Efforts to prevent young people from slipping into the wrong social environment, healthy reproduction education must get more attention from the government and society. It has become important as a result of developments in world of information technology and people’s lifestyles. From the internal side of adolescents, there is a fairly high increase in libido to the opposite sex. On the external side, metropolitan cities or in big cities have greater temptations and there are worse social influences, such as offering teens opportunity to do things unnoticed by the public, including their parents.
A survey conducted by BKKBN in several major cities in Indonesia found that about half of teenage women were no longer virgins as a result of having premarital sexual relations, including Surabaya (54%), Medan (52%), Bandung (47%), and Yogyakarta (37%), even some who get pregnant out of wedlock. One of the reasons is the mistake in choosing peers and the development of information technology that allows teens to download pornographic films.
They could slip and fall even deeper by doing things that are inappropriate. A mass media reported that some teenagers held a sex party, which was held by middle and high school students. Several other friends watched and recorded teenage couples who were having sex without shame, and finally shared it widely through mobile devices.
Based on this background, researchers from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Airlangga succeeded in publishing the results of their research in one of the international journals, Opcion , with a focus on mapping research on adolescent reproductive health behaviors in urban areas. The research is expected to formulate an effective and contextual model of development or assistance as an effort to prevent young people from going wrong in a climate of socio-cultural change. The study was conducted qualitatively by conducting interviews with several teenagers from various communities.
An important conclusion that can be drawn based on the results of this study is that many teenagers who claim getting information about sex from an early age, which is more widely obtained from electronic mass media, such as television, radio, or the internet than healthy reproduction education obtained from parents. It happens because education related to reproduction is still a taboo subject to be discussed, so it does not bring up the nature of openness between parents and children.
Some of the pornographic media obtained by teenagers in the form of pictures, comics, novels, as well as films, come from peers or friends, including school friends. Some teens claim to buy pirated DVDs more often as a medium for accessing and watching pornographic films, including easily accessible internet. Some of them even admitted that they were often addicted to downloading pornographic films, especially when they are bored with school lessons.
Teenagers in urban areas consider watching pornographic images or videos is a natural thing and an indication if they want to be considered “up to date”. It is not easy to prevent metropolitan adolescents getting bad environmental and social influences, especially in the era of information revolution and various negative temptations approaching from various directions. Some adolescents claim to kiss the cheek, kiss the lips, including embracing and holding hands, to have sexual relations with their partners to fulfill their sexual desires.
Instilling values, norms, and behavioral attitudes towards children by parents and students by the school is an important thing to do. Religious teachings, both at home and at school become one of the mediums that can deter adolescents from being exposed to pornography. In general, the metropolitan adolescents in this study showed normalcy or not worrying conditions. They are able to divert their leisure time into positive activities, such as attending courses, exercising, or even following extracurricular activities. Referring to the characteristics of metropolitan youth, programs and models of coaching or mentoring need to be developed, especially in preventing youth from engaging and sinking into deviant behavior.
Conclusions from this study, in general, adolescents in the city of Surabaya are not easily invited to do deviant things. One of the most important efforts in preventing adolescents from deviant behavior is by accommodating their potential and diverting or channeling more youthful energy into various positive activities.
Author: Karnaji
Details of this research can be seen in our article on Opcion, the link:
http://produccioncientificaluz.org/index.php/opcion/article/view/31854
