Factors Contributing to Premarital Sexual Behaviours Essay Example

Factors Contributing to Premarital Sexual Behaviours Essay Example Factors Contributing to Premarital Sexual Behaviours Essay Factors Contributing to Premarital Sexual Behaviours Essay I am grateful for helping me make the study comprehensive by giving in-depth personal information. My English Tutor I would like to thank her for the helpful advices and her help on distributing the questionnaires. My Mother I would like to thank her for helping me with the printing and layout of the study.  Ã‚   Transcript It came to my awareness that there is an increasing trend of sexual intercourse experience among teenagers in recent years. And the problem of teenage pregnancy has become a growing cause of concern of Hong Kong people. According to a survey done by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service in 2007, over half of the respondents have sex for the first time at the age of 14, and 83% of the respondents accept sexual intercourse. These data reflects that teenagers sex concepts are getting open and premarital sex is gaining popular acceptance. Under information explosion, I dread more and more teenagers will be exposed to pornographic or other harmful materials, driving them to have premarital sex, ultimately results in teenage pregnancy and bring intergenerational suffering. Worse still, sex today is still a taboo issue. People tend to avoid talking about it because it seems negative and they think it is embarrassing to share the experience, fearing that others may look down upon them. I therefore want to find out why teenagers accept or engage in premarital sexual behaviors by giving out questionnaires where respondents are anonymous and their privacy thoughts can be protected. Then by the end of the project, based on the reasons why some teenagers accept or engage in premarital sex and why some do not, I could give suggestions to different on ways to promote sexual abstinence. : The objectives of the study are as follows: ?To find out why teenagers accept or engage in premarital sexual behaviors ?To understand why some teenagers refrain from premarital sexual behaviors ?To make use of reasons for teenagers to refrain from premarital sexual behaviors to suggest ways to promote sexual abstinence ?To see what ways can be adopted by different stakeholders to promote sexual abstinence ?To see in what ways the sex education curriculum can be improved To raise teenagers awareness on the issue 3. 1. Questionnaire The target respondents are teenagers aged 12-19. 00 responses were collected by simple random sampling. The questionnaire consists of four parts. The first part seeks to understand respondents background and to know whether or not they accept or engage in premarital sexual behaviors. The second part asks the respondents why do not they accept and engage in premarital sexual behaviors. The third part asks others why they accept or engage in the behaviors. The final part asks how sexual abstinence can be effectively promoted to them. Limitations and Respective Solutions I put my questionnaire online to enable easy access. Yet some reflected to me that they could not understand the English. I then translated my questionnaire into Chinese so more could understand what I am trying to ask. I created an event on Backbone to invite my friends fill out my questionnaire. I get many responses, yet most respondents are within my social circle. This makes the study not credible as it cannot reflect what different teenagers in society think. To make my study more representative, I left 40 copies at my English tutors home, and each of her student did it. Lastly, the length of the questionnaire may make respondents feel tedious. Also, the data collected may not be detailed or in-depth enough. Thus, the questionnaire encompasses mainly multiple choice questions. And interviews were carried out to obtain detailed responses. Also, sex is a taboo issue. Some may not be willing to disclose what they think. So, the data collected is anonymous. 3. 2. Interviews The data collection process includes three interviews. Detailed and in-depth first- hand information was obtained. Interviewee 1 is a 15-year-old Christian girl who refrains from premarital sexual behaviors. She was interviewed so that I could understand how religious values can be used to promote sexual abstinence. Interviewee 2 is a 17-year-old boy who is from a broken family, dropped out since he as 13, and engages in premarital sexual behaviors since he was 14. I would like to use his perspective to understand why some marginal youth engage in premarital sexual behavior, and how we could promote sexual abstinence to them. Interviewee 3 is a teacher who has an 18-year-old son. I want to see if adults have some misconceptions on why teenagers engage in sexual behavior and on their roles in promoting sexual abstinence. These three persons have different education, economic and religious background. So, I can comprehensively understand what are the factors for teenagers engagement in premarital sexual behaviors. Limitations and Respective Solutions Teenagers may not have enough understanding about why they engage or accept premarital sex. They may overlook some reasons for their rejection or acceptance of premarital sexual