Dating and the Initiation of Intimate Behaviors among Young Adults in the Philippines

On 19 March 2026, Professor Sampson Lee Blair (The State University of New York) presented a talk titled "Dating and the Initiation of Intimate Behaviors among Young Adults in the Philippines."

Event Details

Date and Time: 19 Mar 2026, Thursday, 4.00pm to 6.00pm
Venue: In-person at FASS AS8 04-04

About the Talk

The Philippines has undergone social change over recent decades, and with increasing modernization, traditional cultural standards concerning mate selection, marriage, and childbearing has changed. Over recent years, marriage rates have fallen, cohabitation and singlehood rates have risen, and fertility rates have decreased.Within this cultural context, young adults nonetheless continue to pursue intimate relationships. The long-standing conservative perceptions concerning dating and intimacy may be changing, as a consequence of societal and cultural change.

Using data from a survey of 466 college students across the Philippines, this study examines the dating behaviors and aspirations of young adults. The findings demonstrate that while approximately one-third of respondents express the desire to date more frequently, most do not. Over 36% of males state that they would kiss on a first date, while another 20.2% would have sexual intercourse on a first date. Among females, only 18.1% would kiss on a first date, while only 5.6% would be willing to have sexual intercourse. These patterns do support the contention that traditional expectations about dating and intimacy remain salient in the Philippines, yet the gender differences also suggest that more progressive and individualistic aspirations are found among males. Multivariate analyses demonstrate that parental characteristics yield only minor associations with the dating behaviors of young adults, while individual traits (e.g., preferences for specific attributes in a partner) have greater influence. The findings are discussed within the developmental paradigm, and the implications for mate selection are addressed.

About the Speaker

Dr. Sampson Lee Blair is a family sociologist and demographer at The State University of New York (Buffalo). Much of his research focuses upon family relationships, with particular emphasis on child, adolescent, and young adult development. He has published 31 books, in addition to numerous journal articles and book chapters, and has presented over 160 research papers at conferences in the U.S. and abroad, and has served as keynote speaker on many occasions. His recent research has focused upon marriage and fertility patterns in China and the Philippines. With Timothy J. Madigan and Fang Fang, he published Mate Selection in China: Causes and Consequences in the Search for a Spouse (2022) and Sociology of China: An Introduction (2025).