Predictors of the Sexual Assertiveness Among Chinese Female College Students: A Cross-sectional Study
Keywords:
Chinese, College students, Female, Partner reaction, Sexual assertiveness, Sexual double standard, Sexual issues, Unwanted sex, Unsafe sexAbstract
Sexual assertiveness can facilitate sexual autonomy and satisfaction and protect individuals against unsafe sexual relations. However, when a person lacks sexual assertiveness, they tend to use less powerful strategies in response to unwanted sex, and they are more likely to engage in unsafe sexual behaviors. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the factors predicting sexual assertiveness among Chinese female college students. An anonymous online survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 304 female college students in three colleges in China. Data were collected using a demographic data form, the Sexual Assertiveness Scale, the Body Appreciation Scale-2, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, the Scale of Sexual Communication with Parents and Peers, the Anticipated Negative Partner Reaction Scale, the Sexual Double Standard Scale, and the adapted Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation test, and multiple regression analysis.
Results revealed that anticipated negative partner reaction, sexual double standard, sexual communication with parents, alcohol use, and body appreciation could together predict sexual assertiveness, accounting for 21% of the variance with anticipated negative partner reaction is the strongest. These findings help determine approaches for health providers, including nurses, to promote sexual health interventions that include enhancing sexual assertiveness, coping with anticipated negative partner reactions, sexual double standards, and alcohol use. It is essential to encourage self-body appreciation and communication with parents on sexual issues among female college students.
References
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31. Wang H, Long L, Cai H, Wu Y, Xu J, Shu C, et al. Contraception and unintended pregnancy among unmarried female university students: a cross-sectional study from China. PloS One. 2015;10(6):e0130212. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0130212.
32. López-Alvarado S, Van Parys H, Cevallos-Neira A, Enzlin P. Latin American women' s beliefs, views and ideas about sexual assertiveness: a focus group study in Cuenca (Ecuador). J Sex Res. 2020;57(3):307-21. doi:10.1080/00224499.2019.1615031.
33. Manago AM, Ward LM, Aldana A. The sexual experience of Latino young adults in college and their perceptions of values about sex communicated by their parents and friends. Emerg Adulthood. 2015;3(1):14-23. doi:10.1177/2167696814536165.
34. Liu T, Fuller J, Hutton A, Grant J. Factors shaping parent–adolescent communication about sexuality in urban China. Sex Educ. 2017;17(2):180-94. doi:10.1080/14681811.2016.1276897.
35. Newman I, Ding L, Feng Y. Estimate of undergraduate university student alcohol use in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Public Health. 2017;75:52. doi:10.1186/s13690-017-0220-x.
36. Ford JV, Choi J, Walsh K, Wall M, Mellins CA, Reardon L, et al. Using a daily diary approach to examine substance use and negative sexual experiences among college students. Arch Sex Behav. 2021;50(1):277-87. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01714-x.
37. Zhang L, Qian H, Fu H. To be thin but not healthy-the body‐image dilemma may affect health among female university students in China. Plos One. 2018;13(10): e0205282. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0205282.
38. Shen Y, Wang L, Huang C, Guo J, De Leon SA, Lu J, et al. Sex differences in prevalence, risk factors and clinical correlates of internet addiction among Chinese college students. J Affect Disord. 2021;279:680-686. doi:10. 1016/j.jad.2020.10.054. Epub 2020 Oct 29.
39. Grower P, Ward LM, Trekels J. Expanding models testing media contributions to self-sexualization. SAGE Open. 2019; April-June:1-14. doi:10.1177/2158244019848905.
2. Morokoff PJ, Quina K, Harlow LL, Whitmire L, Grimley DM, Gibson PR, et al. Sexual Assertiveness Scale (SAS) for women: development and validation. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1997;73(4):790-804. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.73.4.790.
3. Bhochhibhoya S, Maness SB, Cheney M, Larson D. Risk factors for sexual violence among college students in dating relationships: an ecological approach. J Interpers Violence. 2019; Mar 22:1-25. doi:10.1177/0886260519835875.
