Influence of Local Culture on Individual Value Systems to Premarital

Sexual: A Systematical Review

Yosefina Marijke Watofa

, Suryanto

, and Hari Basuki Notobroto

Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Airlangga.

Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga.

Keyword: culture and tradition, indigenous study, Papua women

Abstract: This study aimed to explore previous research on individual value systems among women who were

adopted by a cultural community. Evaluation of such research articles aimed to determine whether tradition

and cultural value systems adopted by a particular community have an influence on and can shape

individual value systems and whether they will be internalized as their own personal value. This would have

an effect on sexual behavior outside of marriage. The method used in the current research was analyzing

and synthesizing prior academic journal articles on individual value systems and concepts, where work was

conducted in Merauke (2003), Papua (2010) and Uganda (2014). This included the key words premarital

and sexual. Cultural community values will eventually become individual values within the influences of

habitual culture from generation to generation. Electronic databases used in this study were Science Direct,

Google Scholar and Proquest. Therefore, a proper health promotion for sexuality education should be

provided to change women’s behavior. Major intervention should be given on an individual level, family

level and society level in order to reduce their intention to perform sexual behavior outside of marriage and

prevent loose cultural factors on sexual behavior. Moreover, by providing a comprehensive model on

intervention to shift women’s mindset on sexual behavior.

1 INTRODUCTION

Parents develop and make use of knowledge and

skills to educate their children from infancy to

teenage until they reach adulthood. Besides

providing an appropriate nurtured way for children

to be able to adapt to daily life, parents also

introduce their children to religion and cultural

values of righteousness. Thus, children will

eventually create their own personal values, which

will reflect on their behavior. This condition was

applied as well in the Mimika-Kamoro tribe.

Moral values were expected to be attached to

individual life and behavior. Generally, culture and

tradition that existed in the Mimika-Kamoro tribe

were aimed to set their community life. Part of the

culture of Mimika-Kamoro tribe was appreciating

the existence of women among their tribe, as women

play a significant role in conceiving the successors,

taking care of households and even participating in

making a living. Mimika-Kamoro tribe held the

three S's as principles, which are sagu (sago),

sampan (canoe), and sungai (river). These principles

were considered as a cultural focus, which referred

to a culture element or institution as a focal point in

culture. This cultural focus would be favored by

most of the community and as a result influenced

most of their activities and other institutions in daily

life (Koentjaraningrat cited in Goo, 201 2: 72).

These three principles have existed since Mimika-

Kamoro tribe ancestors and up to the current

generation. The first principle was sagu (sago),

which referred to the main source of foods and

usually harvested by Kamoro women. Meanwhile,

Sampan (canoe) was the second principles which is

defined as a means of transportation that was used to

cross the river to sagu (sago) village. Therefore,

river or sungai was concluded as a third principle.

These principles were regularly practiced by

Mimika-Kamoro women, which are valued by

working without harming nature and the

environment. Whilst men and children’s orientation

was different, in that they were focusing on

suburban life.

Culture that is rich and also surrounded by

nature, not to mention near Freeport Company, has

Watofa, Y., Suryanto, . and Notobroto, H.

Inﬂuence of Local Culture on Individual Value Systems to Premarital Sexual: A Systematical Review.

DOI: 10.5220/0008588603030306

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings (ICP-HESOS 2018) - Improving Mental Health and Harmony in

Global Community, pages 303-306

ISBN: 978-989-758-435-0

303

had both positive and negative impacts on local

residents including the Mimika-Kamoro tribe. One

of the negative consequences was binge drinking

and the intoxicated habits of Mimika-Kamoro youth,

which eventually affected their daily life behavior

and created a higher possibility to carry out

premarital sexual behavior (Tumuka, 2011).

In addition, the Mimika-Kamoro tribe has

currently encountered the high number of

HIV/AIDS cases, which has been an ongoing issue

for 19 years up until 2015. Discovering they are

infected by HIV was difficult to accept, as facing its

stigma and discrimination were quite challenging.

