Abstract
Background
Dating behavior by some Indonesian adolescents is against the social norms of the society, showing moral gaps and psychosocial unconventionality. Several challenges emanate from this issue, including risk behavior-sexual intercourse. This research aims to describe the adolescents’ risk behavior-sexual intercourse in Makassar City.
Design and methods
The study uses a narrative qualitative approach with a criterion sampling technique. Three adolescents who participated in this research: two males and one female, between 17 and 19 years of age. The data are obtained through an in-depth interview based on the guideline from to Adolescent Health and Development Questionnaire by Jessor.
Results
The result shows that risk behavior such as premature sexual intercourse is caused by high risk factors, including behavior, opportunity, models, and vulnerability risks. The moderator effect of protection form protective factors, such as behavior, controls, models protection and supports protections toward risk factors, play less significant roles in minimizing the possibility of indulging in risk behavior in sexual intercourse and in dating.
Conclusions
The risk of sexual intercourse starts from dating, which leads to sexual intercourse. Additionally, this issue is also attributed to the risk and protective factors, affecting preparation for adulthood, personal development, and health.
Significance for public health
Risky behavior is part of normal adolescent development and plays a major role in the process of transition into adulthood. Risk behavior in adolescents can lead to premature sexual intercourse, because it is normal it should not be relevant if teens engage in sexual relationships too early. Although the premature sexual intercourse in adolescents is considered “meaningful” and “goal-oriented life” by teenagers, but this relationship may harm or interfere with the welfare, health and lives of individuals. Premature sexual intercourse is the most serious threat to the health of adolescents. This paper is a narrative study of the adolescents’ risk behavior-sexual intercourse in Makassar City
Introduction
Adolescents are characterized by several things, including the urge to enjoy life, freedom to make decisions, appreciate the tasks and schoolwork, positive feelings towards their family, and the ability to cope with the pressures of life. Positive behavious develops when someone engages positively in beneficial self-activity while discouraging negative behavior.1 However, adolescent behaviors in several individuals involved tend to be negative. Negative behavior committed by juveniles is frequently highlighted to involve sexual intercourse. Some previous works show that 50% of teenagers had sexual intercourse.2,3 The percentage of adolescents with friends who have sex before marriage was 28%. This suggests sexual intercourse has increased each year among adolescents.3 Besides, 9% of female adolescents had sexual intercourse before marriage. This implies that the number of female adolescents indulging the act has increased each year.1
Various factors influence the risk behavior of sexual intercourse, including dating relationships, which often lead to premarital sex. Nevertheless, some experts suggest the positive influence and the benefits of dating and of relationships, such as building interactions and close relationships. It contributes to the formation and development of self-identity in teenagers. Besides, dating relationships have contributed to the emotional and behavioral adjustment of adolescents.1,3 Dating relationships develop positive emotions among adolescents.4 However, dating relationships contribute negatively to risky behaviors such as early sexual intercourse in adolescents. There are results of research that establish that 83% of teens enjoy sexual relations. Premarital sex begins with a number of risky behaviors such as kissing and stimulating each other.5
Adolescent behavior is influenced by several factors, including family, neighborhood, school, and peers. Parents have a responsibility to monitor various adolescent behavior through rules and to oversee how children find friends and other activities and their whereabouts. Effective monitoring is especially important when children enter adolescence stage.1 However, parental controls significantly influence adolescent sexual activity early in their development.6 Parental control include the relationship between parents and the communication between the parents and the teenagers.6,7 This shows that the gap relationships between parents and their control of teenagers contribute to adolescents’ social competence and behavior in adolescence. From the discussion above, there are three symptoms of the problems that adolescents experience. First, many teenagers tend to engage in negative behaviors that lead to sexual intercourse. Secondly, a dating relationship can be an impetus for sexual intercourse, which is considered risky behavior in adolescents. It does not contribute to building self-identity and adolescent behavioral adjustment in adolescents. Third, poor parental relationships and parental controls might play a role or influence the adolescent sexual risk behavior. This study examines the risky dating behavior, including the process that leads to sexual intercourse, factors behind it, and the role that sexual relations in dating.
