(IPS) feature

Young people in Asia's rapidly developing countries are taking to tobacco, alcohol, drugs and premarital sex more than ever before, experts in the region said at a conference in Taipei.

The 'Asian Youth at Risk' conference, which began on Monday, gave about 75 researchers and experts a forum to discuss adolescent behaviour, and compare the results of a US International Development-funded project called Asian Youth Adult Reproductive Risk.

The project is being conducted in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.

One reason for the trend toward risk-taking is the demographic 'youth bulge' in Asian countries which have more young adults at the moment than in any other part of the world, said Peter Xenos, a population and health expert from the Honolulu-based East-West Centre.

Xenos, also the conference co-organiser, said the youth bulge due to lower birth and death rates can increase the number of young people from 17 to 24 percent of total populations.

"Additionally, delayed marriages and mass education throughout Asia have lengthened the period of adolescence (puberty to marriage) to eight or nine years or even longer," Xenos explained.

Be prepared

It is important for Asian countries to recognise when their youth bulges will occur and be prepared to handle it - that was the message the researchers had for policy-makers.

The percentage of males aged 15-19 years who engage in smoking, drinking or use drugs in the Philippines was 66 percent, in Thailand 73 percent and Indonesia 76 percent. With economic development, even more youth will be able to afford potentially dangerous substances.

'Risk-taking' among Asian youth is a relatively new and controversial area of research but is of critical and strategic importance, said Corazon Raymundo, professor at the Population Institute of the University of Philippines.

"At the same time, the research is dealing with dearly held traditions in the Asian culture," she said.

"No one can deny that the youth in the region is now undergoing significant and profound changes. Meeting young people's needs requires the cooperation and hard work of different parties, including the service providers, the government and the community," said Redhel Weng, director general of Taiwan's Bureau of Health Promotion.

In terms of sexual behaviour, condom use is surprisingly low among sexually active unmarried youth in Thailand, the Philippines and Taiwan, said Minja Kim Choe, also a population and health expert at the East-West Centre.

Epidemic proportions

"Exposure to any form of mass media among males is associated with higher premarital sex prevalence, while the reverse is true for females except in exposure to X-rated films which appear to hasten sexual initiation," explained Elma Laguna of the Population Institute, University of Philippines.

Choe's research also shows that smoking among Asian teenagers is reaching epidemic proportions: 89 percent of young Indonesian men are smoking before they reach 20 years of age, 81 percent in Thailand, and 70 percent in the Philippines.

The numbers reflect estimates by the World Health Organisation that deaths due to smoking will jump four-fold in Asia by 2030 compared to a 50 percent increase in developed countries, as developing economies become the key market of tobacco manufacturers.

In some countries, the number of women smokers is also rising though they still are lower than the number of men puffing away.

A study on smoking among 15-19 year-olds led by Minja Kim Choe showed that urban exposure has a major effect in encouraging the smoking habit.

Young urban women in the Philippines, for example, are much more likely to smoke than those living elsewhere in the country. "This finding indicates that modernisation may increase the number of woman smoking in the Philippines," Choe said.

Parental attitudes are also important in reducing the youth tobacco epidemic, a trend that reflects the role of social factors in 'risk behaviour' in today's world. A firm attitude against smoking and close relationships are also useful, experts said.

Permissive parents

Indonesian parents are quite permissive about their sons' smoking, but not about their daughters' smoking. Thus, while 17 percent of Indonesian young men reported that their parents allowed them to smoke before the age of 15, only one percent of young women had such permission.

In Taiwan, studies reported here have found that spending time with father lowers young men's smoking prevalence and talking to mothers at times of trouble lowers the smoking prevalence of both young men and women.

Moreover, Choe said a youngster's adoption of one kind of risk behaviour often leads to another, so smoking often leads to drinking and beyond that, possibly substance abuse.

Nearly three-quarters of Filipino men between 15 and 24 years have tried drinking and more than 60 percent are current drinkers, although most of only drink occasionally.

The prevalence of drinking among young Filipino women is only half that of young men - and women are much less likely to continue drinking after initiation than men. The prevalence of current drinking among women is 16 percent compared to 60 percent for men.

Young Filipinos who have begun drinking are much more likely to begin smoking than those who have not, and those who have begun smoking are much more likely to begin drug abuse than those who have not begun smoking, pointed out an expert.

At the Taipei meeting, experts on adolescent behaviour, policymakers, youth programme managers and voluntary organisations from Asia and the United States also discussed issues such as family influence on lifestyle among youth, the effects of exposure to mass media, and how formal schooling has tremendously positive effects on adolescent behaviour.

Gender differences and the different levels of economic development among participant countries that range from Nepal, a least developed country, to affluent Taiwan were potential areas for comparison.