Attitude towards dating and sexual behaviour in Chinese adolescents: An investigation into the impacts of parental control, parent-child relationship, sex education at home and perceived dis/approval of early sexual intercourse

This study explores the influence of parenting practices, parent-child relationship, sex education at home, perceived parental disapproval of early sexual intercourse as well on dating and sexual behaviour among 381 adolescents (195 males and 186 girls) ranging in age from 10 to 19 years old. Data are collected in Hong Kong by using questionnaire. Parenting practices are measured in two dimensions: psychological control and behavioral control which includes knowledge, expectation, monitoring and discipline. Chi-square analysis, independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA are used to test the independence, association and effect. Results reveal that parent-child relationship is associated with dating and sexual intercourse while perceived paternal disapproval of early sexual intercourse is related to abstinence of early sexual intercourse among adolescents’ girls only. However, psychological control and behavioural control are not associated with dating and sexual intercourse. Adolescents who are currently dating or had experience of sexual intercourse are more likely to spend less time on studying and family. Age and educational differences are found in dating as well as in sexual intercourse in both genders. Older adolescents are more likely to have experience of dating and sexual intercourse than younger one. Attitude towards dating 4 Table of contents Page No. Acknowledgements 2 Abstract 3 Table of contents 4 List of illustrations 5 Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Adolescence 6 1.2 Adolescent Sexuality 11 1.3 Parenting Practices 15 Psychological control 16 Behavioural control 17 Sex education at home 19 1.4 Relationship and other family factors Parent-Child relationship 20 Parents’ SES & educational level 21 1.5 Individual factors Perceived parental dis/approval of early sexual intercourse 22 1.6 Hong Kong Situation 23 1.7 Research Questions 25 Chapter 2: Methodology 26 Chapter 3: Results 3.1 Background information of participants 33 3.2 Students’ dating experience 34 3.3 Students’ dating attitude 37 3.4 Students’ sexual intercourse 39 3.5 Students’ sexual attitude 41 3.6 Students’ sexual knowledge 42 3.7 Relationship with parenting factor and dating 42 3.8 Relationship with individual factor and dating 44 3.9 Relationship with parenting factor and sexual intercourse 45 3.10 Relationship with individual factor and sexual intercourse 48 Chapter 4: Discussions 50 Chapter 5: Conclusion and Limitations 58 References 60 Attitude towards dating 5 List of illustrations Figures Page No. Figure 1: Conceptual framework of this study 16 Figure 2: Distribution of age of participants by gender 30 Figure 3: Distribution of age of first date by gender 31 Figure 4: Distribution of age of first sex by gender 37 Tables Table 1: Distribution of Participants by gender and age 26 Table 2: Distribution of Participants by school grades 26 Table 3: Frequencies and χ2 results for students who had dating 32 experience with age, gender and grade. Table 4: Mean score and t-test results of paternal and maternal control 40 Table 5: Mean score and ANOVA results of students’ perception of 43 parental disapproval of early sexual intercourse Attitude towards dating 6 Chapter 1: Literature Review Adolescence Adolescence, a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, is a period when teenagers experience three fundamental changes – biological, cognitive and social (Steinberg, 1999). According to Hill (1983), puberty begins, advanced thinking abilities emerge and new roles take up in this period. (as cited in Steinberg, 1999). These changes provide numerous developmental opportunities for adolescents to make different decisions that have important implications for their life. In order to have a better understanding about adolescence, two classical theoretical approaches can best explain how this transition takes place, which are psychoanalytic approach and social-psychological approach. The psychoanalytic approach highlights the processes of ‘individuation’ and ‘disengagement’. In these processes, the individual’s awakening sexuality leads him or her to look outside the family setting for appropriate ‘love objects’ and weakens the emotional ties with their parents (Blos, 1979). Besides, the social-psychological approach concerns the process of socialization. It is the process whereby individuals learn values, standards and form beliefs through the agents of socialization such as parents, teachers, peers and media (as cited in Coleman & Hendry, 1990). At this stage, teenagers face many challenges and uncertainties. It is the time of identity formation and a period of “storm and stress” that produces conflicts between Attitude towards dating 7 the generations which stated by Erik Erikson (1963) and G. Stanley