Design and Methods
This study uses a qualitative narrative approach through oral history based on the reflection of the individuals’ personal stories and experiences.8 The story and the experiences are narrated again by investigators. The population includes teenagers who had the experience of dating and are domiciled in the city of Makassar. Sample selection was based on criteria predetermined.8 The inclusion criteria involved the following: 1) Adolescents aged 15-19 years, 2) Having risk behaviors and sex in dating, and 3) Live in the city of Makassar.
Based on these criteria, appropriate subjects to further study population are screened after the interviews. In the end, three teenagers successfully met all the requirements, two males and one female. The subjects were obtained from social institutions and legal aid groups. The research location was in the city of Makassar. The extraction of data through interviews was conducted in several places, including social welfare, legal aid organizations, and neighborhoods. The selection of the place was by mutual agreement between the researcher and the subjects for the sake of convenience and the ease of providing information.
Data mining techniques were conducted through in-depth interviews based on the Adolescent Health and Development Questionnaire.9 The questionnaire was modified to obtain information and more in-depth information of the subject. Also, a data recorder was used to record any information presented by the subject based on their consent. The number of meetings and interviews, as well as the duration for data mining, was different on each subject due to circumstances.
Based on the research approach used, the data were analyzed by a qualitative analysis model, which is divided into several stages, including compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding.9 Technics to assure the validity of the data used are perseverance observation, triangulation of investigators, and checking data from different sources and colleagues.
Results and Discussion
The research location was in the city of Makassar, South Sulawesi. The location of the subjects was in the two institutions in the city of Makassar, including the Marsudi Putra Social Institution (PSMP) and the Toddopuli ‘Makassar and Paralegal LBH through the NGO Women Anging Mammiri. The study used three adolescents who indulged in sexual intercourse risky behavior in Makassar. The first subject, identified by the AKA initials, was male and aged 19. The second subject had initials AD, was male and aged 19, while the third subject had the initials NF, was female and was 17 years old.
The results, as summarized in Table 1, showed that all three subjects began to have an interest in the opposite sex in early adolescence. They started the dating phase of their relationships once they became teens. This is in line with the theory of the development of youth by Santrock,1 which shows that adolescence is marked by individuals beginning to explore dating relationships due to the growing interest in people of the opposite sex. In this study, the subjects learned about the opposite sex through a dating relationship, spending time together, and walking around together. Courtship behaviors displayed by the subjects included holding hands, kissing, and hugging, which are part of the risk factors. The dating relationships is the basis for teenagers to start experimenting with new behaviors and identities.10 These behaviors then encouraged all three subjects to have sexual intercourse before marriage.
Dynamics of Life Experiences and Risk Behavior in a Relationship Sexual Conduct Subject.
The process in which risk behavior leads to sexual intercourse takes place in three stages, including the experience and behavior of subjects at risk of dating, opportunity to have sexual intercourse, and finally sexual intercourse activity. The description of dating behavior processes that lead to risky sexual behavior in each subject can be seen in the explanation of each subject accompanied by the following interview excerpts:
Subject AKA: started dating from early teen when she started junior high school. AKA has been dating three times. AKA often spends time with her boyfriend doing activities together and showing risky behaviors such as kissing and hugging. AKA also often takes advantage of all the opportunities that arise when having time alone with her boyfriend. Starting from the opportunity, when both of them were outside, they have the chances to engage in these behaviors. She had the first experience of sexual behavior with her second boyfriend, when she was in high school. She even tried to have sex a second time with the same boyfriend. Last time she did these behaviors with the third boyfriend before being arrested, as quotes below:
“… I've been like that again with second boyfriend too …” (896 AKA)
“… he was arrested for doing that in bed …” (472AKA)
One subject has obstacles when it comes to sexual intercourse, namely AD. Even so, AD she also has dating experiences, the presence of intentions of trying to do risky behaviors and several opportunities to have sexual relations during dating with her boyfriend.
Subject AD: AD experience in dating has begun since early teens when he was in the sixth grade elementary school or around the age of 12 years. AD dated more than twenty times so far. AD often changes girlfriend and he had never dated for more than a month.
