1.

0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

In Malaysia, as in other Asian countries, the issue of sexuality remains a taboo. Thus, sex
topic is discussed with care and reservation. This influence the fulfillment of sex education.
Numerous students have insufficient necessary information, knowledge and access to sex
education. Many people feel uncomfortable discussing sex-related problems due to various
reasons. Sex-related information is not provided to young unmarried people because adults
are hesitant by mistaken beliefs that providing information would promote sexual activity.
Most youths recognize magazines, the Internet and friends and their familiar sources to
sexual information (Wong, 2012). Even health professionals are reluctant to address sexual
health issues which make sexual concerns are often underestimated.

Perception of premarital sexual attitudes and behaviors in eastern, specifically in Islamic

societies, is less delineate (Wong, 2012). Malaysia, which is Malay Muslims dominant with
sizable Indian and Chinese minorities define family values as religious and cultural beliefs
difference interchange that influence individual aspect of life. This may in turn frame their
behaviors and attitudes towards sexual and reproductive problems. (Wong, 2012). Due to
sensitivity and controversial issues toward the subject, there was no formal sex education in
schools in Malaysia. Only lessons about the human reproductive system were taught in
science classes at the secondary school level. Introducing sex education in public schools in
Malaysia caused considerable debate among some conservative groups in the past. Liberal
premarital sexual attitudes affect actual sexual behaviour because those who had initiated
sexual intercourse hold more liberal views compared to those who never had intercourse
(Wong, 2012). Men are more permissive as they concur on sexual practice such as
masturbation, premarital sex and oral sex, but women are firmly against these issues (Hatta
Sidi et al., 2013).

A study in West Kalimantan, Indonesia reveals that communication regarding sexual and
reproductive issues between parents and female adolescents are limited. In Hong Kong,
liberal sexual attitudes have been reported although their adolescents are less sexually actives.
Based on Sunday Star online survey Let’s Talk Sex with YouthSays.com’s, only 10.9%
students experienced sexual intercourse while 32% students claimed that they never had any

1
sexual experience. The remaining 12% and 11.8 % have been attempting heavy petting and
oral sex, respectively. Others had tried kissing and hugging. Despite this fact, an increasing
number of sexual activities is being reported by Malaysian students (Adigun Temiloluwa
Folasayo et al., 2017)

1.2 Problem Statement

Premarital sexuality, which is characterized as being unanticipated, unpredictable,

inconsistent with values, and personally uncontrollable (LoConte et al., 1997), is becoming a
standard feature among students. Despite strong social and cultural taboos, students in
Malaysia are not only involved in premarital sex but also risky sexual behaviour. Social
problems among students are the result of unsafe sex practices resulting in unwanted
pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS.
The higher rates of teen pregnancies and the cases of baby dumping in Malaysia is due to
lack of knowledge on sexual practices and contraceptive use. Students exposed to health
hazards due to their sexual response; hence, sex education should be provided. Although
sexual behaviour in students is mostly due to the effect of sex hormones, the role of
psychosocial factors such as media, friends and peer group, drugs and alcohol, and family
cannot be denied. Thus, the following research questions have prompted us to conduct the
study on students’ attitude and behaviour toward premarital sexual relationship among
university student in Malaysia:

i. What are the most compelling attitudes and behaviors that lead students to engage in
premarital sex?
ii. What activity could be suggested to do to help the students understand better the value of
not taking into consideration the factors which may lead to premarital sex?

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1.3 Objective of the Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes and behaviors toward premarital
sexual relationship among university student in Malaysia. This study suggests several
research objectives to be attained as follows:

a) To investigate students’ attitude and behaviour toward premarital sexual relationship.

b) To assess the prevalence of premarital sexual intercourse among university students.
c) To investigate students' sexual knowledge and their primary source of sexual knowledge.
d) To identify the student's opinion on how to prevent this issues from getting worse.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The finding of the study has important implication for the health of university students.
With today's comprehensive sex education, knowing university students' sexual attitudes
deserved close attention. Sex education could influence young people's opinions, beliefs,
interactions and intimate relationship. Furthermore, university students are at higher risk for
sexually transmitted infections; therefore, sex education for this group is essential. This
finding will also provide educators with relevant information in terms of students' view about
premarital sex among university students. This research can be a reference to other people
such as psychology and counselling division to take action by considering their feeling before
giving advice.