behaviors. Therefore, the data collected maybe biased and subjective. Also, the questions I asked may not be comprehensive enough to look into the issue objectively and all-roundly. Lastly, the three interviewees could not represent all teenagers. To make the interviews more representative of teenagers in Hong Kong, three interviewees from different backgrounds were chosen. And the subjective information could be complemented by past studies and questionnaires. Premarital sex refers to intercourse before marriage. The Youth Sexuality Study reveals an increasing trend of sexual intercourse among Form 3 to Form 7 students. And according to a surveys whose targets population is youth-at-risk under the age of 18, over half of the respondents had their first intercourse when they were 14. These data shows a growing prevalence of premarital sex, and has alarmed the public about this pressing issue. Considerable factors were found to have contributed to the issue. First, insufficient parental sex education perceivably cause premarital sex. Amber Madison wrote in her book that many parents think teens friends influence their decisions to have sex the most, so they did n ot talk about sex with their kids. A study points out that nearly 98% of the interviewed parents indicated that they should be the primary source of sex-related information for their kids, yet only 24% of thought this was actually happening. From these, researchers concluded that parents often underestimate the importance of their role in educating adolescents about sex. Then, family background have far-reaching influence ones attitude towards sex. Ms. Lee Way Ski, the chief social worker of Youth Outreach pointed out that part of the girls who were casual in sex was from problem families. And Alai March-Eyres, the Chief Executive of Mothers Choice, pointed out many of the girls who Mothers Choice has been serving in the past 25 years are from poor, and often broken families. They thirsted for love, which they could not feel from their families. They then obtained care through hugs or kisses. Gradually they were willing to have sex with boys. Alai March-Eyres from Mothers Choice suggested that parents of some teens do not have time to provide them with the support they need. Some even have to shift from home to home between relatives and family friends. They then feel that they do not have much love in their lives, and end up in looking for love and support elsewhere. Edison Chain, who had a pornographic scandal in 2008 illustrates the idea. His parents The Youth Sexuality Study, Family Planning Association, 2006 2 The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 2008 3 Amber Madison, Talking Sex with Your Kids, 2010 4 Journal of Adolescent Health, January 2011 Post-ass Accept Sex before Friendship in order to get along with friends, Hong Kong Economic Times, 9th July, 2012 6 A much-needed lifeline for pregnant teens, South China Morning Post, 3rd December, 2012 7 Sex Photo Scandal? Complicated Family Background, Edison Chain Got Perverted concealed their broken marriage until it was unveiled when he was 14. Being deceived, and to seek love, Edison had sex for the first time. The collapse of family values can drive one to have premarital sex. Peer pressure can drive one to have premarital sex. A seniors at a high school in America addressed that peer pressure sakes it almost impossible to stop having sex. Adolescents dread being thought to be outdated. They follow their friends to have sex so as to gain recognition and fit into the crowd. The lack of interpersonal skills can lead adolescents to have premarital sex. It is revealed that some girls longed to get into boys social circles. Sacrificing their purity, they had sexual intercourse with those boys. Tam Chunk Hoi, Chief President of Youth Outreach pointed out that those teen girls did not have many friends. Having sex was the quickest and easiest way to get close to boys, yet he girls did not know the boys were taking advantage of them. Pop culture is potent to affect ones decision about sex. A researches reveals that teens that had high exposure* to sexually degrading lyrics were more likely to have sexual intercourse. The song California Girlsl Using by Kathy Perry consists of lyrics like sex on the beach, and this behavior is considered what a hot girl should be doing in the song. The meaning of another song, Inferior Animal12 (#5) sung by Season Chain depicts a guy falls in love with a girl Just because of his desire for her body. These lyrics infuse adolescents with wrong values. Yet, broadcast containing sexual content can arouse teens awareness of their sexual behavior. A researches shows that over 67% of males and 79% of females agree that watching a TV show or a character they like dealing with teenage pregnancy makes them think more about their own risk about causing a pregnancy or getting pregnant. The overall effect of the media on teenagers attitudes about sex has long been an issue of concern for parents and health care professionals as the media have both positive and negative impacts on adolescents. 