“… I started dating when I was in sixth grade …” (122 AD)
“… actually…I don't know how much I had dating …” (116AD)
“… I have a girlfriend, not lasting more than one month… “ (134AD)
AD often spends time with his girlfriend both inside and outside the house. AD behavior when dating is generally the same as the behavior of his friends who are dating, such as doing activities together with his girlfriend that is walking together, eating and watching movies together, along with kissing. When alone with his girlfriend, he sometimes hugs and kisses his girlfriend. He considers kisses normal in dating. When he started dating in elementary school, he had started to cuddle his girlfriend. This fits the following interview excerpt:
“… just hug, hugs ..” (642AD)
“… if kisses, yes I always do this if I see her ..” (152AD)
Starting from the experience of AD, we can observe that he showed risky behaviors leasding to opportunities for sexual intercourse, even though there were many obstacles. However, he always intends to have sexual relations with his girlfriend. This is consistent with the following interview excerpt:
“… there are always obstacles…my dad, my mom…” (370AD)
“… if the intention is to do so, there must be in both of us …” (170AD)
Subject NF: Dating since she was in junior high school. NF has been dating five times so far. She often spends time with her boyfriend by walking together, doing activities outside the house more often, holding hands, hugging, and kissing. The experience of her behaviors leads to the opportunity to have further sexual relations. NF first had sexual intercourse when she was 15 years old with her second boyfriend. The following interview excerpts:
“… ehmmm.. in my room, unfortunately with me, I believe him too … just kissing … not refusing to…” (162NF)
“…first my thighs, then I climbed,……I realize too, I don't use anything ..” (168NF)
Risky behaviors influence adolescent development, including preparation of adulthood, personal development, and health. First, the impact on the preparation of adult life dealing with the legal aspects indicated by two of the two subjects, namely AKA and AD. There was an early pregnancy and miscarriage in one subject, specifically NF. This is consistent with the following interview excerpts:
“… I was immediately arrested that day, reportedly with her cousin because my boyfriend did not come home for 3 days and 4 nights…” (1516 AKA)
“… I was accused of taking someone's daughter away, it turns out that my girlfriend was fleeing from her house, then I didn't know, her uncle at the police…” (572AD)
“… pregnant first too but that my boyfriend is not responsible because it turns out there are also other girlfriends who are pregnant too…” (180NF)
“… At home … I cried when I hit my stomach … my mother gave me medicine but I didn't know what the drug was … I drank, I immediately got dizzy and fainted, when I realized there were other things in my stomach, it turned out that there wasn't my son… “(186NF)
Second, the impact on the personal development aspect, there was instability in feelings and thoughts on NF. This is consistent with the following interview excerpts:
“… I am so stressed out I almost died… You once tried to hang yourself but it didn't work because… ”(180NF)
“… My feelings hurt so much, especially if I remember my son kodong kodong, my heart aches like being beaten, like torn my heart, you can't laugh let alone eat and drink, you can't sis… (190NF)
Third, there were unknown health effects on the two subjects, AKA and NF. This is consistent with the following interview excerpts:
“… I have health test before doing with this last one … don't offer anything …” (1594AKA)
“… eehhh … I don't think I've ever tested it … because I didn't think of this since I knew it was pregnant …” (312NF)
One factor related to sexual behaviors was the influence of peers in decision making. This is consistent with the following interview excerpts:
“… ehhm, many of my friends are dating too …” (478AD)
“… my friends also watch BF videos like that, I want to do it also then …” (386AKA)
“… my friend also likes to do so … especially if we don't see porn movies …” (476AD)
“… Yes, my friends often take nights out… usually kissing each other, hugging each other, hugging…” (146NF)
This is in line with Albert and Steinberg,11 which established that the presence of peers in these situations increases the likelihood of adolescent risk-taking behaviors. Therefore, the social environment plays a significant role in key decision-makers of adolescents.11 Dating relationships could lead to intimacy but not necessarily see it as a commitment.12 It focuses on the romantic attraction, and therefore, it survives only as long as there remains a feeling of romance. Besides, there is always a feeling of confusion between physical relationship and love, and dating relationship takes a lot of time and energy that can distract youth from their primary responsibility in preparing for the future.
Conclusions
The risk of sexual intercourse starts from dating, which leads to sexual intercourse. Additionally, this issue is also attributed to the risk and protective factors, affecting preparation for adulthood, personal development, and health.
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
The authors express gratitude to the lecturers of the University for their friendly support.