1.5 Limitations of the Study

There are several potential limitations in this study. According to Wong (2012), the
major limitation of this self-report behavioural questionnaire is socially-desirable response
bias. It is not possible to determine whether the students in this study tended to under-report
their sexual experience as sex is still taboo subject in Malaysia. Next, the findings on a
person’s sexual history are usually not conclusive as there are chances that some respondents
may not have provided honest answers. Lastly, the target respondent may not be achieved;
thus, the finding cannot be generalized to all university students in Malaysia.

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1.6 Previous Studies

Wah Yun (2009) had made a research about the behaviour and issues faced by youth
which are premarital sexual intercourse, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDs and
cybersex. There is a growing incidence of premarital sexual activity among youths, especially
adolescents, owning to widening gap between age before marriage and age at marriage . The
continuing activity of premarital sex showed the high rate of adolescent and youth fertility.
The effect of these pregnancy and childbearing have significant effects on maternal and child
health. There are various factors lead to sexual and reproductive health behaviour among
unmarried youths. Therefore, peer pressure also played a major role in sexual and
reproductive health related decision-making among youths.

Based on this investigate that have been recorded by national study on behaviour of
adolescents, the total number of respondents for media survey was 1896 with male 1242 and
female 654. The range at first intercourse was from 16 and above. The percent sexually active
were about 27.2%. Next, this happened because some adolescents lack of knowledge about
the effect on intercourse. From that, sexuality education had been introduced to youths even
there is no legal compulsion for education system to include sexuality education, some
commendable efforts are being or have initiated in other aspects of education for adolescent
health. Hence, lack of data on planning work best in different settings that can cater to young
people’s needs for information, life skill and services. So we hope that in future research that
we will investigate will give a great result. The new information for premarital sex also may
useful for our study.

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2.0 METHODOLOGY

There were 120 respondents, which were students, both female and males, randomly
selected to be the sample for this survey. The respondents that we targeted for this survey
were students from different university, including UiTM Pulau Pinang’s students in Malaysia.
The range of student’s aged were between 18 to 23 years and above.

A questionnaire was chosen to be the research instrument for collecting the information
from the respondents. This method was more productive rather than interviewing them
face-to-face because the title for this survey is very sensitive for them, so they were able to
answer to the questionnaire without any disturbance.

The questionnaire was distributed online and in printed form because this was an
effective way to gather information. There were two sections in the questionnaire regarding
the requirements for achieving the objectives of this study.

Section A was about the background of the respondents. The questions were being asked
about the respondent’s age, marital status, races, gender, religion, and others. In Section B,
there were two parts which are part A and part B. For Part A, there were questions about the
attitude and behaviour of students toward a premarital sexual relationship. For examples were
peer pressure, drugs, knowledge relating to sex, watching porn, desire for sexual intercourse,
attribute to various social contexts, familial factors and others. For part B, there was a set of
questions which is to find out their sexual practices. For example is whether they are in
relationship, experience sexual intercourse, watch porn, masturbation and others and we also
had asked them about their opinion on how to overcome this problem among students..

The questionnaires was distributed to the respondents through communication media,

which is through Google Form. The questionnaires was given to those who are University
students only. The questionnaires was distributed through Google Form because they can
answer the questionnaire without any disturbance. The respondents were given unlimited
time to answer the questions.

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 The descriptive analysis was used in this study to analyse the data. The analysed data
was converted from frequency count into percentages and presented in charts and table by
using Microsoft excel.