4. Alvarado SLL, Van Parys H, Jerves E, Enzlin P. Development of sexual assertiveness and its function for human sexuality: a literature review. Interam J Psychol, 2020;54(2): e948. doi:10.30849/ripijp.v54i2.948.
5. Zhang H, Xie L, Lo SST, Fan S, Yip P. Female sexual assertiveness and sexual satisfaction among Chinese couples in Hong Kong: a dyadic approach. J Sex Res. 2021 Feb 2:1-9. doi:10.1080/00224499.2021.1875187.
6. Sakaluk JK, Todd LM, Milhausen R, Lachowsky NJ. Dominant heterosexual sexual scripts in emerging adulthood: conceptualization and measurement. J Sex Res. 2014;51(5): 516-31. doi:10.1080/00224499.2012.745473.
7. Xiao Q, Li A, Zhu Y. Moral judgments on short-term sexual behaviors among Chinese college students: exploring the roles of gender and physical attractiveness. Front Psychol. 2017;8:191. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00191.
8. Lyu J, Shen X, Hesketh T. Sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviors among undergraduate students in China—implications for sex education. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020; 17(18):6716. doi:10.3390/ijerph17186716.
9. Siebler K. Student-centered pedagogy in the Chinese classroom: let's talk about sexual empowerment. J Educ Soc Policy. 2018;5(1):200-10.
10. Wang L, Zhang, KL, Yuan, JX. Study on assertiveness and sexual practice among medical graduate students. J Chin AIDS/STD Prev Cont. 2000;6(6):351-53 (in Chinese).
11. Onuoha FN, Munakata T. Correlates of adolescent assertiveness with HIV avoidance in a four-nation sample. Adolescence. 2005;40(159):525-32.
12. Sallis JF, Owen N, Fisher EB. Ecological models of health behavior. 2008. In: Glanz K, Rimer BK, Viswanath K. Health behavior and health education: theory, research, and practice; 2008, p. 465-85.
13. Tylka TL, Wood-Barcalow NL. The Body Appreciation Scale-2: item refinement and psychometric evaluation. Body Image. 2015;12:53-67. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim. 2014.09.006.
14. Grower P, Ward LM. Examining the unique contribution of body appreciation to heterosexual women's sexual agency. Body Image. 2018;27:138-47. doi: 10.1016/j. bodyim.2018.09.003.
15. Lefkowitz ES, Waterman EA, Morgan NR, Maggs, JL. College students' perceptions of the links between alcohol use and sexual experiences. Emerg Adulthood. 2016; 4(4):272-83. doi:10.1177/2167696815610694.
16. Trinh SL, Ward LM, Day K, Thomas K, Levin D. Contributions of divergent peer and parent sexual messages to Asian American college students' sexual behaviors. J Sex Res. 2014;51(2):208-20. doi:10.1080/00224499.2012.721099.
17. Harlow LL, Quina K, Morokoff PJ, Rose JS, Grimley DM. HIV risk in women: a multifaceted model. J Appl Biobehav Res. 1993;1(1):3-38. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9861.1993. tb00025.x.
18. Wu H, Luo S, Espinosa-Hernández G, Klettner A, White TD, Li H. Relating gender to sex: gendered attitudes, sexual double standard, sexual intentions and behaviors in two Chinese adolescent samples. J Sex Res. 2021;58(1): 29-40. doi:10.1080/00224499.2019.1695098.
19. Bouchard L, Humphreys TP. Asserting sexual (dis) interest: how do women's capabilities differ? Can J Hum Sex. 2019;28(2):226-41. doi:10.3138/cjhs.2019-0012.
20. Seabrook RC, Ward LM, Cortina LM, Giaccardi S, Lippman JR. Girl power or powerless girl? Television, sexual scripts, and sexual agency in sexually active young women. Psychol Women Q. 2017;41(2):240-53. doi:10.1177/0361684316677028.
21. Ward LM, Jerald M, Avery L, Cole ER. Following their lead? Connecting mainstream media use to black women's gender beliefs and sexual agency. J Sex Res. 2020;57(2):200-12. doi:10.1080/00224499.2018.1554741.
