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A Review of Literature and Projects 2005 Table 4: Percentage of adolescents currently dating, by behaviour practised with dating partner and selected variables All Sex Male Female Age 13-15 years 16-17 years 18-19 years Residence Urban Rural Holding hands Kissing 71.8 78.3 65.8 51.6 68.8 84.1 76.0 67.2 21.8 26.1 47.6 9.7 12.5 34.9 26.7 16.4 Petting 11.3 18.8 4.1 6.4 8.3 15.9 14.7 7.5 Total number of adolescents 142 Source: National Study on Reproductive <strong>Health</strong> and Sexuality of Adolescents, 1994/95. NPFDB, 1998 69 73 48 63 75 67 Figure 9: Percentage of respondents engaging in sexual behaviour during dating, by gender Distribution of Behaviour Performed During Dating by Sex Source: Zulkifli SN, Low WY, Yusof K. Sexual activities of Malaysian adolescents. Medical journal of Malaysia, 1995, Vol 50 No 1 March 1995:4-10. 29
Sexual and Reproductive <strong>Health</strong> of Adolescents and Youths in Malaysia The FFPAM Youth Sexuality Survey covered 1303 respondents aged 15-24 years of age from four states. Students (in-school adolescents) began dating at age 15, and the highest frequency was at age18, for both girls and boys. For out-of-school young people, the first age for dating was between 18 to 20 years. The majority of in-school females (62.4%) had dated one to three males. A third had only dated one person. A maximum record of 10 partners was reported by 4.7% of the respondents. Some reported having 4-10 partners. Of the out-of-school young people, 40.4% of the females and 23.7% of the males had dated only one partner. The majority of those who had dated claimed “liking a person and wanting to know him/her better.” It was reported that “couples tended to be circumspect on their dates,” with the major physical contact being “holding hands”. Few had engaged in sexual intercourse. The findings regarding dating behaviour cannot be assumed to be very accurate, considering the sensitivity of the questions. Dating is an anathema to the old tradition of arranged marriages, which used to be common among all ethnic groups in Malaysia. The sensitivity becomes more apparent when the differentials between boys and girls are noted. Boys tend to claim they have been involved in such dating behaviour as necking and petting, while girls tend to deny such behaviour. The differences reported are not likely to be the pattern in reality, since they involve reciprocal behaviour involving both sexes. The urban-rural difference and the age-specific pattern are as expected, with more urban and older youngsters involved in each type of dating behaviour. The challenge to policymakers is obvious; if such types of behaviour are to be sanctioned based on cultural/religious grounds, and yet there is evidence that young people are engaged in them, what is the most appropriate response To disallow such behaviour would require the very arduous task of putting in place sanctions to be enforced and monitored, let alone assessing their consequences. However, freely allowing such behaviour and taking a liberal approach is also not appropriate or acceptable. (2) Age at sexual initiation (sexual debut) and sexual activity Data on age at first intercourse and incidence of sexual activity among adolescents are summarized in Table 5. The age at first intercourse (sexual debut) ranged from 9 to 24 years, with the highest frequency at 17-18 years. The percentage of young people who were sexually active ranged from 1% of adolescents aged 13 to 19 years 30
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