Sexual Attitudes and Experience in Middle School Students, Kangwon-Do, Korea

강원도 중학생의 성 태도와 경험

As an initial step toward the improvement of sexual education in middle school students, a survey on sexual attitudes and experience was done in Kangwon - Do, Korea. Questionnaires consisted of 68 items distributed to 240 boys and 240 girls from November 1 to December 20, 1996. Answers from 420 students were subjected to an analysis with SPSS. 92.4% of the girls experienced menstruation. Of them, 74.0% showed a negative reaction. 52.0% of the boys experienced night ejaculation. Of them, 81. 7% showed a negative reaction. Boys (64.3%) masturbated more than girls (17. 6%) (p= 0.0000). The understanding of masturbation was higher in boys than in girls (p = 0.0000). 87.2% of the subjects wished meetings with the opposite sex. During the meeting with the opposite sex, 12.9% of the students enjoyed drinking or smoking, 8.8% had intercourse. Boys(91.9%) watched pornography or porno-video more than girls(40.5%)(p=0.0000). 83.3% of the girls thought that both males and females should keep their virginity untill marriage. However, only 48.6% of boys thought that(p=0.0000). Of boys who had experienced sexual touch, 34.8% had intercourse. Of the 30 students(26 boys, 4 girls) who experienced sexual intercourse, 22 students had partners of the opposite sex and were friends. First intercourse 63.4% of these students had their in middle school period. The frequencys of sexual intercourse (more than 6times) was written by 12 students (40.0%). 24 students(16 boys and 8 girls) experienced sexual violence. As for dealing with sexual violence, 14 suffered by him or herself whill 7 students discussed it with a friend. There was a significant difference in the sources of information between boys and girls(p= 0.000), 36.0% had learned from an official sexual education source, usually from school nurses (74.0%). 92.6% of the students thought that sexual education was necessary. They believed that the appropriate person for sexual education was from a school nurse (53.1%) or from parents (19.5%). According to the above results, the following might be suggested: Realistic and future-directed sexual education material should be developed : Education programs to improve students insight and control sexual desire should be prepared: a systematic approach to activate the role of school nurse in sexual education should be prepared.