Profiling the Filipino youth of senior high

school age: evidence from the 2013

Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study
Josefina N. Natividad, ScD
Population Institute, CSSP
Outline of the presentation
I. Introduction: objective of the presentation
II. Background on the data source: the 2013 Young Adult Fertility
and Sexuality Study (YAFS4)
III. Some methodological notes
IV. Profile of 16-17 year olds
A. Background characteristics – sex, residence, education,
family
B. Role models
C. Aspirations : education, migration intentions
D. Self-assessed proficiency in Filipino and English
E. Use of traditional and emergent communications media
F. Risk behaviors – non-sexual and sexual
G. Diet and exercise
The Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality
Study
• A series of representative surveys on young adults
(age 15-24)

• Conducted first in 1982 (YAFS1) with a nationally

representative sample of women age 15-24

• Other YAFS rounds had male and female samples,

representative at national and regional levels

• Previous rounds in 1994 (YAFS2) and 2002 (YAFS3)

 YAFS4: Main questionnaire contents
Block A. Individual characteristics
Block B. Family characteristics and
relationships
Block C. Self-esteem and values
Block D. School, work and community
Block E. Media
Block F. Friends and peers
Block G. Health and lifestyle
Block H. Marriage
Block I. Puberty, dating and sex
Block J. Fertility and contraception
Block K. Knowledge and attitudes
towards marriage, sex and
related issues
Block L. Reproductive health
Coverage of YAFS 4

17 regions
78 provinces
681 cities and
municipalities
1,121
barangays

18,547
households
 Respondents for YAFS 4
• 19,178 respondents
• About 1000 per region
• 11,425 aged 15-19
• 7,753 aged 20-24

• For this analysis: we selected only the

16-17 year olds
The sample analyzed for this presentation is
composed of youth aged 16 and 17 at the time
of the survey.

Assumption: If mandatory age at entry to grade

1 is 6 years, a student is expected to have
graduated from secondary school by age 16 in
the pre-K12 system.

Because the sample was picked prior to K12, it

is expected that most would have graduated
from high school at the time of the survey
In the analysis, we used the weighted sample
in order to approximate the national
population distribution

The subsample of 16-17 year olds consists of

- 2395 males
- 2395 females

Total of 4790 cases

There are three main independent variables used in this
presentation

We show the characteristics of the youth differentiated by

- sex
- residence (urban or rural)
- highest completed schooling or education

This will help you form a slightly more nuanced understanding of

the differences and similarities among this subgroup of the
youth.

Hopefully, this will be of use to you when you try to understand

the learning needs of the incoming senior high school students
Education profile
 Highest education completed by sex

Male 11.9 15.0 55.0 17.6

Female 18.8 19.4 52.5 9.3

College HS grad HS undergrad Elementary

Majority of 16 to 17 year olds have not graduated from high school.

Females have a better education profile than males. More females

are in college and fewer completed only elementary level of
schooling
 Highest education completed by urban-rural
residence

Urban 29.4 16.6 45.1 9.1

Rural 10.0 17.5 57.5 15.1

College HS grad HS undergrad Elementary

There is a clear education difference between rural and urban

residents.

The percentage in college is much lower among rural residents while

those with elementary schooling is much higher compared with urban
residents.
 Among the 16-17 year olds, more females are still in school, while
more males have left school.

The percentage attending school is also higher among the urban

than the rural residents.

Female 62.8 37.2 Rural 56.8 43.2

Male 55.1 44.9 Urban 64.6 35.4

In school Not in school In school Not in school

Highest completed education by current schooling status of the 16-17 year old youth

In school 3.6 70.4 2.7 23.3

Not in school 26.9 30.8 38.3 4.0

All 13.2 54.1 17.3 15.4

Elementary HS undergrad HS grad College

About 27 percent of those who were not in school had elementary level
schooling only. We can consider them as dropouts.

70 percent of the those still in school were in high school. This means that
majority of 16-17 year olds have not completed high school.

