Sex education during the school‐aged years influences sexual attitudes and sexual health in college: A comparative study from Korea

Abstract

Sex education is provided routinely to school-aged children in many countries without enough evidence that it will benefit them when they become adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term influence of the sex education that was provided during the school-aged years on the attitudes, behaviors, and sexual health among male and female college students in Korea. For this descriptive, comparative study, the data were obtained from 3609 male and 2180 female college students by using the proportional quota sampling method. Overall, the female students had more opportunities for sex education. Receiving this education during the school-aged years lowered the sexual double standard score but was not related to sexual activity among the male and female students. Receiving sex education at different time points during the school-aged years had differential influences on the sexual attitudes and indicators of sexual health between the male and the female students. The results of this study suggest extending the role of school nurses to include redesigning the content of sex education programs, based on the sex and age of the students, and using midwives to provide sex education in community settings.

The Influence of Sexual Attitudes on Mid-to Late-Life Sexual Well-Being: Age, Not Gender, as a Salient Factor

“…Specifically, men tend to be more permissive in their sexual attitudes than women, though a recent meta-analysis revealed the magnitude of those differences has lessened over time (Petersen & Hyde, 2011). The internalization of sexual double standards can be detrimental to sexual health as they are integrated into individual sexual identities (Laumann, Paik, Glasser, Kang, Wang, Levinson, et al, 2006;Shin, Park, & Cha, 2011). Because women's sexuality is often portrayed less favorably by these beliefs, they may be more vulnerable to these threats (Marks & Fraley, 2006).…”

Sexual Education and Women Empowerment in Health: A Review of the Literature

“…In a descriptive comparative study in Korea, sex education at different time points during the school-aged years was reported to have differential influences on sexual attitudes. However, sex education during the college years had no effect on sexual attitudes or activities of both male and female students (25).…”

“…It should be noted that in some studies investigated in the current study, sex education had no effect on individuals' attitudes. The results of these studies suggested extending the role of nurses, midwives, and professional health educators in sex education programs (25,27). Further, Kim and Free indicated that despite the promising results in some trials, the overall findings failed to provide convincing evidence respecting the role of peer-led education in improving the sexual outcomes among the adolescents (35).…”

Health beliefs and behaviours in relation to sexually transmitted infections among South Korean juvenile offenders: A focused ethnography study

“…However, this is not mandatory. In addition, the contents of sex education classes provided as part of health education programs in schools focus on abstaining from sex (Shin, Park, & Cha, ). Currently, classes hardly address STIs, sexual assault, or prostitution.…”