A glimpse on the gender-based double standards for pre-marital sex in Asia: Evidence from recent national surveys in Cambodia and Vietnam

Background: Traditional Asian culture prohibits premarital sexual activities, particularly among young women. To explore the effect of gender on youth's sexual attitudes and behaviors, data collected from recent population based surveys in Cambodia and Vietnam were employed to examine the differences on youth's attitudes towards pre-marital, for men versus for women.

Methods: The study includes a sample of 3,984 youth from 2005 Vietnam Population and AIDS Indicator Survey (VPAIS-2005) and 6731 youth (never-married; age: 15-24) from 2005 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS-2005. VPAIS-2005 and CDHS-2005 are randomly selected and nationally representative samples of the entire population (aged 15-49) of Cambodia and Vietnam. The two surveys provide broad information on family planning, sexual behaviors, HIV related knowledge and attitudes. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the determinants of youth's attitudes towards pre-marital sex.

Results: The study revealed significant gender-based double standards with regard to pre-marital sex in Vietnam and Cambodia. Males were more permissive to pre-marital sex than females. Pre-marital sex behaviors among males were particularly more tolerated. Overall, the level of tolerance is higher in Cambodia than in Vietnam. Higher education, being religious, living in rural, having higher level of knowledge on HIV prevention are related to lower level of tolerance to pre-marital sex activities.

Significance of the study: Findings from this study would contribute to understanding the attitudes of Asian youth towards pre-marital sex. This would be of significance in designing intervention strategies in reducing youth's risks for unintended pregnancy and HIV in current Asian social context.