Sexual Autonomy in College Students

This study was to add to the understanding of sexual autonomy in college students in Korea. A descriptive survey design was used.

The participants in this study were 1,865 college students from 13 colleges, The questionnaire consisted of 15 items on general characteristics and 13 items measuring sexual autonomy. The SPSS 10.0 program was used for data analysis.

The global score for sexual autonomy was relatively high at 55.24 with a possible range of 13~65. The item on sexual autonomy with the highest score were, ‘ I can prevent repeated STD infections’ and the item with the lowest sexual autonomy score was ‘ I can speak clearly about having intercourse’. Factors related to sexual autonomy were identified as gender, parents' attitude, year in university, experience with STD prevention and experience with pregnancy prevention. The score for sexual autonomy was lower in male college students (p= .000), students whose parents' attitudes to sex were vague, first year students (p=.000), students who had little experience with prevention of STDs (p= .002), students who had little experience with prevention of pregnancy (p=.001).

The results showed that in setting priorities for sex education the following groups of students should be given first priority, male students, students whose parents' attitudes to sex were vague, first year students, students who have not had experience with prevention of STDs, and students who have not had experience with prevention of pregnancy.