AEGiS-15IAC: Adolescents' sexual information seeking behaviors on the Internet and its relationship with sexual-related intentions among junior high school students in Bangkok, Thailand.

15th International AIDS Conference

Bangkok, Thailand - July 11-16, 2004

Adolescents' sexual information seeking behaviors on the Internet and its relationship with sexual-related intentions among junior high school students in Bangkok, Thailand.

Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. WeOrC1246)

Matsubayashi K, Tanasugarn C, Lagampan S, Samnuanklang M, Singhaniyom S
Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

BACKGROUND: The Internet is popular among adolescents. It can be one of the important tools for them to get useful information on sexual and reproductive health (S/RH) and to choose safer sexual behaviors. This survey was conducted to investigate the adolescents' S/RH information seeking behaviors on Internet and its relationship with sexual-related intentions.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study with self-administered questionnaire was conducted among 331 junior high school students in Grade 8 and 9, living in Central Region and Bangkok in Thailand on February 2003. The data were analyzed by Chi-square test.

RESULTS: The mean of age was 14.13 ± 1.13 years, male to female is 40.7 to 59.3. 91.6% of the students had ever used Internet before. 60% of them use it at least once a week. They use it at Internet cafe (60.1%), home (40.3%), school (36.1%). 61.0% of them, especially boys, had ever accessed Websites or Chatrooms which their close friends had recommend to see. 51.0% of the adolescents had ever sought S/RH Information on Website, and 27.4% from Chat Room. 60.0% of them done it either with peers, or alone (37.2%). Popular topics on Website are clinics for adolescents of S/RH services (25.7%), love, relationship with boy/girlfriends (24.9%), homosexuality (24.5%). In the Chat Room, they talk about love (10.8%) most, followed by sexual intercourse (8.0%), homosexuality (7.4%). The boys are more likely than girls to get information of contraceptives on both Website and Chat Room. The adolescents who had got information related with contraceptives on Website are more likely to have higher intention to use condom or female condom always, to avoid pregnancy or to avoid STDs when he/she has sexual intercourse with someone he/she loves than those who had not.

CONCLUSIONS: The Internet is one of the effective tools for adolescents to get S/RH information necessary for their sexual health and can promote contraceptive use. To provide quality information is important.

Keywords: AEGIS, Sexual Behavior, Students, Condoms, Intention, Internet, Coitus, Cross-Sectional Studies, Data Collection, Behavior, Reproductive Medicine, Questionnaires, Homosexuality, Thailand, Adolescent, Humans, Adolescence, Male, Female, Pregnancy

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