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3.0 FINDINGS

3.1 Background of the Respondents

A questionnaire consisting of twenty-six questions were distributed to 120 respondents of

university students from different places using Google form through an application known as
WhatsApp. The demographic details were on ages, gender, races, religion, living area and
their profession. The profession was a focus on university students referring to the topic of
the study. Out of 120 respondents, 67.5% were females, and 32.5% were males. Majority of
the respondents’ age ranged from 22 to 25 years old, and the rest the age ranged from 18 to
21 years old. For races, most of the respondents were Malay, and their religion was Islam, but
not all Muslim respondent was Malay. Beside that, for respondents living area in the urban
area around 76.67% and for living in a rural area was 23.33%.

3.2 Attitude and Behaviour of Students toward Premarital Sexual Relationship

Figure 3.1 represents the student’s attitudes toward a premarital sexual relationship. 116
out of 120 students were believed that premarital sex increases the prevalence of sexually
transmitted diseases, which indicated the highest percentage in the list with 96.7%. This
results support another study of premarital sexual intercourse among adolescents in Malaysia
(Lee L K et al., 2006), which found that with their limited knowledge about their bodies and
their sexuality, adolescents find themselves vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases and
infections, including HIV/AIDS, unplanned early childbearing and unsafe abortions.

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 Figure 3.1 : The student’s attitudes toward Premarital Sexual Relationship

The majority of students agreed on the premarital sex should not be practised, and
pregnancy was a reason for negative attitudes toward premarital sex with 87.5% and 83.3%
respectively. The percentage of students who had disagreed on premarital sex was acceptable
in a long-term relationship was 76.7%. The students’ attitudes toward sex are considered
conservative as the majority of them opposed premarital sex. This was probably because the
majority of the respondents were Muslim and perception of premarital sexual attitudes and
behaviours in eastern, specifically in Islamic societies, is less delineate (Wong, 2012).

8
 Figure 3.2 below shows the behaviour toward premarital sexual relationship among
university students in Malaysia.

Figure 3.2 : The student’s behaviors toward Premarital Sexual Relationship

The majority of students had not tried hugging and kissing, and masturbation with 67%
and 56.7% respectively. Surprisingly, almost half of the students were watching pornography
which indicated of 49.2%. 118 out of 120 students were never tried had sex with commercial
sex workers which showed the highest of the percentage of 98.3%.

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3.3 Prevalence of Premarital Sexual Intercourse among University Students

Figure 3.3 exhibits the prevalence of premarital sexual intercourse among university
students in Malaysia. The results show that the majority of the students were not involved in
sexual intercourse and did not have any sexual experience with a percentage of 84.17% and
72.5% respectively. However, most of the students were beware about the premarital sexual
activity happened in their surrounding area, which showed of 73.33%. There were 57.5% of
the students had a friend that sexually active involved in premarital sex. Therefore, the results
show that the prevalence of premarital sexual intercourse among university students in
Malaysia was low compared to other Asian countries.

Figure 3.3 : Prevalence of premarital sexual intercourse among university students

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3.4 Sexual Knowledge relating to Premarital Sex

Figure 3.3 below shows the listing of sources to sexual knowledge. There were nine
sources studied ranging from parents to the internet.

Figure 3.4 : Sources to Sexual Knowledge

As can be seen from Figure 3.3 above, social media and magazines recorded the highest
percentage with 83.3% while siblings were the lowest with 3.3%. Only 12.5% and 25%
acquire sexual information from parents and teachers. This indicated that social media and
magazine were the primary sources to sexual knowledge and siblings were of no significant
concern. These results are in agreement with Hatta Sidi, Sit Fong Loh, Raynuha Mahadevan,
Sharifat Ezat Wan Puteh, Ramli Musa, Chia Yee Wong, Ammar Amsyar Abdu Hadi, Sita
Hajara Sa'aid, Zulfahmi Amali, Murnira Abidin, Srijit Das, Mohamed Hatta Saharom and
Hazli Zakaria’s (2013) findings which showed the top source of sexual knowledge in 2009
was magazine. The information obtained from social media and magazines needs to be
supported with that obtained from parents and teachers as there is misleading information that
will encourage the unhealthy sexual relationship. Students would be able to attain sexual

11
knowledge comfortably by the integration of online and face to face environment and can
discuss sexual issues openly with parents and teacher’s guidance.

