Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chulalongkorn University, 2006

Remaining sexual abstinence among young women is an important strategy for promoting sexual health in Thai adolescents. However, little is known about remaining sexual abstinence among young Thai women. Thus the purpose of this study was to explore the process and to discover a substantive theory of remaining sexual abstinence among young Thai women. A grounded theory methodology was applied in the study. Participants were 19 young Thai women, aged between 18-23 years. Data were collected by in-depth interview. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The grounded theory analysis method by Glaser (1978) was applied for data analysis and theory development. The findings indicated "The establishing sexual pattern for life security" is the basic social process in which the young Thai women used to remain sexual abstinence. The process consists of three stages –Learning proper sexual manners, planning life sexual path, and establishing own sexual manners. In the learning proper sexual manners stage, the young Thai women acquired knowledge and value of as well as recognized about proper sexual manners, the consequences of improper manners, the nature of males, and using careful considerations. In this stage, recognizing parental love emerged as an important covariate condition. The second stage, planning life sexual path, was a period in which the young Thai women set goals of life security and determining means for goal achievement. The final stage, establishing own sexual manners, was a state in which the young Thai women set sexual boundaries and modified sexual boundaries in order to remain sexual abstinence for life security. This substantive theory suggests a new knowledge and insights into remaining sexually abstinent process among young women. It can be applied as a guideline to develop interventions to promote remaining sexual abstinence until the right time in young Thai women.