Family conditions affect the age at which Taiwanese adolescents become sexually active, according to a paper presented on the first day of an international conference on children and adolescents yesterday in Taipei.
Children who live in high-risk families before the age of 12 are more likely to engage in sexual activity at an earlier age, said Chang Ly-yun (張笠雲), a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Sociology.
DOMESTIC ABUSE
Her study also found that children who are domestically abused before the age of six often join gangs and have sex before they are 12, six years earlier than the legal age for sexual intercourse.
Commenting on the study’s findings, Chang said Taiwan should review the school and social security mechanisms available and offer immediate help to children that fall into these groups.
High-risk families are defined as those where one or both of the parents have passed away, are severely ill, suffer from chronic psychological disorders, are addicted to alcohol, are separated or divorced or frequently fight or engage in domestic violence, Chang said.
More than 19,000 high school students and their parents were interviewed for her study, said Chang, who described it as one of the largest studies in Taiwan aimed at exploring the impact families have on teenagers’ psychological well-being and behavior.
Although the study was done in 2005, Chang said the data had not been analyzed and presented publicly before.
Chang’s presentation was one of 20 papers discussed at the conference, the Department of Health’s (DOH) Bureau of Health Promotion said.
The two-day conference features studies on child obesity, deviant behavior and sexual behavior, and Hurng Baai-shyun (洪百薰), director of the bureau’s Population and Health Research Center, said it gave a broad overview of adolescent problems.
ASSETS
“Children and teenagers are important assets to our country. We have fewer and fewer children each year, so we should definitely care about their well-being,” Hurng said.
The conference is organized by the DOH, Academia Sinica, the National Health Research Institutes and National Taiwan University’s College of Public Health.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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