If this pattern persists to this day, a large proportion of senior high school
students will actually be older than 16 or 17.
Other characteristics
 Religion of youth aged 16-17
4.5 2.2
4.6

9.7

79.0

Roman Catholic Other mainstream Protestant

Islam Born Again Christian
Other Christian
Family structure
 Percent of 16-17 year olds who Reasons why child was not
were raised by both parents raised by both parents

Male 84.7 Parents separated 41.6

Female 78.4
Father died 22.2
Urban 77.7 Dad works away (within
Phil) 12.8
Rural 83.0
Others 12.0
Elementary 77.3 Mom works away (within
Phil) 10.6
HS undergrad 80.7
HS grad
Mother died 9.8
84.0
College 85.5 Mom works abroad 6.2
Dad works abroad 4.7
All 81.6
Role Models
 Top role model of 16-17 year olds
1.2 1.2 Mother

3.4 3.1 Father

3.3
Entertainers/celebrities
4.1
28.6 Allah/God

5.5 Other relatives

Sibling
6.2
None

Grandparent
7.2
Athletes/sports figures
21.3
Friends
14.9
Teacher/ Professor/
Instructor/ Trainer
Others
 Membership in youth organizations
19.5 percent of the 16-17 year olds report that they are a member of a
youth organization in their community

45.7 percent are not members of any youth organization

34.8 percent reside in a community with no youth organization

In communities with a youth organization , 29.9 percent of the 16-17

year olds report being a member of at least one.

Most common type of youth organizations:

• Sports
• Religious
• Political
• Environmental
Aspirations
To gauge migration aspirations (i.e. outmigration), we
asked the youth

Given the chance, would you want to live and work

abroad someday?

- Work abroad temporarily short term (<5 years)

- Work abroad temporarily long term (>5 years or more)
- Live and work abroad permanently
- Does not want to live and work abroad
 Migration aspirations
Male 54.3 18.9 6.0 20.7
Female 49.4 16.9 8.0 25.7

Urban 46.5 21 10.8 21.8

Rural 54.0 16.7 5.6 23.7

Elementary 41.8 12.7 5.2 40.3

HS undergrad 55.8 16.9 5.9 21.4
HS grad 51.3 19 8.5 21.1
College 47.7 24.9 10.9 16.6

All 51.9 17.9 7.0 23.2

Short term Temporary (<5 years) Long term Temporary (>5 years)
Permanent Does not want to work/live abroad
More than 3 out of 4 16-17 year olds (77 percent)
want to live and work abroad, either short, long term
or permanently.

Less than 1 in 4 do not want to live or work abroad.

The percentage who do no want to live or work

abroad is highest (40 percent) among 16-17 year olds
with elementary level schooling. Also high among
rural residents.

There is no apparent difference between males and

females in migration aspirations
To gauge education aspiration, we asked the
question,

What is the highest level of school you think you

will complete?

In the next slide, we compare their answer to this

question with their current schooling
status, whether in school or not in school.
Highest level of schooling 16-17 year olds think they
will complete by current schooling status

73.8
67.5

24.6
15.6
4.6 7.5 5.8
0.1 0.5 0.0

Elementary High school Post high College Graduate

school school
Currently in school Not currently in school
The results suggest that those who are currently
not in school have lower education aspiration
than those who are in school.

A lower proportion of those who are not in

school think they will finish college and a higher
proportion think they will finish high school
compared with the currently in school.
Self-assessed proficiency in
Filipino and English
To get the respondent’s assessment of his/her proficnency in
Filipino and in English, we used three indicators of proficiency:

- reading
- writing
- speaking

-For each task, the respondent can indicate if s/he can read/
write/ speak:

-Well
-With difficulty
-Not at all
 Self-assessed proficiency in Filipino , by sex
Male 85.8 12.5 1.7
Read

Female 93.1 6.50.5

Male 86.0 12.2 1.8

Write

Female 93.2 6.30.5

Male 81.1 16.9 2.0

Speak

Female 90.3 9.30.5

Well With difficulty Not at all

 Self-assessed proficiency in Filipino, by residence
Urban 93.6 6.00.5
Read

Rural 88.0 10.6 9.4

Urban 93.4 6.20.5

Write

Rural 87.9 10.8 1.3

Urban 93.7 60.2

Speak

Rural 82.6 15.7 1.7

Well With difficulty Not at all

 Self assessed proficiency in Filipino, by education
Elementary 65.2 27.1 7.6
HS undergrad 90.9 9 0.1
Read

