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Parental involvement and adolescents' attitudes towards sexual abstinence
Author
Neo, Lay Pin
Supervisor
Khoo, Angeline
Abstract
As there is a dearth of information on adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviour in Singapore, this study seeks to provide people who interact and work with adolescents with a better understanding of the adolescents' attitudes towards sexual abstinence. It examines the influence of parent involvement, individual and school factors on Singapore adolescents' attitudes towards sexual abstinence. The relationship between parental involvement subscales and abstinence as well as the relationship between demographic variables and abstinence are also studied. This study also attempts to investigate and identify the predictors of adolescents' positive attitudes towards sexual abstinence from each class of factors.
The sample of the study consists of 214 Secondary Three students from 2 neighbourhood schools. They were invited to complete a questionnaire over a 30 minutes period in a classroom setting. The questionnaire consists of a few sections. They include demographic information of the participants, religious participation, perception of parental involvement, perception of abstinence and perception of sexuality education in school.
In support of some studies done in other countries, the results of this study revealed that there are moderate correlations between all parental involvement variables and abstinence. Parent-child communication in general and parental monitoring influence and predict adolescents' positive attitudes towards sexual abstinence. Besides the familial factors, religion also plays a significant role in affecting adolescents' attitudes. Adolescents with high religiosity are more positive in their attitudes. This study found that there is statistically significant gender difference in abstinence score between Singapore female and male adolescents. In addition, there is a significant interaction of gender and religiosity towards positive attitudes towards sexual abstinence. Male adolescents with high religiosity are more positive in their attitudes towards sexual abstinence compared to female adolescents with high religiosity. This study also showed that sexuality education in school influences adolescents' attitudes. It was found that adolescents' sexual attitudes become more positive and healthier with sexuality education in school.
With an insight into the factors that influence and predict adolescents' attitudes towards sexual abstinence, implications for parents, religious leaders and educators were discussed and some suggestions were made.
The sample of the study consists of 214 Secondary Three students from 2 neighbourhood schools. They were invited to complete a questionnaire over a 30 minutes period in a classroom setting. The questionnaire consists of a few sections. They include demographic information of the participants, religious participation, perception of parental involvement, perception of abstinence and perception of sexuality education in school.
In support of some studies done in other countries, the results of this study revealed that there are moderate correlations between all parental involvement variables and abstinence. Parent-child communication in general and parental monitoring influence and predict adolescents' positive attitudes towards sexual abstinence. Besides the familial factors, religion also plays a significant role in affecting adolescents' attitudes. Adolescents with high religiosity are more positive in their attitudes. This study found that there is statistically significant gender difference in abstinence score between Singapore female and male adolescents. In addition, there is a significant interaction of gender and religiosity towards positive attitudes towards sexual abstinence. Male adolescents with high religiosity are more positive in their attitudes towards sexual abstinence compared to female adolescents with high religiosity. This study also showed that sexuality education in school influences adolescents' attitudes. It was found that adolescents' sexual attitudes become more positive and healthier with sexuality education in school.
With an insight into the factors that influence and predict adolescents' attitudes towards sexual abstinence, implications for parents, religious leaders and educators were discussed and some suggestions were made.
Date Issued
2004
Call Number
HQ800.15 Neo
Date Submitted
2004