Sexual Knowledge, attitudes and behaviors among unmarried migrant female workers in China: a comparative analysis

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Yizhen Yu¹  Huiping Zhu¹  Xiaohui Gao¹  Niman Isse Ahmed¹  Yukai Du¹  Jie Tang²  Jiaji Wang³ 

[1] Department of Child, Adolescence & Woman Health Care, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, 13th Hangkong Road, 430030, Wuhan, P.R., China;Department of Child, Adolescence & Woman Health Care, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, 13th Hangkong Road, 430030, Wuhan, P.R., China;Guangzhou Medical College, 195th Dongfengxi Road, 510182, Guangzhou, P.R, China;Guangzhou Medical College, 195th Dongfengxi Road, 510182, Guangzhou, P.R, China;

关键词: Sexual Intercourse;    Contraceptive Method;    Sexual Attitude;    Favorable Attitude;    Female Worker;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-917

 received in 2011-08-15, accepted in 2011-12-12,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn recent years, many studies have focused on adolescent's sex-related issues in China. However, there have been few studies of unmarried migrant females' sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, which is important for sexual health education and promotion.MethodsA sample of 5156 unmarried migrant female workers was selected from three manufacturing factories, two located in Shenzhen and one in Guangzhou, China. Demographic data, sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviors were assessed by self-administered questionnaires. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the factors associated with premarital sexual intercourse.ResultsThe average age of the unmarried female workers included in the sample was 20.2 years, and majority of them showed a low level of sex-related knowledge. Females from the west of China demonstrated a significant lower level of sex-related knowledge than those from the eastern or central provinces (p < 0.05). Approximately 13% of participants held a favorable attitude towards premarital sexual intercourse, and youths from the east/central were more likely to have favorable attitudes compared with those from the west (p < 0.05). About 17.0% of the unmarried female workers reported having engaged in premarital sexual intercourse, and females from the east/central were more likely to have experienced premarital sexual intercourse than those from the west (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that age, education, current residential type, dating, sexual knowledge, attitudes, and pattern of communication were significantly associated with premarital sexual intercourse.ConclusionThe unmarried migrant female workers lack sexual knowledge and a substantial proportion of them are engaged in premarital sexual behaviors. Interventions aimed at improving their sexual knowledge and related skills are needed.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Tang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.