Hall (1916) respectively. It is a period characterized by exploration and decision-making. Self-reliance, self-control and the capacity for independent decision making are all increased over this course (Feldman & Elliott, 1990). It involves gaining autonomy, assuming responsibility and making choices about family, peers, schooling, love and career (Furstenberg, 2000). In this period, adolescents may easily feel frustrated and nervous to act like an adult and make many decisions. Most likely, they feel tension between dependency on their parents and the need of independence and autonomy. One of the key tasks for the adolescent is the development of independence or autonomy in respect of family relationships. The goal of every teenager is to be free from parental restraint and to achieve control over one’s own life (Coleman, 2000). Middle adolescence is the stage that the most intense negotiations take place regarding autonomy (as cited in Coleman, 2000). Teenagers at this stage are in the most need of establishing their right to gain freedom while at the same time it is the stage for parents when they least wish to lose control. In the Larson, Richards, Moneta, Holmbeck and Duckett’s study (1996), it found that the overall time spent with the family decreased throughout the teenage years but time spent with mothers and fathers on a one-to-one basis hardly changed at all between age 10 to 18. Feldman and Quatman had given two explanations for early expectations of autonomy. The first one is related to personal growth, maturity & a sense of responsibility. The second one is Attitude towards dating 8 ‘pseudoautonomy’ which means too-early detaching from parental guidance and supervision. They also mentioned the importance of relationships between autonomy timetables and outcomes such as misconduct and lack of restraints (Feldman & Quatman, 1988). Lamborn and Steinberg (1993) argued that young people who score highly on measures of autonomy but also see their parents as unsupportive would be more at risk than autonomous adolescents who have supportive parents. However, Fuhrman and Holmbeck (1995) took the different viewpoints. They believe that it is only under conditions of family pressure. This facilitates adolescents to cope and to find support outside the family but it is only under conditions of positive parental relationships. Teenagers also want to experience adult-like life by having sexual activity . Many teenagers view sexual activity as a way to develop adult identity. They look for validation from opposite sex. Sexual behaviour also gives ways to challenge and confront parents who have opposite stand toward independence (Musick, 1993). There are several theories which are widely used to explain the phenomenon of romantic relationship and sexual behaviour among adolescents. Problem behavior theory (PBT; see Jessor & Jessor, 1977) is a psychosocial model. According to Jessor (1991), PBT consists of three independent systems of psychosocial components: the perceived-environment system, the personality system and the behavior system. In this study, parenting process is categorized by the perceived-environment system; Attitude towards dating 9 satisfaction of parental control, age expectation of autonomy and sexual self-efficacy are categorized by the personality system and age of first sexual intercourse is categorized by the behavior system. Jessor and colleagues (1991) assumed that dating and early sexual intercourse stem from an individual’s affirmation of independence and autonomy from parents. Additionally, many adolescents view dating and sexual activity as a way to develop adult identity (Melchert & Burnett, 1990; Musick, 1993), so they look to the opposite sex for validation and approval. Sexual behavior also provides a means of challenging parents on the way toward independence (Musick, 1993). The following two theories, include McCabe’s theory of adolescent dating and behavioral-ecological model, are good to demonstrate the importance of family in affecting adolescent dating and sexual behaviour. McCabe’s theory of adolescent dating (1984) explains why adolescents start to date when they grow up in terms of biological, social and situational factors (Tang & Zuo, 2000). It highlights interplay among maturation, social influences and opportunities which must appear in adolescence. Maturation causes a desire for sexual release and search for sexual identity during physiological and psychosocial changes. Despite the fact that everyone undergoes maturation, we are influenced by our society sometime unconsciously. Therefore, dating practices vary from one society to another. This brings another major force: social influence, which largely comes from parents, peers, media and religion. Opportunities such as time alone, unsupervised activities with deviant peers, the last major force, Attitude towards dating 10 together with maturation and social influence explain the difference in the dating and sexual experiences of sexually active and inactive