Living away from home: Premarital sex and covariates - factory women in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Abstract

This paper explores the premarital sexual behaviour and its covariates of young single women working in the garment manufacturing industry in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Because gender and sexuality norms inhibit women from disclosing proscribed lifestyles, measures to mitigate response biases were an integral part of the research design. The prevalence of premarital sex is higher than was previously known, with being older, having a less well-off family background, absence of guardians, peer sexual influence, and leisure and risk behaviour as risk factors. Dating solo-the most proximate behaviour to premarital sex-is engaged in more by women who live without guardians in Phnom Penh, who come from less well-off backgrounds, and who have been exposed to peer sexual influence. Parental influence upon daughters' premarital chastity and partner selection has long been significant. With rural-urban migration, this has been replaced by economic and peer influences, as evident in the high rates of dating, and other leisure and risk behaviour.