Attitudes of Youth towards
Love, Sex and Life
A study by FES
by Olivia Goh

In the changing, fast-paced, global landscape that Singaporean youths are growing up in, what are young people today saying about love, sex and life?

Introduction

"Sexuality matters have become increasingly complicated in a rapidly changing world with evolving mores. We recognise this. Why adolescents indulge in sexual behaviour that result in teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases is a complex issue. Lack of family support, low self-esteem and lack of understanding about the responsibilities in relationships are among the contributing factors. Many forces, including the influence of the family and media, contribute to shaping the attitudes of teenagers towards sexuality, rightly or wrongly. To tackle these issues, I cannot stress enough the necessity of parents, the community and the media also playing their part to inculcate sound values in our children." ¹

Senior Parliamentary Secretary of Singapore's Ministry of Education, speaking at the Committee of Supply Debate, 2006

Sexual attitudes appear to be rapidly changing; while educators are worried about the increase in pre-marital sexual experiences among young people, they also realise that sexuality education can no longer restrict itself to a simple line of reasoning: "abstain to avoid pregnancy and sexual disease".

Background:

In August this year, a team of young professionals and university student volunteers launched a questionnaire to survey the attitudes of Singaporean university students with the aim of presenting the findings at the conference on Education in Love, Sex and Life in Manila (20-22 Nov 07). The questions were designed to find out what university students think about love, sex and life, and the factors that determine these attitudes.

We adapted our questionnaire from the original developed by the University of Navarre's Medical School. As busy people with our own full-time professional jobs or studies, we were convinced that it would be impossible to get students to sit and do the questionnaire. Why? Because many of the questions had value graded responses, rather than the usual "Yes or No" type answers. If you refer to the questionnaire online, you would agree that the questions demanded a high level of self knowledge and sincerity. Yet, to our amusement and gratitude, we found most of our respondents taking the time to mull over the questions, often requesting for more time to deliberate over the answers, as though they were sitting an exam! (The survey was conducted in canteens and campus corridors).

The limitations of the study

The study's limitations include:

1.	A non-random, convenient sampling method was used;
2.	A simple univariate regression (using single predictors) was used as the statistical tool;
3.	The total sample size (302) is too small to derive significance in a university population (around 425,000 students as at 2005);
4.	And the fact that we only surveyed university students

We would like to stress that further study/research needs to be done in order to obtain a truly representative profile of Singaporean youths.

Nevertheless, despite using mere descriptive statistics and simple co-relations, our survey still threw out findings that were surprisingly similar to other large scale surveys done in Singapore.



What did we ask the young people?

We asked about their values and attitudes towards love, life and sex, and if they had been in a sexual relationship. We also asked about their frequency and nature of interaction with their parents and friends. This was to allow us test the correlation between the hypothetical determining variables and corresponding attitudes or behaviour. Questions on internet usage, frequency and content of interaction with parents, and with friends, source of information on love and relationships were treated as dependent variables, which we later crossed tabulated against independent variables from questions that asked about their attitudes towards marriage, sex and relationships.


General Findings:
Of the 302 respondents, 56% were female and 44% male. (Note: female students were over-represented; in actual fact, they represent only 46% of total university population.)

Relationship with Parents:
More than 60% of respondents surveyed never or rarely talk to their parents about sex related issues (physical changes, AIDS, pregnancy, contraceptives, and how to manage the sexual drive.) However, most respondents went to their parents for advice on character and life goals. This is similar to findings in the National Youth Survey (2002) where 75% of youths surveyed indicated that the first person they sought for advice in important decisions are their mothers, followed by their friends (65%)².

