The number of teenage boys who have visited prostitutes is on the rise, with the key reasons being never having had a girlfriend, or one who is sexually active, and watching pornography frequently, according to the first study here on teens who have paid for sex. During interviews conducted with 300 teens who visited the Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections Control (DSC) Clinic, the study found that 2 in 5 teenage boys surveyed had paid for sex. This jump in the proportion of teens who have visited prostitutes is significant, says Associate Professor Wong Mee Lian from the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, who led the study. This is a public health concern as sex workers are a major source of sexually-transmitted infections – and 30 percent of the teens polled between 2009 and 2014 said they did not use a condom when they visited prostitutes, added A/Prof Wong.
According to the study, A/Prof Wong and PhD student Junice Ng also found that the median age of teenage boys who visited prostitutes was 16, the median number of sexual partners was 4.5 and those who did not use condoms consistently were more likely to be diagnosed with an STI.
Media Coverage:
- The Sunday Times, 10 April 2016, Sunday
- Tamil Murasu, 11 April 2016