3.5 Prevention of the Premarital Sex

The majority of students believed that the best solution to prevent the premarital sex was
the implementation the comprehensive sexual education to educate young people, especially
teenagers about sexual reproductive health. Studies have shown that education regarding
sexual and reproductive health does not increase sexual activity. Instead, it may help to delay
the first sexual intercourse, thus reducing the frequency of sexual activity, abortion and
unwanted pregnancy (Rahman, A. A et al., 2011).

Sex education should begin at home and as early as possible in a student’s life. The
parents must have a close relationship with the student to make them feel comfortable to talk
about their anxiety and concerns. From the healthy discussion between the parents and their
children, the topic of premarital sex can be brought up quickly. The parents may give them a
piece of advice on dealing with the relationship between couples. Learning the truth about
sex was much better than learning false info from peers.

The students should strictly refrain themselves from reading, listening or viewing to
those unsavoury media culture such as pornography and movies with a sex scene. Instead,
they should choose something pure and healthy. For instance, they can be involved in various
healthy activities and sports which can build up their self-esteem.

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4.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 Conclusions

Based on the findings and discussions, it can be concluded that the majority of students
do not involve in this activity. However, this issue still needs to be taken seriously because
there are still some of the university students are involved. These show that some of the
respondents are not given exposure to the wrong side when they engaged in this activity,
especially respondent who is living in the urban area. Until they take this activity as a
common thing happens in our lifestyle.

Next, almost all respondent agree that pornographic materials can contribute to risky
sexual practices. Still, from the survey, it shows that nearly more than half the students was
watching pornography before. Therefore, the university has to organize different programs
that targeted at bringing behavioural change to minimize the widespread prevalence of
premarital sexual practice as well as its common consequences.

Finally, sexual knowledge was necessary for people who in the process of growing
especially young people to become an adult. In this modern era, many people use the internet
and social media as their references to get the information. So, the information they get
should be genuine and accurate, especially about sexual knowledge. Without proper
information, can put themselves at risk of engaging in unsafe sexual practices. That’s why
premarital sex should be prevented from increasing by taking some ways to protect our
generation that will govern our country in the future.

4.2 Recommendations

Based on the conclusion, it recommended developing an awareness of sex before

marriage as a saint to avoid any form of romantic relation to discourage premarital sex among
university students. Besides that, increase capacity in students sexual and reproductive health
programme and service delivery is warranted. These aimed to decrease the adverse outcomes
of students sexual behaviour.

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 REFERENCES

Azizan, H. (2010, September 19). “Not Too Hot To Handle”. The Star Online. Retrieved
from https://www.thestar.com.my/

Fekadu, Z. (2001). Casual sex-debuts among female adolescents in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, 15(2), 109-116.

Folasayo, A. T., Oluwasegun, A. J., Samsudin, S., Saudi, S. N., Osman, M., & Hamat, R. A.
(2017). Assessing the Knowledge Level, Attitudes, Risky Behaviors and Preventive Practices
on Sexually Transmitted Diseases among University Students as Future Healthcare Providers
in the Central Zone of Malaysia: A Cross-Sectional Study. International journal of
environmental research and public health, 14(2), 159. doi:10.3390/ijerph14020159

Ghani, S. A., Abdullah, S., Akil, S. M. S., & Nordin, N. (2014). Muslim adolescents moral
value and coping strategy among Muslim female adolescent involved in premarital sex.
Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 114, 427-433.

Jaafar, J., Wibowo, I., & Afiatin, T. (2006). The relationship between religiosity, youth
culture, and premarital sex among Malaysian and Indonesian Adolescents. Asia Pacific
Journal of Social Work and Development, 16(2), 5-18.

Lee, L. K., Chen, P. C. Y., Lee, K. K., & Kaur, J. (2006). Premarital sexual intercourse
among adolescents in Malaysia: a cross-sectional Malaysian school survey. Singapore
medical journal, 47(6), 476.