Positive Attitudes towards Love and Marriage:
Most of the respondents agree or strongly agree that true love is possible (89.7%) although it is difficult to find (48.3%) and it entails sacrifices from each other (89.7%). Marriage is for life (82.1%) and it offers stability to the couple and their children (75.5%). 70.2% disagree or strongly disagree that it is fine to have sexual relationship for fun. The majority of the respondents also felt they were ready to begin a steady relationship

Pornography and Masturbation:
Attitudes towards pornography and masturbation were less certain. A slim majority (56.5% female; 41.7% male) agreed that watching pornographic images should be something that should be avoided. Yet, up to 65% of respondents reacted strongly against using women or men's bodies as objects of desire in advertisements. Our survey found that attitudes towards masturbation were the most ambivalent among male students. (See below)

The Gender Divide:
There was a marked distinction in the responses of male and female students towards sex. Most female respondents (60%) still hold the view that having sex is not okay even if the couple is committed to each other. This is compared to only 41.7% of male respondents. Other differences:

·	75.9% females felt that it is unacceptable for people their age to have sexual relationships for fun, compared to 61.4% of males.
·	While 41.7% males feel that having sex with their partners in a steady relationship is fine as long as they are committed to each other, only 21.2% of females indicated likewise.
·	56.5% of females felt that viewing pornographic images should be avoided, compared to 41.7% of males.
·	35.3% of the female respondents thought that masturbation should be avoided as compared to 28% males.

Sexual experiences

The group surveyed here are Singapore's top students. Most of them have an average grade of B to B+ and come from comfortable economic backgrounds. Educators would be naïve to believe that sexual issues are found only among juvenile delinquents with problems managing their "raging hormones", as common usage puts it.

45 of the 302 respondents surveyed revealed that they have had sexual experiences (19 are female and 26 are males). In this area, both females and males cited the same top three reasons for having had sex:

1.	They were in love (88.9%)
2.	They felt like it (64.4%)
3.	They wanted to know what it was like (51%)

The common impression is that sex takes place under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and done totally against one's volition doesn't appear to be the case for university students. Here, we are seeing well educated young people who decidedly went into sexual relationships because it was "love sanctioned". Educators may indeed wish to design their programme around the theme of "What constitutes true love?" Also, they should also note the protective factors - the top reasons cited by these top students for not having sexual relationships are:

Other protective factors: Correlations between influence variables and attitudes/behaviour variables

·	The survey found that a higher proportion of respondents who indicated they spoke to their parents about relationship issues, also found it less acceptable to have sexual relationships for fun (r=0.173), even if it took place in a committed relationship (r=0.199). These respondents were also more inclined to think that marriage offers stability to a couple and their children (r=0.204).
·	Religion and Views on sexuality: Respondents who indicated a higher frequency of attendance at religious service are likely to say it is not acceptable to have premarital sex in a committed relationship (r= 0.305), that masturbation should be avoided (r= 0.264), and viewing pornographic images should be avoided (r= 0.244).

Conclusion

This survey reinforced other findings that most Singaporean students still cherish positive attitudes towards love, relationships and sex. Despite the limitations of the statistical tool used, as well as the small sample size, the survey has distinguished the factors that shape positive attitudes towards marriage and life - obviously, one's interaction with parents and one's religious beliefs still play a big role. While Asian parents still do not talk enough to their children about sex and sexuality, the fact that their children prefer to turn to them for advice on how to strengthen their character and life goals should give sufficient motive for parents to realise the deep responsibility they play in shaping their children's future.

Having the right attitudes towards sex should be an area that parents try to incorporate as part of the formation they give their children to enable them to make better choices in life. Perhaps what educators ought to study further, are whether the reasons given by young people who have had sex are necessarily reasonable and independent of the person's happiness, or is symptomatic of a gap in the young person's concept of love, which can in turn, impact on his or her future happiness.

References 1 Extract. For full speech, see http://www.moe.gov.sg/speeches/2006/sp20060308b.htm 2 NYC 2002 Youth Survey, see http://www.nyc.gov.sg/YRN/atoz.asp#Family%20and%20Social%20Support

Olivia is a graduate of the NUS European Studies faculty and is a youth volunteer at the Family Enrichment Society.