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In Indonesian primary schools, sex education is implicitly integrated into various related subjects, such as science, biology, social studies and religion. The technical facts of ovulation and sperm are mentioned in biology, although little or no connection is made between this process and sexual intercourse. By the end of primary school, therefore, children are likely to have a poor understanding of how pregnancy can occur. Given that young girls at this age have already experienced or will soon experience menarche, and given the increasing trend towards delaying the age at marriage in Indonesian society, this lack of knowledge places young people at risk of various negative consequences, including unwanted pregnancy. In this paper, we investigate the level of understanding regarding human reproduction amongst 1762 students attending the last year of primary school, distributed across 32 different schools in Indonesia. Despite the fact that all schools follow a national curriculum, our results reveal widespread variability in the students' comprehension of how pregnancy can occur. In particular, students attending Islamic religious schools and those in less developed provinces of Indonesia appear to have a much poorer understanding of the link between sexual intercourse and conception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have examined the impact of unintended pregnancy on women in developing countries. This paper examines the impact of unintended pregnancy on Indonesian women's psychological well-being. It is hypothesized that experiencing unintended pregnancy is associated with lower psychological well-being and that use of family planning and small family size are associated with higher levels of psychological well-being. Data are drawn from a 1996 survey of 796 women aged 15-49 from two Indonesian provinces, Lampung and South Sumatra. This article focuses on the 71% of women (n=562) who answered all 41 survey items related to psychological well-being. In cluster analysis, women grouped into three clusters, differentiated by their scores on four scales of well-being established through factor analysis (general negative feelings, satisfaction with relationships, satisfaction with economic/family/personal conditions, and negative feelings regarding domestic issues). Women in cluster 3 were characterized mainly by their high level of psychological well-being. Women in cluster 1 had the lowest level of well-being, and women in cluster 2 were in the middle. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess jointly the effect of unintended pregnancy, contraceptive use, number of children and other factors on a woman's level of psychological well-being. Unintended pregnancy was associated with lower levels of psychological well-being and contraceptive use was associated with higher levels of psychological well-being, while number of children was not associated with level of well-being. Women who had experienced an unintended pregnancy were less likely to be in the high psychosocial well-being cluster versus both the medium and low clusters. In addition, women using contraception were more likely to be classified in the high than in the low or medium well-being clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Application of a multivariate analytical technique to the World Fertility Survey data for Java and Bali indicates that demographic variables, particularly the length of the preceding birth interval, are more important in explaining infant and child mortality differentials than are such social variables as education of parents or urban–rural residence. These findings are weakened to some extent by the lack of satisfactory data on household economic status which might have provided a better base for indirectly discerning the effects of nutrition and sanitation on mortality at young ages. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reports that marriage involves four major distinct stages in Javanese society. These occur in a variety of sequences and the modal or standard patterns have changed over time. From the viewpoint of the government, the key stage of the marriage arrangement is the legal ceremony and registration of the union. For the majority Muslim population this takes place in the Religious Affair Office at the village or neighborhood center. The specific ceremony depends on the religion of the couple with Indonesian law specifying different procedures for each of the major religions and for marriages between people of different faiths. In all cases though, the ceremony involves a legally sanctioned contract which has implications for inheritance, ownership of property, access to various civil rights particularly voting rights in the case of young people and recognition of the legal status of children born from or adopted into the union. From the viewpoint of the government this should be the first stage in the sequence. Prior to the development of legal institutions governing marriage, communities followed an elaborate series of customs which also had the function of recognizing and protecting rights of the couple and their offspring.

Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, Perkembangan Pemikiran Ekonomi, Buku I: Dasar Teori Dalam Ekonomi Umum [The Development of Economic Thought, Book I: The Theoretical Basis In General Economics], Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia, 1991, pp. xxviii + 429 Selo Soemardjan, Indonesia: A Socio-Economic Profile, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1988, pp. xi + 162 Australian International Development Assistance Bureau, Australia's Development Cooperation with Indonesia in the Agricultural sector, Volume 1: Main Report, Canberra: AIDAB, April 1991 Colin Barlow, Ria Gondowarsito, A. T. Birowo and S. K. W. Jayasuriya, Development in Eastern Indonesia: The Case of Nusa Tenggara Timur, Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1990, pp. v + 110 Jan G. I. Palte, Upland Farming on Java, Indonesia, Nederlandse GeografischeStudies 97, Amsterdam/Utrecht: Royal Dutch Geographical Society and Geographical Institute, University of Utrecht, 1989, pp. 256 Thomas Schweizer, Reisanbau in einem javanischen Dorf [Rice Cultivation in a Javanese Village, Köln: Böhlau Verlag, 1989, pp. xvi + 718 Desmond Ball and Helen Wilson (eds), Strange Neighbours: The Australia-Indonesia Relationship, Sydney and Singapore: Allen and Unwin, 1991, pp. xiv + 268. $24.95 The World Bank, Indonesia: Family Planning Perspectives in the 1990s, Washington D. C.: The world Bank, 1990, pp. xxii + 143 Jan Breman, Labour Migration and Rural Transformation in Colonial Asia, Amsterdam: Free University Press for Centre for Asian Studies, 1990, pp. 82, Dfl. 19.50; £9.50 Kenji Tsuchiya, Democracy and Leadership: The Rise of the Taman Siswa Movement in Indonesia, Monographs of the Centre for Southeast Asian studies, Kyoto University, English Language Series, No. 18, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987, pp. xv + 230. US$16.00 BRIEFLY NOTED: Simme Veldman, Route Planning in a Centrally Assisted Liner System, Delft: Eburon, 1990, pp. 230 Richard Robinson, Power and Economy in Suharto's Indonesia, Journal of Contemporary Asia Publishers, Manila and Wollongong, 1990, pp. iv + 207 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Evidence from the 1985 Intercensal Survey (SUPAS 85) has confirmed the existence of a major fertility decline throughout Indonesia. The pace of the decline has been faster in 1980–85 than during the 1970s On present trends, it should be possible to reach the ambitious target of halving fertility between 1979 and 1990. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]