LoConte JS, O'Leary A and Labouve E. (1997). Psychosocial correlates of HIV-related

sexual behavior in an inner city STD clinic. Psychology & Health, 12:589-601.

Muhammad, N. A., Shamsuddin, K., Amin, R. M., Omar, K., & Thurasamy, R. (2017).
Questionnaire development and validity to measure sexual intention among youth in
Malaysia. BMC public health, 17(1), 157.

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Rahman, A. A., Rahman, R. A., Ibrahim, M. I., Salleh, H., Ismail, S. B., Ali, S. H., ... &
Ahmad, A. (2011). Knowledge of sexual and reproductive health among adolescents
attending school in Kelantan, Malaysia. Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine &
Public Health, 42(3), 717-725.

Rahman, A. A., Rahman, R. A., Ismail, S. B., Ibrahim, M. I., Ali, S. H., Salleh, H., & Wan
Muda, W. A. M. (2015). Factors associated with attitude toward premarital sexual activities
among school-going adolescents in Kelantan, Malaysia. Asia Pacific Journal of Public
Health, 27(2), NP1549-NP1556.

Sidi, H., Loh, S. F., Mahadevan, R., Puteh, S. E. W., Musa, R., Wong, C. Y., ... & Das, S.
(2013). Knowledge and attitude on sex among medical students of a Malaysian university: A
comparison study. Asia‐Pacific Psychiatry, 5, 103-109.

Wong, L. P. (2012). An exploration of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of young

multiethnic Muslim-majority society in Malaysia in relation to reproductive and premarital
sexual practices. BMC public health, 12(1), 865.

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APPENDIX 1 : SAMPLE OF QUESTIONNAIRE

We are students EC221 would like to conduct a survey to fulfil our task for our study for
subject EWC661. The purpose of this survey is to investigate the attitude and behaviour
toward premarital sexual relationship among university student in Malaysia. Please answer
the question honestly and be assured that your answer will be anonymous and will never be
linked to you personally. Thank you for your cooperation.

Section A : Background of the Respondents

1. How old are you?

18-21 years old
22-25 years old
26 years old and above

2. What is your gender?

Male
Female

3. What is your race?

Malay
Chinese
Indian
Other : _______________________

4. What is your religion?

Islam
Buddha
Hindu
Christian
Other : _______________________

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5. What is your living area?
Urban
Rural

6. What is your professions?

University students
Workers

Section B :
Part A : Attitudes and Behaviour towards Premarital Sexual Relationships.

i. Students’ Behavior and sexual practices on premarital sex. Yes No

1. Do you know premarital sexual activity happen in your
surrounding area?
2. Do you have any sexual experience?
3. Do you think about sex recently?
4. Have you tried hugging and kissing?
5. Have you masturbated before?
6. Do you have sexual intercourse before?
7. Do you watch pornography before?
8. Do you have sex with commercial sex workers?
9. Do you have friends that sexually active involved in premarital
sex?

ii. Students’ attitude on premarital sex Agree Disagree

1. Premarital sex should not be practised
2. I believe that premarital sex increases the prevalence of sexually
transmitted disease
3. Premarital sex is okay if it is with only one person
4. University students who have premarital sex are unlikely to
complete their degree
5. Premarital sex is acceptable in a long-term relationship

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 6. Premarital sex has nothing to do with morals
7. Pregnancy is a reason for negative attitudes toward premarital
sex
8. Premarital sex is a way for partners to show affection towards
one another
9. I think watching or reading pornographic materials can
contribute to risky sexual practices.
10. I believe students who have never been involved in sexual
intercourse before marriage is old-fashioned.

Part B : Sexual knowledge relating to Premarital Sex and your opinion.

1. How do you get the information on sexual knowledge? (Select all that apply)
Parents
Siblings
Friends
Teachers
Lovers
Social Media (Tinder, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and etc.)
Television
Internet
Magazines

2. Do you think the premarital sex should be prevented, Give your suggestion to prevent.
_____________________________________________________________________

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