8 Alexis Ware, A Teenagers Thoughts: Pregnancy, Abortion, Sex and Peer Pressure, All Before Age! , Empowered Peace, September 27, 2010 9 Post-ass Accept Sex before Friendship in order to get along with friends, Hong Kong Economic Times, 9th July, 2012 10 Brian A, Primacy et al, Exposure to Sexual Lyrics and Sexual Experience among Urban Adolescents, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, April 2009 exposure was calculated by multiplying each respondents hours of music exposure by the percentage of his/her favorite artists songs that contained sexually degrading lyrics) Lyricisms. Mom/lyrics/k/Kathy_Perry/California_girls. HTML 12 typesetting. Mom/lynch/360/Eà §BADà ¥Eà §E 13 NatEnB CamEign AY Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, Evaluating the Impact of MTVs 16 and Pregnant on Mats Viewers Attitudes About Teen Pregnancy, Science Says, October 2010 Physical immaturity can activate adolescents sexually. Miriam Grossman wrote in his book14 that young minds,book are responsible for reasoning, suppression of impulses, and weighing the pros and cons of ones decision, are not fully developed. And under stimulating or intense conditions, teens decisions are more likely to be shortsighted and driven by emotion. So apart from the circumstances they face, their underdeveloped minds also contribute to their premarital sexual activities. Quests for love and self-esteem are also forces driving teenagers to have sex. 1 5 According to the experience of Alia Marwah-Eyres, the CAlai MarchiEyres Mothers Choice, most girls on crisis pregnancy are not naughty, but are Just desperate for love. These girls do not have someone to tell them that their lives have values, and that they worth it. This results in low self-esteem, driving them to have sex. Upon completion of the literature review, it is felt that there are some knowledge aps because most sourcesAPSom the US. It is uncertain if what influences Hong Kong teens are the same. Other factors like government policy, movies and clubbing culture may also motivate our adolescents to have sex. Due to the existing unknowns about factors contributing to premarital sex, it is decided to compare the above factors with what Hong Kong teenagers think. Also, we all know that all sexual contacts carry risks.Ã'‚ Pregnancy and the infection of STDs harm both physical Studsmental health of teenagers. Unfortunately there is hardly a comprehensive programme for all stakehprogrammer promoting sexual abstinence. So, there is a need for finding ways to promote sexual abstinence. Miriam Grossman, mfoure Teaching My Chiluniform The Truth About Sex Education, Heritage Foundation, August 2010 15 December, 2012 5. 1 Personal Information Gender Male Female 53% Fig. l Gender distribution ofLthe respondents There are more female respondents than male respondents. 3% of the respondents are male, while the other 47% are female. Age 33% 25% 12-14 years old 15-17 years old 18-19 years old 42% Fig. 2 Age distribution of the respondents Most respondents are aged between 15 and 17. They account for 42%. And 33% of he respondents are aged 18 to 19, while a quarter of them are at the age of 12 to 14. Education Background Primary Education 2% Junior Secondary Education 6% Senior Secondary 26% Sub-degree or Higher Dilpoma YiJtn or IVE FigDilemmacHajji BacEVEound of the Respondents The respondents are of various education backgrounds. Nearly half of them are on or have finished their senior secondary education. About a quarter of respondents are junior secondary students. 10% of the respondents have only completed their primary education, while 10% are holds or is studying for a degree. Lastly, 2% of the respondents graduate from YiJin or IVE. Do you accHajjiremaEVEal sexual behaviours? Yes (Female)behaviorse) Yes (Male) 27% 36% No (Male) Fig. 4 Respondents acceptance for premarital sexual behaviours The percentagbehaviorsaccepting premarital sexual behaviours is higher thabehaviorsgirls by 10%. 6 respondents do not accept premarital sexual behaviours, while 44 resbehaviorsccept. There are more respondents who accept premarital sexual behaviours than who do nbehaviorsu ever had any sexual experiences? 8% 35% 45% No(Male) Respondents sexual experiences 80% of the respondents do not have any sexual experience. The proportion of boys ho have engaged in premarital sexual behaviours. The percentabehaviors having sexual experience is 50% higher than that of girls. 5. Reason for acceptance or engagement in premarital sexual behaviours What are the behaviors reasons for your acceptance for premarital sexual behaviours? Stable Relatbehaviorss okay if I use a condom. My parents set the examples. It enhances intimacy between my lover and l. Sex gives me love which I cant get from family. My friends do it. It is a culture. Its trendy! Movies portrait them! Its fun! 20 25 35 45 Fig. 6 Reasons for respondents acceptance for premarital sexual behaviours There re totabehaviorsand 17 girls, making up a total of 44 respondents accepting premarital sexual behaviours. More than 90% of them think sex can enhance the intimacy between their lover and them. More than 88% of the 44 accept the behaviours because they behaviorscan use condoms. Almost 70% of the 44 accept the behaviour because they tbehavior can obtain care and love from the sexual experience. About 34% of the 44 regard the portrayal of premarital sexual behaviours in movies andbehaviorsends engagement in the behaviours as overridingbehaviorsor the acceptance for premarital sexual behaviours. behaviors