Abstract
This paper presents the differences in family interaction and parenting behaviours and their influence on sexual intention among male and female youths aged 18 to 22 years. The results presented are based on data collected from unmarried college students in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Despite being in a country where premarital sexual activity is not an accepted behaviour, 18% of the 422 male and 1.4% of the 566 female students indicated their intention to perform sexual activity. Compared to females, males had more allowance of autonomy from parents and lesser parental monitoring, paternal care, parent-youth communication on sexual issues, and family connectedness. Both genders perceived that they received similar levels of parental control. In male youths, having high maternal control (OR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.03–1.38) and family modelling behaviour (OR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.19–4.25) increased their odds of having sexual intention while having high parent-youth communication on sex (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.81–0.99) reduced their odds of having sexual intention. For female youths, having a high level of family connectedness (OR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.59–0.97) was a protective factor against sexual intention. In conclusion, sexual intention is higher among males compared to females. The influence of family interaction and parenting behaviours on youth sexual decision varied across gender. This study highlighted the possibility of using different parenting approaches in tackling premarital sexual activity among youths.
Highlights
Over the years, youth sexuality has drawn the attention of many health care professionals and scientists, mainly because of its related complications such as sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies
This study investigated the gender difference in the family interaction, parenting behaviours, and sexual intention experienced by youths aged 18 to 24 years
The findings of this study supported the hypotheses that gender differences exist in parenting behaviours, family interaction, and youth sexual intention
Summary
Youth sexuality has drawn the attention of many health care professionals and scientists, mainly because of its related complications such as sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Research on youth sexuality has looked into intimate relationships and sexuality as part of the normal sexual development in youths (Boislard et al 2016). With a collectivist culture, like those in Asian and Arab countries, that emphasises social responsibility and relationships (Boislard et al 2016), the idea of unmarried youths practicing sexual activity as part of their normal growing process is not well accepted. Malaysia is a conservative country that opposes premarital sexual activity, and under Malaysian law, marriage is only allowed when youths reach 18 years of age. Despite disapproval by society, premarital sexual activity.
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