Gender Difference in the Influence of Family Interaction and Parenting Behaviours on Youth Sexual Intention

This paper presents the differences in family interaction and parenting behaviours and their influence on sexual intention among male and female youths aged 18 to 22 years. The results presented are based on data collected from unmarried college students in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Despite being in a country where premarital sexual activity is not an accepted behaviour, 18% of the 422 male and 1.4% of the 566 female students indicated their intention to perform sexual activity. Compared to females, males had more allowance of autonomy from parents and lesser parental monitoring, paternal care, parent-youth communication on sexual issues, and family connectedness. Both genders perceived that they received similar levels of parental control. In male youths, having high maternal control (OR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.03–1.38) and family modelling behaviour (OR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.19–4.25) increased their odds of having sexual intention while having high parent-youth communication on sex (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.81–0.99) reduced their odds of having sexual intention. For female youths, having a high level of family connectedness (OR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.59–0.97) was a protective factor against sexual intention. In conclusion, sexual intention is higher among males compared to females. The influence of family interaction and parenting behaviours on youth sexual decision varied across gender. This study highlighted the possibility of using different parenting approaches in tackling premarital sexual activity among youths.