Agency report

New York, Apr 9: Young Indian immigrants to the United States keep their cultural beliefs about no sex before marriage but the second generation shows signs of acquiring local customs, according to a new survey.

The survey conducted mostly among 18 to 24 years old showed low level of sexual activity in the immigrant population and even lower in the first generation compared with the second generation.

Overall 55 per cent respondents reported engaging in sexual activity. But an interesting finding that the first generation constituted only 22 per cent among them.

For the second generation, the figure was 82 per cent. It appears, the authors said, that the young immigrants eventually adopt the sexual practices of the new culture, after an intermediate period of uncertainty in which they have not abandoned the prior belief and have not accepted the new one completely.

The survey was conducted by Neeti Joshi and her colleagues from the Department of Medical Informatics at the Columbia University under the overall supervision of Vimla L Patel among New Yorkers. It was published in the Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal and the results were reported by IndoLink, an ethnic portal for Asian Indians.

"Using cognitive analysis, we documented distinct patterns of safe sex behaviour and specific reasoning strategies associated with these patterns," reported Joshi and her colleagues Nicole Yoskowitz and Kelley Urry.

They also state, "We have identified a pattern of low sexual activity in a sample of first and second-generation young-adult immigrant Indians, with significantly less sexual activity in the first generation."

Joshi's objective has been to understand the influences on individual decision-making regarding the sexual activity of South Asians-- mostly 18-24 year old Indian-Americans in New York City.

Throughout the study, Joshi explored the decision-making processes, attitudes, and belief systems of young 'Desis' with respect to their sexual behaviour, and, in the process, identified the socio-cognitive factors that push young immigrant adults to move towards risky sexual behaviour in the American environment.

The beliefs and attitudes surveyed included: information related to condom use beliefs, family expectations related to marriage, participant's preferences related to marriage and beliefs pertaining to HIV.

Overall, the Joshi study reveals that transmission of beliefs from first to second generation is crucial with regard to decision-making governing safe sexual behaviour.