Sex among Taipei's youth came sharply into focus yesterday after a poll showed a majority of students had no qualms about sexual encounters with friends they met on-line.
The public opinion poll, released yesterday by a Taipei city councilor, showed about 60 percent of respondents among senior high school and vocational school students in the capital "identified with" having one-night stands with on-line friends, while roughly five percent claimed they had actually done so.
But experts quarreled over the results of the poll, as some said the figure reflected a casual attitude toward sex among youngsters while others questioned the validity of the poll.
Taipei City councilor Chen Hsueh-fen (
Chen said the city's bureau of education should take the figures seriously.
"Some cases may even involve cash transactions and people being swindled, so authorities should pay attention," Chen said.
But psychologists and sociologists had differing interpretations of the results of the poll.
Yu Hon-yei (余漢儀), professor of sociology at National Taiwan University, said she was "a bit surprised" to hear that 60 percent of respondents said they identified with such behavior.
"The figure is a bit high," she said. "Young people tend to enjoy risk, and some may consider it fashionable.
"But identification does not equal behavior, instead suggesting an attitude," she said. "So one can only say that the figure indicates that their attitude toward sex tends to be liberal."
Yu also said respondents might have confusion in interpreting the term "identify," which may cast doubts on the figures.
The liberal attitude toward sex among those surveyed, however, does indicate that young people do not insist on maintaining rigid moral standards, which reflects the multiple or chaotic values society has adopted in recent years, Yu said.
But the figure showing that about five percent of respondents said they had engaged in a one-night stand with on-line friends was not high, Yu said.
"If you ask the same question to adults (in Taiwan), you'll probably get a higher figure," Yu said.
Speaking from his experience in conducting similar polls among young people, Wu Ying-chang (
"One should read these figures carefully because it's difficult to grasp the validity and reliability of these kinds of polls," Wu said.
Wu said commitment to their peer group often drives students to approve of more eccentric or questionable behavior, which can easily distort poll results.
The poll did not state a margin of error.
"So it's often very difficult to discern their real values and attitudes," Wu said.
Wu also said the media should not make a big issue of the poll as it is difficult to examine the validity of the poll.
Wu said overblown media coverage may encourage young people to adopt casual attitudes toward sex before they have received sufficient sex education.
"Schools may find it difficult to resist being affected by rampant media coverage of this kind of survey," Wu said.
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