THAILAND - Study of young teens finds worrying levels of alcohol use and sexual promiscuity; almost one in 10 have considered suicide.

Some 8.5 per cent of the young population often seriously think about committing suicide, the Department of Health said yesterday.

This was revealed in a survey conducted on 2,767 students aged between 13 and 15 years old.

"The findings are shocking," the department's deputy director general Dr Sopon Mekthon says.

Ending it all

According to him, 9.5 per cent of the boys and 7.5 per cent of the girls questioned had considered taking their own lives in the past.

"Of the respondents, 8.1 per cent said the reason for this was sheer loneliness," says Sopon, adding that 3.1 per cent did not have any close friends.

Of the 27.2 per cent who said their peers had bullied them at least once over the past month, almost half said they had suffered lasting injuries as a result.

The survey also discovered that most of the children had tried smoking and alcohol.

"Nearly 20 per cent said they had been drunk at least once, while 73.7 per cent said they had smoked cigarettes, some admitting to first lighting up at as young as 13 years old," Sopon says.

Apart from smoking and drinking, 10.1 per cent of the boys and 1.8 per cent of the girls said that they have had at least two sexual partners.

Family problems

Sopon says family problems probably played a major role in children's worrying behaviour.

"More than 38.5 per cent said their parents never understood their problems or concerns," he says.

The survey also revealed that the parents of 26.5 per cent of the respondents had no idea what their children were doing in their free time, because "mum and dad were always busy". In fact, 18.2 per cent of the students even admitted playing truant over the past month.

"These findings will have to be referred to the Department of Mental Health so we can jointly find ways to help our younger generation," Sopon said.