adolescents. The behavioural-ecological model argues that risky sexual behavior is determined by proximal and distal factors within youngsters’ social-ecological systems and also by a range of background predisposing factors (Hovell et al., 1994). Proximal factors are related to personal values, family, school, peer groups and dating partners. Distal factors are media and society. For family factor, the risk factors are inadequate parental supervision and poor parent-child communication. For value domain, adolescents who have low sexual self-efficacy would be more easily to engage in risky sexual behavior. For demographic domain, adolescents with low socio-economic status or low educational aspirations would be more likely to have risky sexual behavior. Last but not the least, Hoffman’s control theory (1970, 1975) tries to explain how psychological control affects adolescents’ behaviour. He suggested that excessive psychological control may smoother the process of social and psychological maturation that are necessary for adolescents to make responsible choices about their behaviors in control theory. So, adolescents whose parents use excessive psychological control may be less likely to have internalized moral reasoning and have early sexual intercourse as a result. Controlling through guilt or withdrawing love fails to promote maturity or responsibility for teen’s behavior (Rodgers, 1999). Hirschi’s (1969) control theory supports the importance of behavioral control that it creates a bond between parents and Attitude towards dating 11 their teen in which parents’ views of adolescent sexual behavior, expressed both directly or indirectly, may be internalized by the adolescents and thus, play a protective role by monitoring and disciplining their teens to behave properly (Barnes, Hoffman, Welte, Farrell & Dintcheff, 2007). To conclude, it is clear that parents are a powerful source of influence in adolescent development. Hence, it is worthwhile to take a deep look in parenting practice. Adolescent Sexuality Romantic relationship is common among adolescents nowadays. Adolescents start dating at an age earlier than that 10 years ago. According to Blyth and his colleagues (1982), they found that adolecents start to date at the age of 15 while interest and interaction with opposite sex increase. More than 20 years later, Santrock (2003) report that romantic relationship emerges in early adolescent. It starts from age 10 to 13. Accordingly, over one third of adolescents of age 12 have experienced a romantic relationship, whereas more than 80 percent of adolescent of age 18 have involved in dating. Gender difference is also found. Before age 15, boys generally reported slightly higher rates of romantic relationship experience than girls. After age 15, however, adolescent girls have more dating experiences than boys with intimate relationships, due to their greater maturity (as cited in Carver, Joyner & Udry, 2003). Over the past two decades, it always shows more informal, less competitive and less rigid structure in Attitude towards dating 12 intimate relationship (Miller & Gordon, 1986). Older adolescents are more likely to engage in romantice relationship than younger adolescents. Dating potentially facilitates adolescents’ social development positively but it may also put adolescents at risk. Normally, it is viewed as a sign of successful interpersonal maturity for older adolescents. Erikson (1950) believes that romantic relationship is not a mean of satisfying sexual needs, but to define and revise their self-concept. This contributes to their development of an identity (as cited in Muuss, 1988). However, dating in adolescence has been linked with problem behaviors. Having romantic experience at an early age has been associated with adjustment problems and risky behaviors (as cited in Beth-Doyle, Brendgen, Markiewicz & Kamkar, 2003; Zimmer-Gembeck, Siebenbruner & Collins, 2001). Research found out that adolescents who are involved in romantic relationships at an early age have higher rates of drug use, psychological and behavioral difficulties, as well as lower levels of academic performance than those who are not currently involved in a relationship or who delay dating until late adolescence (as cited in Brown, Feiring & Furman, 1999). Dating in early to middle adolescence has also been found to be associated with early sexual activity. Adolescents who engage in romantic relationships are more likely to have sexual intercourse than their counterparts. Current daters report having more sexually intimate behaviours with their partner than non-daters (Shulam & Scharf, 2000). Early sexual intercourse is a risky behavior in adolescence due to its lifelong and Attitude towards dating 13 irreversible harm. Data clearly show the adverse impacts of early sexual intercourse including sexually transmitted diseases, increased risk of cervical cancer, pelvic inflammatory disease, unwanted pregnancy, lower educational achievement , greater social isolation and