The purpose of this study was to examine the level of knowledge and the attitudes of Korean adults toward sexuality of elderly people.

This was a descriptive study using a convenience sample of 241 adults. The questionnaire had 34 items for knowledge and 26 items for attitudes.

The result showed that, related to sexuality of elderly people, the level of knowledge was average and attitudes were conservative. The level of knowledge was significantly higher in groups that were highly educated and of low economic status (p<.05). Attitudes toward sexuality of elderly people were significantly more conservative in female, older, less educated, and high economic status group.

The findings suggest a need for more education for Korean adults regarding sexuality in elderly people.

The purpose of this study was to examine risk factors for sexual behaviors in Korean female high school students.

Data was collected by a written questionnaire from June 22 to July 18, 2002 from 522 girls, who were stratified samples from a target population of 63,375 11th grade students from 200 regular high schools and 70 vocational high schools in Seoul, Korea. We conducted multiple regression analysis using the SAS pc+ program.

Risk factors for intimate behaviors were association with boy friends, differential association, family attachment, and family abuse experience. These variables cause 68% of intimate behaviors. Risk factors for sexual experiences were differential association, association with boy friend, and family attachment. These variables cause 14% of sexual experiences.

Efforts to reduce sexual behaviors in girls should include the possible role of peers and develop peer leader programs.

This cross-sectional survey was conducted to describe the sexuality of Korean women after menopause using a national sample, and to examine relationships between the sexuality and demographic, body mass index, and life style factors including smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity.

From Dec. 20, 1998 to April 30, 1999, 2196 naturally postmenopausal women aged between 41 and 65 years were recruited by a disproportional stratified random sampling method from 7 metropolitans and 6 provinces in Korea. The questionnaire was used to obtain information on the demographic characteristics, life style factors, body mass index, and sexual activities.

The findings show that the frequency of intercourse after menopause decreased among most of postmenopausal Korean women (64.5%). The frequency of women reported their sexual activity as satisfactory was higher among women doing physical activity, not smoking, with higher educational status, with middle socioeconomic status, without sleep disturbance, with lower body mass index, and with good subjective health status.

Further studies need to be designed as the longitudinal studies with larger random samples and better measures of sexuality.

This study was conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the Sexuality Attitudes and Beliefs Survey (SABS) and to assess SABS for Korean nurses.

The Korean version of SABS was developed through forward-backward translation techniques. Internal consistency reliability and construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis were conducted using PASW+ PC Win (18.0) and AMOS (18.0). Data were collected from 567 nurses who worked in one of six general hospitals across the country.

The Korean version of SABS showed a reliable internal consistency with Cronbach's α of subscales ranging from .59 to .73. Factor loadings of the 10 items of three subscales ranged from .38 to .83. The three subscales model were validated by confirmatory factor analysis (GFI>.97, RMSEA<.05). Sexuality attitudes and beliefs for Korean nurses were more negative than that of European or American nurses. The SABS scores for Korean nurses were significantly different according to age, marriage, education, clinical experiences, and feeling about sexuality.

The Korean version of SABS has satisfactory construct validity and reliability to measure Korean nurses' attitudes and belief toward sexuality. Education is essential to enhance importance and self-efficacy and to relieve barriers to addressing patients' sexuality.