Does Parent’s Gender Shape Adolescent’s Behavior? a Study among Indonesian Migrant Worker Families Left Behind

Abstract

Background: Migration is known of its contribution to overcome poverty. Despite the benefits, migrated
parent(s) who leave their children behind, create a new shape of public health problem: adolescent problem
behavior, i.e smoking, early sexual activities, unhealthy diet, poor physical activity, violence and criminal.
Purpose: Thisresearch aims to define the relationship of parent’s gender and the length of working period
of parent overseas, to adolescent behavior.
Method: This observational survey use cross-sectional design, involves 65 repsondents of adolescent in
Gumelar sub-district, part of Banyumas District in Central Java, Indonesia. Four villages are choosen to
represent the sub-district situation. Data collected is analysed in univariate, bivariate and multivariate.
Results: Multivariate analysis result shows the Odds Ratio (OR) value of the variable parents who work
abroad is 16.5. It means that mothers who work abroad will cause teens to have risk behaviors by 16.5 times
higher than teens who were left by fathers for working overseas.
Conclusion: Mothers who work abroad increase the potential for adolescents 16.5 times more likely to have
risky behavior, compared to if fathers left overseas.