Fortunately, as policies, strategies and commitment

were enforced by governments and several parties,

Mimika District were able to independently prevent

HIV infection and took care of their own HIV/AIDS

patients.

Based on data obtained from the National AIDS

Commission of Mimika District, there were three

patterns of HIV transmission. Sexual intercourse

was the highest path of HIV transmission in Mimika

District since 2014, which accounted for 442 cases.

The second path was transmission through pregnant

mothers who passed HIV/AIDS to their children and

lastly through contaminated syringes. Results also

showed that HIV/AIDS infection was dispersed

equally in every age group, in which actively sexual

age group (15-29 years old) held the highest figures,

followed by the over 30 years old age group.

Furthermore, HIV/AIDS infection cases based on

gender show that women have a higher rate of cases

than men, with 206 cases and 201 cases respectively.

These numbers will only decrease if premarital

sexual behavior is controlled among men and

women. As mentioned before, sexual intercourse

was one HIV transmission paths, including mothers

infected with HIV who will pass it down to their

children. This statement is indeed supported by the

National AIDS Commission of Mimika (2015)

which found that since 2001, HIV cases in children

significantly increased every year specifically in

2009 by approximately 16 cases and 2015 with 15

cases.

Aside from data mentioned above, if HIV cases

are divided based on tribal groups it consisted of two

majority groups namely Papua tribe and Non-Papua

(immigrant). Data showed that 8 out of 10 patients

infected with HIV were Papua tribe locals and the

rest were Non-Papua (immigrant). The Papua tribe

itself was divided into three sub-tribes comprising

Mimika original tribe (i.e. Amungme-Kamoro tribe),

five kinship tribes (i.e. Dani, Moni, Mee/Ekari,

Damal and Nduga), and other non-classified Papua

tribes. Results predicted that 4 out of 10 patients

infected with HIV came from five kinship tribes,

followed by 2 patients originally from Mimika tribe

itself, and the rest from non-classified Papua tribes.

In summary, elevated cases of HIV/AIDS in Mimika

District, including Mimika-Kamoro tribe, were due

to individual values shifting which happened among

the Timika local community.

Data obtained by the Health Department of

Papua Province stated that as per July 2017, the

number of HIV/AIDS cases in Papua province

reached 28,771 cases, consisting of 10,134 cases of

HIV and 11,060 cases of AIDS. Among those cases,

26,525 (99.08%) of them were in reproductive age

(i.e. 15-49 years old), while 14,684 (54.9%) of them

were women in reproductive age who suffer from

HIV/AIDS. The department invites all components

of the community to collaboratively discuss and plan

a mitigation strategy against HIV/AIDS in Papua

(Data of Health Department of Papua Province,

2017).

False internalization of tradition and culture in

daily life will affect individual attitudes and

behavior towards the virtues of the culture itself. As

stated by Papua anthropologist, Rumansara (1999) in

his article entitled "Tenggeng Dance as a Premarital

Sex Media among Lani Culture and the Influence to

Sexual Transmitted Disease and HIV/AIDS" sexual

behavior among youth society influenced the

development of HIV/AIDS. Furthermore,

Rumansara also stated that the infiltration of new

culture to Central Papua mountain region has an

effect on shifting culture especially through

Tenggeng dance, which is recently known as one

media causing sexually transmitted disease (STD),

HIV and AIDS. Tenggeng dance was acknowledged

in venues where youth gathered and interacted with

each other including a dance that could end in sexual

intercourse freely in Hona I (i.e. where Tenggeng

dance usually took place).

HIV/AIDS is considered a national disaster for

Papua’s local communities. Every individual needs

to be concerned and take action on it. Moreover,

Papua local communities were required to cease

their binge drinking habit that could lead to

premarital sexual behavior. The endangered

situation in Papua local communities, because of

HIV/AIDS, could be resolved as they shifted their

unhealthy behavior (i.e. binge drinking and

hedonistic lifestyle) to living a holy life in front of

God, human beings, ancestors and the universe.

