Background: Today's high school students have a more open attitude towards sex than did prior generations. Sex education generally has a positive effect on sex attitudes. Therefore, the effect of sex education on sexual attitudes and the factors of sex education that influence sexual attitudes are worthy of exploration.Purposes: The purposes of this study were to explore the effect of sex education on attitudes towards sex and condom use and to understand the key influencing factors for such attitudes among high school students.Methods: Research was conducted between March 1st and June 30th, 2012. The pre- and post- test method was adopted for this study. The subjects 1,884 high school students, were recruited from a city northern Taiwan. One thousand two hundred and twenty students ultimately completed pre- and post- test and a participation rate was 64.75%. The questionnaires used consisted of three parts, including basic data, the attitudes toward sex, and attitudes towards condom use.Results: The results showed that mean values for sexual attitudes were 1.81 before sex education and 1.78 after sex education. The mean values for the condom use attitudes were 3.11 before sex education and 3.14 after sex education. The highest scoring item on the sexual attitudes scale was ”students feel that sexual intercourse before marriage is acceptable” (pre-education Mean=2.26 vs post-education mean=2.14). The highest scoring item on the condom use attitude scale before sex education was ”students would use condom for intercourse” (Mean=3.16), while the highest scoring item on the condom use attitude scale after sex education was ”students understand the important of correctly using condoms” (Mean=3.17). Grade level (F=4.57, p=.01) and gender (t=2.17, p=.03) were found to correlate with sexual behavior attitudes. Grade level was also correlated with attitudes toward condom use (F=5.27, p<.001).Conclusions/Implications for Practice: The only one sexual education was limiting influence on students' sexual attitudes. We suggest that high school students are needed to regularly educate on sex education and to improve their attitudes towards sex and condom use.
Background: Today's high school students have a more open attitude towards sex than did prior generations. Sex education generally has a positive effect on sex attitudes. Therefore, the effect of sex education on sexual attitudes and the factors of sex education that influence sexual attitudes are worthy of exploration.Purposes: The purposes of this study were to explore the effect of sex education on attitudes towards sex and condom use and to understand the key influencing factors for such attitudes among high school students.Methods: Research was conducted between March 1st and June 30th, 2012. The pre- and post- test method was adopted for this study. The subjects 1,884 high school students, were recruited from a city northern Taiwan. One thousand two hundred and twenty students ultimately completed pre- and post- test and a participation rate was 64.75%. The questionnaires used consisted of three parts, including basic data, the attitudes toward sex, and attitudes towards condom use.Results: The results showed that mean values for sexual attitudes were 1.81 before sex education and 1.78 after sex education. The mean values for the condom use attitudes were 3.11 before sex education and 3.14 after sex education. The highest scoring item on the sexual attitudes scale was ”students feel that sexual intercourse before marriage is acceptable” (pre-education Mean=2.26 vs post-education mean=2.14). The highest scoring item on the condom use attitude scale before sex education was ”students would use condom for intercourse” (Mean=3.16), while the highest scoring item on the condom use attitude scale after sex education was ”students understand the important of correctly using condoms” (Mean=3.17). Grade level (F=4.57, p=.01) and gender (t=2.17, p=.03) were found to correlate with sexual behavior attitudes. Grade level was also correlated with attitudes toward condom use (F=5.27, p<.001).Conclusions/Implications for Practice: The only one sexual education was limiting influence on students' sexual attitudes. We suggest that high school students are needed to regularly educate on sex education and to improve their attitudes towards sex and condom use.