HS grad 96.4 3.5

0.1
College 97.7 2.3
0.0

Elementary 65.5 26.6 7.9

HS undergrad 91.2 8.70.2
Write

HS grad 95.6 4.2

0.1
College 98 0.0
2

Elementary 65.2 27.1 7.6

HS undergrad 86.4 13.4 0.2
Speak

HS grad 92.8 7.10.1

College 96.7 3.3
0.0

Well With difficulty Not at all

 Self-assessed proficiency in English, by sex

Male 56.7 39.4 3.8

Read

Female 73.2 25.4 1.4

Male 52.3 43.0 4.7

Write

Female 66.0 32.3 1.7

Male 27.2 64.0 8.8

Speak

Female 33.2 62.8 4.0

Well With difficulty Not at all

 Self-assessed proficiency in English, by residence
Urban 71.5 27.4 1.1
Read

Rural 62.4 34.3 3.2

Urban 63.7 35 1.4

Write

Rural 57.5 38.6 3.9

Urban 39.2 57.4 3.4

Speak

Rural 26.7 65.7 7.6

Well With difficulty Not at all

 Self-assessed proficiency in English, by education
Elementary 27.9 57 15.1
HS undergrad 65.4 33.6 1.0
Read

HS grad 72.1 27.4 0.5

College 87.8 12.1 0.1

Elementary 26.5 56.8 16.7

HS undergrad 59.2 39.3 1.5
Write

HS grad 67.5 31.8 0.7

College 78.0 21.8 0.3

Elementary 6.6 65.7 27.8

HS undergrad 28.2 67.9 4.0
Speak

HS grad 31.9 65.3 2.9

College 55.9 43.7 0.4

Well With difficulty Not at all

Self-assessed proficiency in Filipino indicates that most 16-17 year
olds believe they can read, write and speak in Filipino;

The exception are those whose education attainment was

elementary level.

Self-assessed proficiency in English indicates that a high

proportion of the 16-17 year olds themselves believe they can not
read, write or speak English well.

While there is a distinct advantage to having a college

education, a high proportion at this level still believe they are
unable to read, write and speak English well.

The poor self-assessment for English is most apparent in the task

of speaking.
 Use of traditional and
emergent communications
media
Traditional communications media are

-Print

- Broadcast : radio or television

- Movies

New /emergent communications media

- Internet

- Cellphone
 Frequency of use of various traditional media forms
Watch television 68.2 16.3 12.0 3.5

Watch DVD/VCD 14.9 37.4 34.2 13.5

Watch movies in theaters 1.1 11.0 23.9 64.1

Listen to music 56.5 22.1 14.1 7.2

Listen to radio 32.9 31.0 23.5 12.6

Read non-textbook book 15.0 33.6 32.1 19.3

Read magazines 2.4 18.5 35.0 44.2

Read comics 3.6 20.6 35.1 40.7

Read tabloid 0.9 10.7 24.7 63.6

Read Newspaper 2.6 20.1 36.9 40.5

Everyday At least once a month Occasionally Never

For the traditional media, use of print media of any
form is low. High proportions who NEVER read
newspapers, tabloids, comics, magazines

Television is the most frequently used broadcast

medium

Watching movies in theaters is also very low in this

age group ( 64 percent never watch movies in
theaters)
 Mean hours spent watching TV among those who watch TV
everyday

Male 3.35

Female 3.74

Urban 4.03

Rural 3.31

Elementary 3.15

High school undergraduate 3.34

High school graduate 3.98

College 3.97
 Percent who use the Percent with a facebook account
internet
Male 57.8 Male 49.8

Female 62.9 Female 57.0

Urban 87.7 Urban 84.8

Rural 49.9 Rural 41.4

Elementary 24.9 Elementary 19.4

High school… 55.7 High school… 46.6

High school graduate 71.0 High school graduate 67.3

College 95.9 College 91.4

 How the internet is accessed, by sex
81.3
Internet shop
87.6
16.0
School connection
8.8
13.2
Cellphone
8.7
12.4
Home connection
11.6
8.8
Public wifi
4.5
3.1
Plug-it
9.4
0.2
Workplace
0.9

