Tuesday, November 06, 2007 Adolescent health, behavior, and religion
(Conclusion)
Substance abuse
THE problem of substance abuse (alcohol, illicit drugs, etc.) is enormous. From lost of productivity in adults to problems such as violent crimes, murder and motor vehicle accidents. Substance abuse in adolescents is responsible for school failure, juvenile delinquency, STD (sexually transmitted diseases), unwanted pregnancy with high incidence of birth defects if the substance is used during pregnancy.
But students who say that religion is extremely important to them, who are church members and frequently attend religious services are important motivating factors for not abusing drugs, and other substances.
They are less likely to be associated with peers who abuse drugs or alcohol. Memberships in religious organizations that are strongly against illicit drugs are strong deterrents against substance use and abuse.
Research data suggest that religion enhances psychological well-being. It teaches the child moral values and strength of character to resist temptation and peer pressures to use or abuse alcohol or illicit drugs.
Sexual Behavior
The degree and rate of sexual activities among adolescents have increased during the last decade. The percentage of adolescent girls ages 15-19 years who have premarital sex have increased to 20%. By age 20 years 75% of women are sexually active.
In the Philippines, the incidence of premarital sex in persons 15-24 years of age is 18% in males and 10% in females. This is prevalent among those whose parents are less strict, girls who do not take religion seriously, early onset of menstruation and history of siblings marrying young. The percentage of adolescents losing virginity before 18 years of age is 8% in girls and 22% in boys. The venue is at home in 65% and 19% in motels or lodging places.
Sexual promiscuity increases the risk of STD (sexually transmitted disease). About 61% of sexually active girls 15-19 years of age, have had two or more sexual partners and 7% had 10 or more partners. Twenty five per cent of sexually active teenagers are infected with one or more STDs.
STDs include: gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, Chlamydia, cytomegalovirus, hepatitis B, human papilloma virus and HIV infection. In the Philippines gonorrhea is the common STD. The country ranks number 22 among the countries with reported HIV and AIDS cases.
Contributing factors to STDs include: high rate of sexual contacts, multiple partners, high incidence of symptomatic cases, low rate of STD screening, decrease use of protective barriers and the tendency to stop medications when the symptoms subside.
Another problem in adolescent sexually is teenage pregnancy. In the U.S. the incidence is 96/1000, one of the highest. In the Philippines the incidence is 50/1000 girls ages 12-19 years. The consequences are: adolescent mothers who are less likely to marry, less likely to achieve higher education, more likely to be unemployed and to have large number of children.
Adolescent pregnancy is often associated with anemia, fetal growth retardation, premature birth and complications of labor. Children borne to teenage mothers have an increased chance of being hospitalized early before the age of 5 years from many causes, mostly from neglect.
To what extent does religion influence the teenager to decide whether to engage in non-marital sex or not?
Adolescents who are religiously involved are more conservative toward premarital sex. Those who never or infrequently attend church services, those with no religious affiliations and those who indicated that religion was not important in their lives are most likely to have experienced premarital sex.
Others felt that premarital sex is a more serious offense than cheating in examinations. The presence of sexual guilt usually interferes with student sexuality preventing premarital sex, teenage pregnancy and STDs.
Church attendance is strongly related to virginity. Nearly 59% of virgins attended church services several times a week as compared to 9% of non-virgins. Virgins felt that the most important reason why they did not engage in sex is their religious beliefs.
Catholic high school students were less sexually active and less likely to have engaged in premarital sex than public high school students. In college, the religiously non-fraternity male students were less likely to have sex than fraternity students. Similarly, the religiously non-sorority female students were less likely to engage in sex than sorority students. It is believed that peer pressure may have overpowered the effects of religious beliefs in these students.
Religious involvement among adolescents not only is associated with conservative attitudes toward premarital sex but also in the use of contraception. Adolescents who are religious are less likely to use of contraception if they become sexually active.
In general almost all studies have shown that religion (religious affiliations, beliefs and activities) has influenced teenagers strongly against early sexual activity and premarital sex.
However, in the Philippines research data have shown that the effect of religion on premarital sex in teenagers is minimal. Most males coming from catholic schools have a higher rate of premarital sex. This is surprising considering that the Philippines is considered the bastion of Catholicism in Asia. Perhaps we have not really gone deep enough to explain to our teenagers that religious beliefs had to be accepted and internalized and that going to church by itself is not enough.
In our situation, data have shown that strong family ties, family supervision, healthy upbringing and higher education of parents are strong deterrents towards premarital sex. (Reference Books: Religion and Health: Koenig, M., McCullogh, D., Larson, Oxford University Press and Textbook of Pediatrics and Child Health: Fe del Mundo, F. Estrada, P. Santos Ocampo, X. Navarro; JMC Press). (PVI)
