Emerging premarital sexual behavior among adolescent in indonesia: The impact of knowledge, experience, and media use to attitudes

Abstract

The number of premarital sexual behavior among adolescent is increasing around the globe. Research showed attitudes influence the increasing number of premarital sexual behavior among adolescent. However, there is a gap in understanding factors influencing the positive attitudes of adolescent. Therefore, this study aims to determine the three factors affecting attitudes (knowledge, experience, and access to media) to prevent premarital sex behavior among adolescent. This study was a quantitative research with cross-sectional design in determining the sample. The simple random sampling method was used and data were collected from 75 high school students of first, second, and third grade (15-19 years old). The knowledge, experience, and the use of media is helpful for adolescent but only to a certain extent. Their positive attitude formed due to other factors that is beyond the scope of this research. This study showed that positive attitudes of adolescent is necessary to help them preventing premarital sex behavior that leads to many health problems. Therefore, we need to revisit existing health programs for adolescent to reinforce their positive attitudes to help them making healthy life choices.