BACKGROUND Premarital sexual relationships could harm youth's health in terms of sexually transmitted infections or increased risk of unprotected sexual behaviors. Sexual abstinence has been recommended to prevent young adolescents from adverse outcomes of premarital sexual relationships. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to explore the viewpoints of sexually active single women about prem...

I have read with admiration the paper by Bahadır et al. entitled “HbD Los Angeles [beta 121(GH4) Glu→Gln] and Hb Beograd [beta 121(GH4) Glu→Val]: implications for their laboratory diagnosis and genetic origins” in the recent issue of the journal [1]. However, I was puzzled regarding the reasons for these studies of HbD Los Angeles, since the presence of this hemoglobinopathy trait even in homoz...

CONTEXT Premarital sexual activity is thought to be rising in Vietnam. However, there is little evidence documenting such an increase, and it is unknown whether levels of premarital sex differ between northern and southern Vietnam and whether premarital sex occurs primarily with a future spouse. METHODS Surveys conducted in northern Vietnam (Red River Delta) and southern Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh ...

BACKGROUND Unhealthy premarital sex behavior leads to several health problems namely; sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), Human Immune Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), unwanted pregnancies, abortions and maternal deaths. Unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions are rampant in Nepal despite introduction of legal provision for safe abortion since 2003. Lately, unsafe s...

Premarital screening (PMS) can be an important tool to detect of carriers of hemoglobinopathies. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of premarital couples about Thalassemia before PMS in Denizli province. This cross-sectional study was conducted between August-December 2013. The target population was all premarital couples who applied to the City Hemoglobinopathy Cont...

Premarital fertility, defined as birth before first marriage, is investigated in Madagascar, using two Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in 1992 and 1997. About 8 per cent of all births and 23 per cent of first births take place before marriage, despite a low underlying mean age at first marriage, estimated to be 18.6 years in the absence of a previous birth. A premarital first bir...

Pastoral counselors who provide premarital counseling must address the topics that are most relevant to couples as they prepare for marriage. This article presents the results of a survey of clergy who provide premarital counseling, demonstrating the relative importance that clergy ascribe to premarital counseling topics, as well as the relationship between religious affiliation and ratings of ...