poor economic situation (as cited in Lammers, Ireland, Resnick & Blum, 2000). Blos (1970) warns that early sexual initiation may interfere with ego development and growth of emotional maturity (as cited in Muuss, 1988). Today, more teenagers are becoming sexually active at a younger age than in the 1980s (Buhi & Goodson, 2007). To consider this issue, it is obvious by looking at their age of first sexual intercourse. In the most extensive study by Wellings and his colleagues (1994), it shows that the younger adolescents are more likely to have had sex before the age of 16. In addition, Steinberg (1996) reported that approximately 33 per cent of boys and 25 per cent of girls have had sex by the age of 15. Adolescent sexuality differs by gender. Males have more liberal attitudes toward sexuality than females whereas females are more likely to view sex as part of love relationship (De Gaston et al., 1996). Males expect sexual intimacy earlier in a relationship but females link sexual intimacy with love. In Roche’s study (1986), adolescent males and females were asked about whether they believed a particular behaviour was appropriate during a given stage of dating. In the early stage of relationship, more males believed and actually engaged in behaviours such as heavy petting and sexual intercourse than did females. Males view sex as a part of dating Attitude towards dating 14 whereas females want romance (Lin, 2007). In regard to attitudes toward causal premarital sex, males reported more permissive attitude than females (Oliver & Hyde, 1993). Males also showed higher frequency of sexual intercourse, younger age of first intercourse and more numbers of sex partners than that of females. For the first time of sexual intercourse, males and females have different expectations. Study finds that the most common immediate responses to having first time intercourse among adolescent males are excitement, satisfaction, exhilaration and happiness (Gordon & Gilgun, 1987; Oswald, Bahne, & Feder, 1994; Sorensen, 1973, as cited in Steinberg, 1999). However, girl’s sexual script relates to romance, love, friendship and intimacy (Aitken & Chaplin, 1990; Hendrick & Hendrick, 1994, as cited in Steinberg, 1999). It seems that adolescent females view sexual intercourse as a mean of intimacy and emotional involvement while males are more likely to separate the matter of sex and intimacy. This gender difference can be explained by the term erotic plasticity which refers to the degree to which the sex drive is influenced by social, cultural and biological factors (Baumeister, 2000). Girls have higher erotic plasticity than boys. Female sexuality is less directly tied to biological factor than that of male. These social, cultural and situational variables, such as social norms, parental influence and religion, have greater impact on female sexuality than on male. The traditional attitude concerning sexuality reflects a double standard (Kaplan, 2004). This double standard can be shown Attitude towards dating 15 in parenting styles. Parents tend to give more freedom to boys rather than girls and react differently to the sexual behaviours of their children. Hence, males have been permitted sexual freedom while females have been denied sexual needs. Moreover, parental influences and behaviours appear to have a greater and more lasting impact on the sex lives of their daughters than of their sons (as cited in Engels, Kerr & Stattin, 2007). Overall, gender difference of sexuality is obvious. Girls regard sexual activity as a sign of being in love and engagement in a serious relationship. However, early initiation was associated with perceptions of greater physical maturity, desire for earlier autonomy (Rosenthal, Smith & deVisser, 1999) and opportunity to practice sex (Kaplan, 2004) among boys. Parenting practices In the past ten years, increased attention has been given to the role of the family predicting and understanding adolescent dating behaviour and sexual behaviour. Small and Luster (1994) suggested an ecological model of selected risk factors for adolescent sexual activity. It identifies risk factors at the individual, familial and extrafamilial levels. The most important predictors of sexual activity, which found in a study, are having a steady boyfriend or girlfriend, having drinks regularly, having parents with permissive values towards sex. For the familial level, risk factors are single parent household, poor parental monitoring and low SES. Attitude towards dating 16 In regard to the role of family, review of empirical research highlights some important variables such as family structure, parenting process/practice, parent-child relationship, parental communication about sex issue and perceptions of parental disapproval of sex. Despite the vast body of researches, the relationship between parental influence and adolescent love and sex issue are still not clear even though quite a number of researches emphasize the importance of family and personal factors in shaping