Focus Group Discussions with Young People on Premarital Sex and its Consequences

Six focus group discussions were conducted among 59 young people to explore the possible factors of premarital sex, ex-nuptial pregnancy, and infant abandonment. Thematic analysis revealed three factors associated with the social crises; i)‘adjustment with the transition in life’- young people described living in a dilemma between the strong urge for more freedom in sexuality and adherence to religious teaching; ii)' conflict in relationships with parents and peers - receptive versus harsh and punitive parenting style and romantic peers relationship versus self-isolation, and iii)' lacking internal defences' - poor religiosity and lack of psychological skills including self-efficacy and self-control. Keywords: ex-nuptial pregnancy, infant abandonment, premarital sex, young people eISSN 2514-7528 © 2021 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA CE-Bs by E-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians / Africans / Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/jabs.v6i19.390