Abstract
Purpose:This paper presents the findings of a cross-sectional survey on the risk and protective factors of premarital sexual behavior among rural female adolescents in Peninsular Malaysia.Methods:We investigated data on 770 female respondents aged 13-17 years in rural areas to identify predictive factors for premarital sexual intercourse. Data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate regression. Specific socio-demographic factors, psychological and family domains, peer delinquency, and knowledge and attitudes about sexuality were considered in risky sexual behaviors in rural Malay girls. The effects of other covariates for premarital sexual intercourse were controlled by logistic regression model.Results:Of the 770 rural female students, about 3.2% of respondents reported experience of sexual intercourse in the past three months. Out of those sexually active girls, 36% were 17 years old and 20% stated having sexual intercourse with more than one partner, and 72% did not use contraception during the most recent sexual intercourse. Midnight activities, peer-sexual disorder, self-evaluation, and attitude toward sexual health were significant predictors of sexual intercourse in rural girls in Malaysia.Conclusion:The finding highlights the impact of psychological factors and peer group influences on the challenges of premarital sexual behavior among rural girls and the notion of school-based sexual health education for adolescents. This study triggers other researchers take into account a comprehensive view of protective factors operating in adolescents’ risky sexual behaviors in Asian culture seeing that family domain variables, unexpectedly, exerted no predicting influence on sexually active female teens in rural areas in Malaysia.
Highlights
Sexual relations outside of marriage, before 15 years of age raise the prevalence of negative health outcomes
This study triggers other researchers take into account a comprehensive view of protective factors operating in adolescents’ risky sexual behaviors in Asian culture seeing that family domain variables, unexpectedly, exerted no predicting influence on sexually active female teens in rural areas in Malaysia
The odds ratios (OR) for having sexual intercourse among rural female adolescents were significant for peer-sexual disorder (OR= 5.85, 95% CI: 2.06-16.58, P≤ 0.001), attitude towards sexual health (OR= 4.03, 95% CI: 1.35-12.03, P≤ 0.05), midnight activities (OR= 8.75, 95% CI: 3.11-24.62, P≤ 0.001), negative self-evaluation (OR= 6.49, 95% CI: 1.45-28.99, P ≤ 0.05)
Summary
Sexual relations outside of marriage, before 15 years of age raise the prevalence of negative health outcomes. Previous research on adolescents’ sexuality has directed towards identifying risk factors such as peer influence, parental involvement, abuse history, and drug use, which are associated to risky sexual behaviors. Research pertaining to Asian culture and adolescents’ risky sexual behavior is inadequate. The finding of previous studies has indicated that race or ethnicity is one of critical factor associated with sexual behaviors (Schuster et al, 1998). Studies have shown that risky sexual behaviors among adolescents can lead to sombre health consequences such as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), teenage pregnancy, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. Previous researchers found that unprotected sexual behavior can cause a series of harmful physical, emotional, and social outcomes, especially for girls (Jejeebhoy et al, 2005). Even the proportion of girls having sexual intercourse before marriage was higher in number in contrast to boys (Liu et al, 2006; Shtarkshall et al, 2009)
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