Abstract:
To examine the relationship between sexual contact of Bangkok vocational students and their demographic, social and economic background, risk behavior and social environment, attitude towards having sexual contact while studying, and knowledge on reproductive health, AIDS and sexual transmission diseases (STDs). The data were collected through self-administered questionnaires from 540 vocational students aged 20-24 years old who currently studied in vocational schools in Bangkok. The relationship between the 12 independent and dependent variables was tested through Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA). About 60% of the sampled students were females. Majority of them lived with their parents, had an average 1.39 siblings. Their average monthly income was 3,752.72 Baht, and the average monthly family income was 26,444.55 Baht. More than half reported that their fathers had higher education than their mothers, and most of the parents marriage was still intact. With regard to risk behavior and social environment, it was found that more than half of students in this study drank, 7.8% of them used drugs or other substances. About 45.4% visited entertaining places, and more than half watched pornographic materials (movies, videos). About 68.9% had friends who had sexual intercourse experience while 57.6% of them had knowledge on reproductive health, AIDS, and STDs at the moderate level. Although 43.1% reported of sexual intercourse experiences but majority of them did not agree with having sexual contact while studying. The results obtained from the MCA on the relationship between independent and dependent variables at the .05 statistical level showed that 12 independent variables could explained about 46.5% of the variation of the dependent variable. The independent variables that had obvious influence on students sexual contact included drinking, use of drugs or other substances, visiting entertaining places, watching pornographic materials, having friends who had sexual contact experiences, attitudes toward having sexual intercourse while studying, and knowledge on reproductive health, AIDS and STDs.