A study led by Associate Professor Wong Mee Lian has shown that young women who have been sexually abused are a lot more likely to become sexually active, while young men who watch pornography are six times more likely to have sex at an early age.
The study which was published in Pediatrics, a medical journal, in 2009, was also co-authored by Adjunct Professor Roy Chan, Professor David Koh, Dr Tan Hiok Hee, Dr Lim Fong Seng, Dr Shanta Emmanuel and Professor George Bishop.
Assoc Prof Wong noted that a significantly higher proportion of both the young men and women who had premarital sex lived in smaller flats (one- to three-room flats), had dropped out of school or had divorced parents. Those who lacked confidence to resist peer pressure were also more likely to have sex. Social workers, in response to the findings, stressed the importance of parental guidance in young people’s growing-up years, lest they fall into the wrong crowd.
Media Coverage:
- Abuse, porn ‘can push youth to early sex’, The Straits Times, 18 June 2017
- Counselling dissuades young men from sex: Study, The Straits Times, 18 June 2017