Demographic and lifestyle factors associated with sexual activity among adolescents in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Having a better understanding of the factors associated with sexual behaviour among adolescents is important as it may assist government in lowering the prevalence of teen pregnancy. The objective of the present study is to examine the effects of demographic and lifestyle factors on the likelihood of engaging in sexual intercourse with a focus on Malaysian adolescents. Using a nationally representative data collected by the Ministry of Health Malaysia, the present study finds that age, self-rated academic performance, parents’ marital status, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking can significantly affect the sexual behaviour among adolescents. The present study concludes by discussing the policy implications of these findings. As a measure towards reducing underage sex, successful policies should be targeted primarily at adolescents who aged more than 16 years self-rate their academic performance as poor, have single parents, and adopt alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking behaviours.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent
• demographic factor
• intercourse
• lifestyle
• sex

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Director General of Health, Malaysia, for his permission to use the data from the Malaysian Adolescent Health Risk Behaviour (MyAHRB) and to publish this article. University Acculturation Research Grant (KOD S/O 13465) is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universiti Utara Malaysia [University Acculturation Research Grant/KOD S/O 13465].