ICP-HESOS 2018 - International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings

304

2 METHODS

The method used in this research was literature

review, as referred to searching previous literatures

for both international and national publications by

using Google Scholar, Science Direct and Proquest

databases. A preliminary search for articles resulted

in obtaining 13,900 articles only by using several

keywords such as "Premarital Sex Behavior in

Uganda from 2007-2015", "Value Systems", "Risk

Behavior", "Culture and Tradition", and "Kamoro

People". All results obtained were collected without

being identified according to its relevancies. After

being explored and filtered by the researcher, only

fifteen articles were considered as relevant (i.e. six

high relevancy articles, four moderate relevancy and

rest were low relevancy articles).

The chosen articles were filtered by citations,

complying to guidelines of scientific articles,

chronology, research methodology, originality, and

logic and clarity of argumentation. In addition,

criteria for articles that were used were (1) Relevant

to the current research topic; (2) Reports from

National AIDS Commission of Mimika and Papua;

and (3) Articles of Papua culture.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Based on a thorough literature review, several

results were found:

1. Study by Arwam, et al. (2010) discovered that

premarital sexual behavior, decline in religion

internalization, and negative culture existing in

Biak region has caused Papua local communities

to likely suffer from HIV/AIDS. Moreover, there

was a permissive propensity on alcohol

consumption habits, which caused intoxication,

followed by criminal behavior, and premarital

sexual behavior. This condition has been

considered as a common habit among youth and

adults. Degradation of religious values and

inability to practice those values, which are two

among the moral standards to conduct, also cause

premarital sex without adequate deliberation of

the possible consequences.

2. Other than that, research conducted by

Dumatubun (2003) in Merauka found that the

Marind tribe defined premarital sex as a common

behavior since they thought sperm was an

expression of existence and fertility.

3. Study carried out by Udigwe. et al. (2014)

examined factors that influenced sexual behavior

among teenage girls. Deficient sexual health was

one rationale this study executed. A cross-

sectional research design was used in this

research. Results showed that numerous teenage

girls (i.e. 16-17 years old) had practiced

premarital sexual behavior, including teenage

girls in the older age population (i.e. 18-19 years

old). Specifically, teenage girls in the age range

18-19 years old were mostly uneducated, of low

socioeconomic status, and living alone without

any relatives. Insufficient comprehension on

pregnancy, and low perception of HIV risk

determined the occurrence of premarital sexual

behavior. This result suggested that values within

family, eradicating poverty, a proper

understanding of health and sex education were

important among teenage girls. Furthermore,

sexual negotiation skills and accessible formal

education should be imposed in order to improve

accurate knowledge of sexual behavior among

teenage girls. Values stability and adjustments in

understanding individual and cultural value

systems were also important to help teenage girls

by providing appropriate sexual education to

prevent them from performing it.

4. Qualitative research conducted by Ghaffari, et al.

(2016), which aimed to explore individual

factors regarding premarital sexual behavior in

Iranian teenagers also found similar results.

Three main factors were considered to influence

premarital sex behavior, namely health values,

spirituality values, and individual character.

Mimika-Kamoro women embraced their own

culture and tradition. They felt proud of being part

of the culture and traditions that control their daily

life (i.e. obtaining sago as staple food, using canoes

on the river). When performing rituals, parents in

this tribe also taught their children to be

hardworking as part of their culture in order to

succeed in life. Moreover, both the prosperous

Papua natural environment and presence of the

Freeport Company had an impact on Mimika-

Kamoro tribal life overall. These advantages could

also lead to some negative impacts such as those

influencing Mimika-Kamoro local perspectives,

specifically among youth society for being unwilling

to work because they already had enough fortune.

