Reproductive Health Knowledge among Adolescents in Indonesia: The Role of Family Structure

Abstract

Background: Adolescents often lack basic reproductive health information. Improper information on reproductive health may lead to various types of health and social problems. The study was conducted to assess reproductive health knowledge among adolescents belonging to complete and incomplete family, and to calculate the knowledge index of Adolescent Reproductive Health (ARH). Methods: A population-based study of 41,582 never married adolescents aged 10–24 years in Indonesia based on the 2019 Indonesia Population, Family Planning and Family Development Program Performance and Accountability Survey. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with ARH knowledge. Results: The majority of adolescents had low to moderate level of knowledge of reproductive health. The overall mean score of reproductive health knowledge among adolescent belonging to complete family and incomplete family were 47.6 and 52.4 respectively. This study found that youngest age (OR: 25.73, 95%CI: 21.28–31.10) low level of education (OR: 9.88, 95%CI: 7.81–12.49) are related to low level of ARH knowledge among adolescent from complete family. Moreover, no ARH information, no exposure to family planning information, no experience and awareness of eight family functions and middle level of parents’ education were associated with low level of ARH knowledge among adolescents from complete family. Conclusion: Based on these results, we recommended that it is important to heighten concerns targeting adolescents from both family structures. The dissemination of reproductive health information through media, parents, peer groups is needed to help adolescents gain insights on decision making toward positive reproductive health and protect them from reproductive health risks.