Evaluating the Theory of Planned Behavior to explain intention to engage in premarital sex amongst Korean college students: a questionnaire survey.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
To reduce risky adolescent sexual behavior, education programs must be tailored to specific cultures and stage of adolescence.

OBJECTIVES:
This study describes the self-reported sexual behavior of Korean college students and examines the efficiency of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB) in explaining intention of engaging in premarital sex in order to provide insights for a potential sex education program designed to reduce risky sexual behavior.

DESIGN:
A cross-sectional, correlational design using an exploratory survey method was used.

PARTICIPANTS:
Participants were recruited from a university in Korea with a flyer posted at the entrance of the student health service center, and self-referral in 2004. Male and female unmarried college students aged 18 to 25 were included. Foreign students and students with visible physical problems were excluded. Three hundred and twenty of 550 students returned the questionnaire packets. Final data analysis included 298 students after deleting incomplete data.

METHODS:
Participants completed six questionnaires:
(1) Background and Sexual Behavior Questionnaire, including items related to perceived risk of sexual behavior, (2) Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale, and four scales related to TpB construct:
(3) modified Premarital Sexual Attitude Scale, (4) Referent group Approval of Sex Behavior Scale, (5) Sexual Abstinence Efficacy Scale and (6) modified version of Doswell's Intention of Sexual Behavior Scale.

RESULTS:
Premarital sexual attitude, abstinence self-efficacy and referent group norms were significant predictors of intention of premarital sex for male students with a large effect, but only attitude and norms predicted intention of premarital sex for female students.

CONCLUSION:
The TpB may be an effective theory to guide the development of theory-driven sexual abstinence interventions to reduce risky sexual behavior for Korean males, while the Theory of Reasoned Action may be an effective theory for Korean females.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Cha, Eun Seok (ES); Doswell, Willa M (WM); Kim, Kevin H (KH); Charron-Prochownik, Denise (D); Patrick, Thelma E (TE);

Affiliation: Chung-Ang University, # 506 Department of Nursing School of Medicine, 221 Heukseok-dong Dongjakgu, Seoul, 156-756, Republic of Korea. euc6(-atsign-)cau.ac.kr

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Validation Studies

Journal: International journal of nursing studies (Int J Nurs Stud), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Sep; vol 44 (issue 7) : pp 1147-57

Dates: Created 2007/08/07; Completed 2007/11/05;

PMID: 16814789, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Attitude to Health - ethnology
Communication
Cross-Sectional Studies
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Intention
Korea
Male

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.