Factors related to Adolescents' Sexual Experience

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to understand the current situation of Korean adolescents' sexual experience and its characteristics by school level, gender, and related factors to their sexual experience. This could be the basic evidence for the development of various sex education programs for the youth. Methods: This study used the 11th online survey data on youth health behavior (2015) and all 68,043 students who participated in the study were included for the analysis. The binominal logistic regression model was used to identify the characteristics and relevant factors of sexual intercourse experience. Analysis was performed by complex sample design using SPSS/WIN 18.0. The statistical significance was defined as p<.05 with a two-sided test. Results: The factors related to sexual experience of adolescents included grade, sadness and hopelessness, smoking, Internet addiction, and sex education in school, for middle school boys. For middle school girls, grade, residence area, sadness and hopelessness, smoking, drinking, and sex education in school were related. For high school boys, the factors were grade, living with parents, economic situation, sadness and hopelessness, smoking, drinking, and Internet addiction. For high school girls, grade, sadness and hopelessness, smoking, and drinking were found to be related factors. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that a practical program considering adolescents’ level and characteristics should be developed and applied.