young people’s sexual behaviour. The conceptual framework is formed based on the previous literature supports (See Figure 1). Figure 1. Conceptual framework of this study Parental psychological control Smetana and Daddis (2002) conceptualize psychological control as ‘parents’ attempt to control the child’s activities in ways that negatively affects the child’s psychological world and thereby undermines the child’s psychological development’ Parenting practices Relationship factor Individual factor Behavioral system Psychological control Behavioral control • Parental knowledge • Parental Expectation • Parental Monitoring • Parental Discipline Sex education at home • Topics • Frequency Parent-child relationship Perceived dis/approval of early sexual intercourse Attitude towards dating & sexual intercourse • Time spent • Dating • Sexual intercourse Attitude towards dating 17 (p.563). Examples of parental psychological control are constraining verbal expression, love withdrawal, invalidating feelings, personal attack, guilt induction, and abnormal emotional behavior (Shek, 2005). Rogers et al. (2003) found that earlier psychological control predicts higher externalizing behavior among adolescence. Likewise, it has been linked with increasing externalizing symptoms including precocious sexual activity in both boys and girls (Barber & Harmon, 2002). Specifically, Rodgers’s study (1999) reported paternal psychological control is significantly related to daughter’s sexual risk behaviour. For females, paternal psychological control increases the probability that a sexually active daughter may take more sexual risks. Parental behavioral control Parental behavioral control refers to ‘rules, regulations and restrictions that parents have for their children’ (Smetana & Daddis, 2002). Shek (2005) conceptualizes parental behavioral control into five different aspects by integrating existing research findings, including parental knowledge, parental expectation, parental monitoring, parental discipline and global parental demandingness. Friedlander and her colleagues found that parental monitoring is an important contributor in dating behavior among early adolescence. Parental monitoring has a negative association with dating. For girls, the level of parental monitoring does not impact the number of dating activities. For boys, however, the more knowledgeable Attitude towards dating 18 parents are about their activities, the lower number of dating activities reports (Friedlander, Connolly, Pepler & Craig, 2007). Parents’ expressions of high expectations, love and concern and clear rules are related to late sexual activity (Aspy et al., 2007). A study reported that females experienced significantly more rules than males (Hovell, Hillman, Blumberg, Sipan, Atkins, Hofstetter & Myers, 1994). Rates of sexual activity tends to be higher among teens who lived in neighbourhoods where a relatively high percentage of women works in full-time (Brewster, 1994; Brewster, Billy, & Grady, 1993) It is controversial to determine that whether parental monitoring or supervision is significant or not as it shows the strongest variability in previous findings. Six studies empirically identify protective effects of monitoring or supervision is significantly associated with earlier sexual activity among boys. Conversely, seven studies find no empirical relationship between monitoring and early sexual intercourse. It can be accounted for the different kinds of scale to measure parental monitoring as some focus on “do parents know where their teens are?” and “what their teens are doing?” while others mention on “rules for going out in the evening” only. In view of how parental monitoring influenced their teens’ sexual behaviour, increases in parental monitoring are related to less frequent adolescent sexual intercourse and age at first intercourse (Miller, 1999; Romer, 1999; Li, 2000; Longmore, 2001; Huebner, 2003, Wight, Williamson & Henderson, 2006). High levels of parental supervision (Hogan & Kitagawa, 1985) and a Attitude towards dating 19 close relationship between adolescents and their parents (Greene, 1985) significantly predicts the later timing of adolescent sexual activity (as cited in Meschke & Silbereisen, 1997). However, lack of monitoring by parents is linked to risky sexual behaviour (see Fletcher et al., 1995). Smith (1997) reported that lower supervision is related to early sexual activity for boys, but not for girls. Cotton and her colleagues’ study (2004) found that parental monitoring is only associated with girls’ delay of sexual initiation (Cotton, Mills, Succop, Biro & Rosenthal, 2004). Apart from parental monitoring, a lack of rules and strictness was associated with sexual experience (as cited in Hovell et al., 1994). Stattin and Kerr (1999) suggest that, rather than parental monitoring, it is the teenager’s disclosure or non-disclosure which is the key variable having links with problematic behaviour ( as cited in Coleman, 2000). Moreover, high parental expectations