Mimika-Kamoro women as workers were

susceptible to these perspectives as well, mainly

women who were less educated. Not to mention

their lack of awareness of health and personal

hygiene that could cause various diseases.

Furthermore, hedonistic lifestyle would also cause

Inﬂuence of Local Culture on Individual Value Systems to Premarital Sexual: A Systematical Review

305

permissive perspectives on premarital sexual

intention.

In conclusion, this research suggested that

understanding appropriate cultural and tradition

values, educating on spirituality values, providing

knowledge on personal hygiene, health and

reproduction should be given to Mimika-Kamoro

teenagers. This suggestion would hopefully build

strong principles to refuse premarital sexual

behavior.

4 CONCLUSION

Based on thorough discussion above, parents and

families have been given a significant role to

provide comprehension regarding sexual behavior

for teenage girls. The deficiency of sexual behavior

information among teenagers would increase the

possibility of performing premarital sexual behavior.

In addition, spiritual values are also regard as

boundaries to refuse performing premarital sexual

behavior. Intervention based on a cultural values

approach would be advantageous to prevent

teenagers practicing sexual intercourse before

marriage.

REFERENCES

Arwam H.M.Z, Ahmad.H.A, Ali G.M. and Jozh M, 2011.

Behaviour And Disease Risk Hiv-Aids At Papua

Society The Development Study Of Local Wisdom Hiv-

Aids.Artikel penelitian vol 13 no 04 December 2010,

pp. 206-219.

Health Department of Papua Province, 2017.Report of

Primary Health Care HIV-AIDS Development 2017

Survey.

Dumatubun A.E., 2002. Kebudayaan dan Kesehatan

Orang Papua dalam Perspektif Antropologi Kesehatan,

Journal Antropoli Papua, ISSN :1693-2099,Volume 1

No 1.

Ifeoma Bridget Udigwe, Prosper Obunikem Adogu,

Achunam Simeon Nwabueze1,Echendu Dolly

Adinma1, Chika Florence Ubajaka1, Chika

Onwasigwe, 2014. Factors Influencing Sexual

Behavior among Female Adolescents in Onitsha,

Nigeria, Received 18 September 2014; revised 15

Inc.

Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia, 2014. Statistik

Kasus HIV/AIDS di Indonesia dilapor sampai dengan

September 2014. Ditjen PP & PL Kemenkes RI.

Koentjaraningrat, 2005. In Research Team Jayapura,

2013. Laporan Penelitian di Kampung Hiripau Timika,

2013

National AIDS Commission of Mimika District, 2015.

HIV-AIDS Situation Report

Mansoben, JR., 2003. Sistem Politik Tradisional Etnis

Biak :Kajian Tentang Pemerintahan Tradisional.

Jurnal Antropologi Papua, Vol 1. No3. April

2003,www.papua

web.org/uncen/dlib/jr/antropologi/01-01/jurnal.pdf.

[Accessed 25 Februari 2017]

Mohtasham Ghaffari, Zabihollah Gharlipour Gharghani,

Yadollah Mehrabi, Ali Ramezankhani, and Majeed

Movahed, 2016. Premarital Sexual Intercourse-

Related Individual Factors Among Iranian

Adolescents: A Qualitative Study, Iran Red Crescent

Med J. 2016 February; 18(2): e21220. doi:

10.5812/ircmj.21220, Published online.

Rumansara,Enos, 1999. Transformasi tari tenggeng dalam

kebudayaan orang Dani: dari tari tukar gelang menjadi

ajang untuk mencari jodoh,Suatu kajian Antropologis.

Penerbit Fisip Uncen, jurusan antropologi.

Tumuka, L, 2011. Identifikasi Faktor Penghambat

Ketertarikan Suku Kamoro terhadap Pentingnya

Pengembangan Sumber Daya Manusia melalui

Pendidikan Formal. Thesis, Universitas Soegijo

Pranoto, Semarang.

ICP-HESOS 2018 - International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings

306