Female Male
 How the internet is accessed , by residence
84.9
Internet shop
83.4
7.0
Home connection
19.5
8.2
Cellphone
15.2
9.0
School connection
15.0
3.8
Public wifi
11.0
4.6
Plug-it
8.8
0.3
Workplace
0.8

Rural Urban
 How the internet is accessed, by education
76.6
Internet shop 85.4
86.6
95.0
16.3
Cellphone 12.3
8.5
6.3
20.0
Home connection 12.3
8.8
5.0
17.3
School connection 8.7
13.1
1.9
1.3
Workplace 0.3
0.2
0.6
13.8
Plug-it 6.0
3.5
0.0
11.9
Public wifi 7.0
4.9
0.0

College HS grad HS undergrad Elementary

What the youth aged 16-17 use the internet for
Social networking 79.2
Do school assignments 49.0
Surf the internet 23.6
Watch videos 23.1
Play online grames 20.3
Chat 18.7
Download music 10.1
Download movies 6.7
Check mail 6.3
Others 1.3
Shop online 0.6
Blog 0.5
Do office work 0.3
 Percent who own a cellphone
Male 70.9
Female 80.2

Urban 82.8
Rural 72.7

Elementary 48.4
HS undergrad 72.4
HS grad 90.0
College 94.2

All 75.5
 Virtual friends
Percent with online friends they have Percent with textmates they
not personally met have not personally met
Male 50.8 60.0
Female 58.9 43.4

Urban 61.4 41.6

Rural 50.1 55.4

Elementary 52.9 66.3

HS undergrad 51.6 54.8
HS grad 57.6 48.7
College 58.7 37.6

All 54.7 51.2

Diet and exercise
Percentage of 16-17 year olds who perform physical
exercise…

At least two times

28.1 a week
47.8 Less than 2x a
week
24.2
Do not exercise
 Percent of 16-17 year olds with medium to high
frequency of consumption of unhealthy food
and drink

29.2
24.9
23.1
18.2
17.8
14.5

7.2 7.8
4.7
3.1

Instant noodles Chips Softdrink Bottled sweet Energy drink

drink

5-7 times a week 2-4 times a week

Risk behaviors
 Percent who currently smoke
Male 26.0
Female 2.4

Urban 14.8
Rural 14

Elementary 24.6
High school undergraduate 15.6
High school graduate 11.5
College 3.4

All 14.2
 Percent who currently drink
Male 40.2
Female 16.4

Urban 37.6
Rural 24.7

Elementary 31.9
High school undergraduate 26.3
High school graduate 29.6
College 30.6

All 28.3
 Percent who ever used drugs
Male 3.6
Female 0.4

Urban 2.5
Rural 1.8

Elementary 3.3
High school undergraduate 2.2
High school graduate 1.7
College 0.7

All 2.0
Most common drugs ever used

• Marijuana

• Shabu
 Percent who ever thought of committing suicide
Male 2.4
Female 11.5

Urban 7.5
Rural 6.7

Elementary 7.2
High school undergraduate 6.4
High school graduate 8.1
College 7.3

All 6.9
 Percent who ever had premarital sex experience
Male 14.6

Female 7.8

Urban 16.3

Rural 9.3

Elementary 17.6
High school undergraduate 10.6
High school graduate 12
College 6.8

All 11.2
 Percent who sent/received sex videos thru the
internet or cellphone
27.1
Male 2.0
2.7
5.9
Female 1.1
0.5

19.2
Urban 3.2
2.8
15.5
Rural 0.8
1.1

13.3
Elementary 0.6
0.2
15.1
HS undergrad 1.4
2.0
22.3
HS grad 2.6
1.1
17.8
College 1.5
1.9

16.5
All 1.5
1.6
Cellphone Internet Both
 Percent of 16-17 year old women who had begun childbearing

Urban 9.3

Rural 6.7

Elementary 24.4

HS undergrad 6.4

HS grad 8.4

College 1.1

All 7.4
 We hope you find these
information useful in your
teaching in the senior high
school level.
Thank you.