School-leaving, sexual initiation and union formation among Filipino youth

Elma Laguna, Demographic Research and Development Foundation
Corazon M. Raymundo, University of the Philippines
Mark Anthony U. Javellosa, University of the Philippines

The latest survey on Filipino adolescents conducted in 2002 found that more than half of young people aged 15-24 were no longer in school, 10% of whom dropped out of school because of marriage or pregnancy. The departure from school, although an eventuality, becomes problematic when it deviates from the normative schedule, which is completion of education. This paper describes important events during adolescence and explores the possible link in the timing of school leaving and early sexual initiation and eventually, union formation among Filipino youth. Using data from the 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study, person-age records were created to reflect time-varying variables such as age first left school, age at sexual initiation and age at first union. A multivariate analysis using logistic regression was used to determine if timing of school-leaving has an effect on timing of sexual initiation and eventually, union formation.