Premarital Sex in Vietnam: Is the Current Concern with Adolescent Reproductive Health Warranted?

Barbara Mensch, Population Council
Wesley Clark, Population Council
Nguyen Anh Dang, National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities of Vietnam (NCSSH)

To the extent that research on Vietnamese adolescents has been conducted, it has been concerned with unprotected and unsanctioned sexual activity and its health consequences, namely abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV. The question we pose in this paper is whether the current concern about young people in Vietnam is warranted. Is the population community justified in focusing its attention on early sexual activity and HIV risk? Insofar as the behavior or situation of young people can be considered problematic, are there other aspects of young peoples' lives in Vietnam that should give us greater pause? This paper reviews the literature on adolescent sexual behavior in Vietnam and analyzes data on premarital sex from a 1999 survey conducted in 6 provinces in the country among 2126 adolescents aged 13-22. Data on other aspects of adolescents' lives are summarized in order to put the sexual activity data in perspective.