Abstract
Cohabitation is a phenomenon which has taken place relatively recently in Thailand and is likely to spread and increase gradually in the future. Currently there are very few systematic studies on cohabitation among adolescents in Thailand and information has been obtained mostly from public media such as; newspapers, television programs and the internet. This qualitative and quantitative research aims to study the social process and cohabitating among Thai Adolescents. One thousand three hundred and twenty-eight respondents, who were in years one to four of their studies, were selected to participate, using a stratified random sampling technique. The survey was designed to use questionnaires to gather information from the respondents. In addition, semi-structured interviews were carried out with students, to provide a more in-depth understanding of the issues under study. The conceptual framework for this study was derived from empirical observation and intuition; imitation, social contact and social control. The results of the study revealed that there is a prevalence of cohabitation among Thai Adolescents. The significant factors that influenced the students’ cohabitation are foreign cultures, including American, Japanese and Korean culture (45.12%). Their peers' cohabitation did not play a key role in the respondents wanting to experience cohabitation. The belief that traditional Thai women should reserve themselves for marriage was accepted among respondents (44.75%). Many of the respondents indicated that their families opposed cohabitation. Additionally, sexual behavior of Thai women is limited in the traditional norm. Cohabitation is considered as untraditional and teenagers are dating each other secretly (42.13 %). The information available and institutional education on the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections and Unwanted Pregnancies, allow adolescents to better understand the consequences of pre-marital sexual relationships (45.92%).
Highlights
Thai society and culture have undergone dramatic changes in terms of economy, society, value, culture and tradition as well as premarital cohabitation among adolescents, in recent years, when compared to the past
The purpose of this paper is to examine the Social Processes that influence premarital cohabitations among Thai adolescents
It was found that the students in the sample group were female (76.51%), aged 19 years (27.33%), studying in year one (40.89%), majoring in Thai language (22.36%), having parents living together (76.66%), being brought up in strict and observant households, in terms of sexual relationships (37.35%), living in dormitories located outside the campus (63.10%), receiving 4,001-5,000 Baht for their monthly allowances from parents (40.14%), currently having no boyfriend/girlfriend (61.75%), having no sexual experience (65.74%), disagreeing with the concept of premarital cohabitation as seen as unnecessary (42.55%)
Summary
Thai society and culture have undergone dramatic changes in terms of economy, society, value, culture and tradition as well as premarital cohabitation among adolescents, in recent years, when compared to the past. Social processes play a significant part and are relevant to premarital cohabitation among Thai adolescents because they influence people in their social activities and affect the relationships and lifestyle of people in their society. They can introduce both positive and negative changes. The adoption of foreign culture brings impact towards imitational behavior in teenagers, for example, teenagers become less reserved, greet each other by hugging, kissing, showing affection in public and living together before marriage This is evident in the change of value and customs seen among female teenagers in terms of being less reserved than in the past. The family is a central institution in the formation of sexual attitudes and behavior because it provides role models, social and economic environments and standards of sexual conduct.[2,3,4]
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