22. Polit DF, Beck CT. Nursing research: generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health; 2017.
23. Milhausen RR, Sakaluk JK, Fisher TD, Davis CM, Yarber WL. Handbook of sexuality-related measures. Routledge; 2019.
24. Rosen LD, Whaling K, Carrier LM, Cheever NA, Rokkum J. The media and technology usage and attitudes scale: an empirical investigation. Comput Human Behav. 2013; 29(6):2501-11.
25. World Health Organization. Process of translation and adaptation of instruments. 2019 [cited 2019 December 26]. Available from: https://www.who.int/substance_abuse/research_tools/translation/en/
26. Best JK, Kahn JV. Research in education. Boston: Pearson Education Inc; 2006.
27. Swami V, Ng SK, Barron D. Translation and psychometric evaluation of a Standard Chinese version of the Body Appreciation Scale-2. Body Image. 2016;18:23-6. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim. 2016.04.005.
28. Li B, Shen YC, Zhang BQ, Zheng XH, Wang XG. The test of AUDIT in China. Chin Ment Health J. 2003;17(1):1-3 (in Chinese).
29. IBM Corp. IBM SPSS Statistics for Macintosh, Version 25.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp; Released 2017.
30. Zuo X, Lou C, Gao E, Lian Q, Shah IH. Gender role attitudes, awareness and experiences of non-consensual sex among university students in Shanghai, China. Reprod Health. 2018;15(1):49. doi:10.1186/s12978-018-0491-x.
31. Wang H, Long L, Cai H, Wu Y, Xu J, Shu C, et al. Contraception and unintended pregnancy among unmarried female university students: a cross-sectional study from China. PloS One. 2015;10(6):e0130212. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0130212.
32. López-Alvarado S, Van Parys H, Cevallos-Neira A, Enzlin P. Latin American women' s beliefs, views and ideas about sexual assertiveness: a focus group study in Cuenca (Ecuador). J Sex Res. 2020;57(3):307-21. doi:10.1080/00224499.2019.1615031.
33. Manago AM, Ward LM, Aldana A. The sexual experience of Latino young adults in college and their perceptions of values about sex communicated by their parents and friends. Emerg Adulthood. 2015;3(1):14-23. doi:10.1177/2167696814536165.
34. Liu T, Fuller J, Hutton A, Grant J. Factors shaping parent–adolescent communication about sexuality in urban China. Sex Educ. 2017;17(2):180-94. doi:10.1080/14681811.2016.1276897.
35. Newman I, Ding L, Feng Y. Estimate of undergraduate university student alcohol use in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Public Health. 2017;75:52. doi:10.1186/s13690-017-0220-x.
36. Ford JV, Choi J, Walsh K, Wall M, Mellins CA, Reardon L, et al. Using a daily diary approach to examine substance use and negative sexual experiences among college students. Arch Sex Behav. 2021;50(1):277-87. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01714-x.
37. Zhang L, Qian H, Fu H. To be thin but not healthy-the body‐image dilemma may affect health among female university students in China. Plos One. 2018;13(10): e0205282. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0205282.
38. Shen Y, Wang L, Huang C, Guo J, De Leon SA, Lu J, et al. Sex differences in prevalence, risk factors and clinical correlates of internet addiction among Chinese college students. J Affect Disord. 2021;279:680-686. doi:10. 1016/j.jad.2020.10.054. Epub 2020 Oct 29.
39. Grower P, Ward LM, Trekels J. Expanding models testing media contributions to self-sexualization. SAGE Open. 2019; April-June:1-14. doi:10.1177/2158244019848905.
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2021-09-03
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Dai F, Fongkaew W, Lirtmunlikaporn S, Viseskul N, Chaloumsuk N. Predictors of the Sexual Assertiveness Among Chinese Female College Students: A Cross-sectional Study. PRIJNR [Internet]. 2021 Sep. 3 [cited 2024 Nov. 5];25(4):626-38. Available from: https://he02.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/PRIJNR/article/view/253366
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