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Abstract
The authors studied more than 1750 young urban Chiang Mai residents regarding pre-marital sex, contraception and reproductive health outcomes. Almost two-thirds of the males had had sexual intercourse, compared to one-third of the females. Withdrawal was the most popular method of birth control followed by condom use. There were more females (30.5 per cent) reporting that they had been pregnant than males (17.5 per cent) reporting that they had caused pregnancies. Two-thirds of the respondents who had experienced or caused pregnancy reported that it ended in abortion. Almost half of those who had experienced abortion had induced it themselves, usually using illegal abortifacients. One-third went to a private clinic or hospital illegally. Self-induced abortions were sometimes associated with complications that were treated with pharmacy medications or severe complications requiring hospital treatment. Adolescents in northern Thailand need improved sexual health services and programmes. To be effective though, attention should also be given to underlying cultural attitudes toward sexuality and young people, especially women.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was part of the Thai Health-Risk Transition research programme, supported by the International Collaborative Research Grants Scheme with joint grants from the Wellcome Trust UK (GR071587MA) and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (268055). We would like to thank the research staff in Thailand and Australia for their support, without which this work would not be possible. We would also like to thank the young people of Chiang Mai who contributed to this research.