Digital socialization of adolescents on sexual and reproductive health in Mataram city, Indonesia: insights from individual, family, peers and socio-digital determinants

The internet and social media have an important role as agents for adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health (SRH) socialization. Unfortunately, within the Indonesian context, empirical research focusing on these adolescents’ dynamic experiences remains limited. Focusing on Mataram City, Indonesia, as a case study, this research aimed at (1) exploring the digital SRH socialization of adolescents through the lens of accessing information, communication and education as well as 2) analyzing what individual, family, peers and socio-digital factors influence this digital SRH socialization. This study employed a quantitative approach through an online survey conducted from 4 to 20 June 2023. Out of 540 never-married adolescents aged 10–24 who received a link to complete the study, 70.4% provided complete responses. Binary logistic regression was applied to analyze the expected determinants of adolescents’ digital SRH socialization. The survey indicated that most respondents infrequently engaged in digital socialization about SRH matters; 65.8% were categorized as having low digital socialization. The binary regression model proved that adolescents’ digital socialization was influenced by nine variables: adolescents’ education (1), parents’ role (2), courtship behavior (3), the role of youth community (4), school (5), and government (6), conventional media (7) and social media (8) access, and digital friendship (9). The study findings emphasize that adolescents still need to be heavily socialized online about SRH matters. The digital socialization approach needs to consider various individual and family factors as well as the role of social and digital livelihood in adolescents’ lives.