are related to delayed onset of sexual activity for males, but not for females (Lammers, 2000). Sex education at Home Family plays a key role in the formation of sexual attitudes and behavior by providing role models and norms of social conduct (Thornton & Camburn, 1987). The level of parental communication about sexual issues, expressing love and affection, or set rules to be followed by their adolescent children may influence their children’s Attitude towards dating 20 sexual behavior (as cited in Hovell et al., 1994). Ideally, parents should take the responsibility to provide sex education to their children. In the past 20 years, adolescents reported that their parents’ role as a source of sexual information is minor; parents typically do not discuss sexual issues with them (Hayes, 1987; Roberts & Holt, 1980). Parents find it difficult to talk with their children about these sensitive topics and communication about sex is often incomplete (Kaplan, 2004). Some parents may wait to talk until they believe their child is in romantic relationship. In the parent-child communication, HIV or AID and STDs are the most commonly discussed topics whereas masturbation and physical and sexual development are the least mentioned (Miller et la., 1998). Nowadays, this situation changes a little but still prevalent. Adolescents are more likely to discuss sexual topics with their mothers than their fathers in general (Wyatt, 1989). However, research found parental sex education of either parent with children depends on different sex-related topics. Male adolescents are significantly more likely than females to discuss HIV or AIDS and STDs, condoms and reproductions with their fathers (Miller et al., 1998). Darling and Hicks (1982) found that most parental sexual messages tend to be negative and convey double standards regarding sons’ versus daughters’ behaviour. Adolescent sexual attitudes are influenced by the frequency and type of communication that occurs within the family (Rothenberg, 1980; Fisher, 1985). If Attitude towards dating 21 parents taught children to say no, set clear rules and talked about what is right and wrong and about delaying sexual activity, these adolescents are much less likely to have sexual intercourse (Aspy et al., 2007). Relationship and other family factors Parent-child relationship Some studies find that close parent-child relationship is related to later and less adolescent sexual activity (Dittus & Jaccard, 2000; Lammers, Ireland, Resnick, & Blum, 2000). Closeness has a greater effect on younger adolescents than on older adolescents. Higher mother-child connectedness is significantly related to delay in first sex for eighth and ninth graders. For older adolescents, high mother-child connectedness delayed first sex for boys but not for girls (Sieving, McNeely & Blum, 2000). Girls with higher parental connectedness and higher level of mother-child communication are less likely to engage in sexual risk behavior over time (Henrich, Brookmeter, Shrier & Shahar, 2006). Several studies report that mother-child connectedness delayed first sex for either boys or girls (Davis & Friel, 2001; Miller et al., 1997; Sieving et al., 2000). However, Regnerus and Laura (2006) found out that there is no direct effect of the mother-child relationship on first sex. Overall, the influence of parent-child relationship or closeness on adolescent sexual behavior is still unclear, possibly due to sampling biases. Mother-daughter closeness is the only family variable significantly related to delayed first sex (Miller et al., 1997). Girls who reported sharing a greater number of Attitude towards dating 22 activities with their mothers in the past 4 weeks were actually less likely to have sex than those who reported having fewer shared activities (Davis & Friel, 2001). However, the extent of mother-child interaction has no effect on timing of coital debut for boys (Davis & Friel, 2001). Girls who have better relationship with their father are less likely to report first sex (Regnerus & Luchies, 2006). Parents’ SES & educational level In addition to parenting practices, relationship factor on adolescents’ sexual development, there are other influential factors such as income and education. Socioeconomic status (SES) of the family may determine the quality of parental sex education and expectation on adolescent children educational level. Adolescents of lower SES have been related to early sexual activity and higher rates of adolescent pregnancy (Panzarine & Santelli, 1987). Lower income parents experience more barriers to control adolescents’ behavior due to competing family, health and financial problems, and less ability and resources to supervise their adolescents (Norr, 1991). (as cited in Hovell et al., 1994) Other than these, maternal educational level may associated with later onset of sexual intercourse. Cotton and her colleagues (2004) reported that girls who have higher educational level mothers are less likely to have sexual intercourse than others.