Let’s Talk About Sex: Parental Communication and Sexual Behavior of Male Filipino Youth

Understanding the sexual behavior of young people is important in pursuing health development in our society. In the Philippines, current data shows that there is a drastic increase in segregated activities concerning our youths. According to past studies, strong familial relationship and parent-child connectedness decrease the likelihood of a child to engage in risky sex. Furthermore, families with strong communication and are open to sexual topics became closer, and more comfortable with each other. This quantitative, correlational study was designed to describe  the level of parental communication in terms of sexual health issues and its relationship to the sexual behaviors of male Filipino youths in Metro Manila. A total of 143 male respondents ages 18-25 from Metro Manila participated in the study through an online survey. Results suggest that that majority of the respondents reported low-level of parental communication in terms of sexual health issues and a large number reported risky sexual behaviors. The results of this study suggested no significant relationship between the respondent “level of parental communication and their sexual behavior.

Keywords— sexual behavior, parental communication, risky sex, youth, Polytechnic University ofthe Philippines