Effects of Socialization on Adolescent Sexual Behaviors in Lao PDR

Abstract

Adolescent risky sexual behaviors are closely associated with adverse health outcomes, and losing future educational and economic opportunities. Communication about sex-related topics with various people influences adolescent sexual behavior through sexual socialization. This study aimed to examine the effects of the sex-related information on sexual behavior by considering three important aspects which are multiple sources, messages, and frequency of communication. Data on this study were from the cross-sectional survey on integrated health of 493 adolescents aged 15-19 from four secondary schools in the Capital of Lao PDR. We used Firth's penalized likelihood estimation to test hypotheses. The results showed that several messages and sources of sexual information have significant effects on adolescent sexual engagement. Among the six different contents of sex, receiving messages about contraception from media and doctor decreased the probability of having sex. Sibling's information about pregnancy was significantly associated with having sex. Sexual messages from mother increased the likelihood of having sexual activity. Regardless of sexual contents, partner's information was closely related to sexual engagement. However, none of the sexual messages from teacher had an impact on adolescents' sexual behavior. This study provides practical implications to parents, teachers, and policymakers in Lao PDR as well as novel insights to research on sexual behaviors of adolescent.