Muslim Adolescent Moral Values and Coping Strategies among Muslim Female Adolescents Involved in Premarital Sex

Islam is an official religion in Malaysia, and premarital sex is absolutely forbidden in Islam. Despite being an Islamic country the number of adolescents involved in premarital sex has increased each year. This study intends to find the relationship between Islamic moral values and the coping strategies among female adolescents involved in premarital sex. The study explores the demographic and the psychological profile of the participants of the study. The subject of this study consists of 238 occupants from four government shelter and rehabilitation homes. Moral Values Inventory for Muslim Adolescences (MVIMA) and Coping Strategy Inventory (adapted and translated into Malay Version from Spanish Version of Coping Strategies) were used in this study. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics. For inferential data, the Pearson Correlation was used. Findings of the research show that there is a significant relationship between coping strategies and moral values among adolescences involved in pre-marital sex. The result of this study gives the implication that the female adolescent and their parents should be equipped with sex education as an early measure to prevent premarital sex and the diseases related to it. The implication of this study reflects the need of prevention and also rehabilitation programs to high risk group teenagers. Teenagers need to develop positive values toward self-respect and self-esteem as well as coping strategy through assertive training. This study addresses the limitations of data collection from rehabilitation centres under the provision of Social Welfare Department. Thus future study should include shelter home for teenage pregnant girls run by the non-government organizations. Future studies should also include qualitative approaches for more in-depth understanding of premarital sex among teenage girls in developing positive coping strategies in the process of recovering