhood and society to be less sympathetic to this problem.

The perceived acceptability of a young unmarried mother was generally
lower for the females than for the males, and for the singles than for the
marrieds. The dishonor of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy was perceived to weigh
more heavily on the female than on the male. Somehow, being married appeared
to diminish the sense of shame that this situation is perceived to bring.

FACTORS RELATED TO UNMARRIED PARENTHOOD VIEWS

What factors are related to these views and perceptions on unmarried
parenthood ? Two types of factors are considered. First are the proximate factors such as knowledge/awareness of unmarried friends engaging in sexual intercourse,of unmarried friends who became pregnant while unmarried, of unmarried woman continuing with the pregnancy, and of unmarried friends getting married as a result of pregnancy. These factors are considered proximate in the sense that awareness of them may directly influence the youth views on unmarried parenthood. Second , are the background factors such personal characteristics, social activities, high risk behavior , and family of orientation which may directly or indirectly influence the youth's views on unmarried parenthood since they determine to process of youth socialization.

Knowledge of friends engaging in pre-marital sex was 38.8 percent for all respondents.This knowledge was nearly twice higher among males than among females, and much higher among the marrieds than singles. Of all respondents,18.6 percent knew of friends who got pregnant while unmarried, 15.6 percent knew of friends who continued with the pregnancy, and only 10.6 percent knew of some who married the father of the child. Differentials in levels of knowledge followed a consistent pattern, that is, the married exhibited significantly higher knowledge than the single respondents, and the male showed slightly higher knowledge than the female respondents. This findings suggests that the lower acceptability of a young unmarried mother among the female than among the male respondents, and for the singles than the married in general is because the levels of awareness on these events for the female respondents was lower than the males, and for the singles lower than the married.

Filipino Youth's Views on Pre-Marital Sex and Unmarried Parenthood: Zelda C. Zablan . University of the Philippines Population Institute.