Page 13 - Technical Report: ADOLESCENT SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN MALAYSIA: A SCOPING REVIEW

An estimated 55 unpublished doctoral degrees and master theses related to SRH
issues were identified at various Malaysian public universities. There were 17 doctorate
theses and 38 master's theses among the 55. The search was carried out using Malaysian
theses online database (http://myto.upm.edu.my/find/). Teenage pregnancy (16) was the
most common topic of research, followed by premarital sex (12), rape/sexual
harassment/abuse (8), intervention/health education (11), HIV/AIDS & STI (4),
pornography (2), and cybersex (1). (2). UPM (9) and USM (9) had the most SRH-related
studies, followed by UM (8), UTM (8), UKM (7), UUM (5), IIUM (5), UNIMAS (3), and UITM (1).
Appendix 6 contains a list of unpublished theses.

Meanwhile, according to the Department of Social Welfare of Malaysia's (JKM) research
repository/records, approximately 19 (12 %) out of 170 studies conducted between 2012
and 2018 were related to adolescents' SRH issues such as teenage pregnancy, nutritional
intake among pregnant teenagers, sexual abuse victims, parenting, and sexual
delinquency among juvenile rehabilitation centres and welfare centres. Appendix 7
contains a list of studies.

A summary of the review is provided in Table 1 – prevalence of premarital sex among
adolescents in Malaysia, which is based on 12 population surveys, Appendix 4 – summary
of journal articles (n=60), Appendix 5 – summary of report by NGO’s and international
agencies, Appendix 6 – lists of unpublished theses (n=55), Appendix 7 – lists of
unpublished studies conducted in juvenile rehabilitative centre and Appendix 8 – list of
SRH training modules, guidelines and health education materials.

The review's findings were discussed in relation to the four research questions outlined
earlier in this report. The review was divided into four main findings: (a) trends and
outcomes regarding adolescent sexual behaviour engagement; (b) factors associated with
adolescent sexual behaviour; (c) level of knowledge, and attitude towards sexual and
reproductive health; and (d) intervention strategies related to sexual and reproductive
health.

5.1 Sexual and reproductive health

The involvement of adolescents in premarital sex and its negative repercussions (n=34)
is one of the key findings presented in the studies. For eample, "Sexual activity"
(Awaluddin et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2005; Tan et al., 2012), "sexual intercourse" (Lee et al.,
2007; Ahmadian et al., 2014), "ever had sexual intercourse" (Yusoff et al., 2014; Lee et al.,
2005), "sexual experience" (Anwar et al., 2010), "sexual experience".

5.1.1 Sexual debut

The age of first sexual experience was described in two studies (Lee et al., 2007; Anwar
et al., 2010), in which sexual debut was reported as early as 15 years old. However,
according to one national survey conducted by LPPKN (2014), 30.4 % acknowledged
having sex while they were 15 years old or younger, and 69.6 % admitted after the age
of 15.

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