The Relationship among Adolescents' Knowledge, Attitudes and Behavior toward Masturbation: The Case Study on the Third-grade students of Senior High (Vocational) Schools in Kaohsiung Cit

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This study aims to disclose the correlation within adolescents’ masturbation knowledge, attitude and behavior. The purpose of this study are to (a) explore the current masturbation knowledge, attitude and behavior in senior high (vocational) school students in Kaohsiung city; (b) identify the correlation among their masturbation knowledge, attitude and behavior; (c) identify the predictors of masturbation knowledge and attitude. This study is conducted by document analysis, questionnaires survey and statistical analysis. The research tools are “adolescent masturbation knowledge scale”, “adolescent masturbation negative attitude scale” and “adolescent masturbation behavior scale”. The sample consists of 774 students from third graders of senior high (vocational) schools in Kaohsiung city and there are totally 755 valid questionnaires. The data obtained is analyzed, using SPSS for Window, with methods such as descriptive statistics, scheffe post hoc test, Independent-Samples T test, Chi-square Test, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple regression. The main findings are as follows: 1. The mean score of masturbation knowledge is located on medium. Masturbation attitude is scored towards positiveness and its sub-items “masturbation and sex”, “masturbation and morality” and “masturbation and worry” are positive. 2. Among those who have masturbation experience, 31.2% had the first masturbation experience at the age of 13-14, 28.5% do it 4-7 times per month, 79.4% use sexual media, 14.8% use sexual tools, 4.0% do it with friends and 1.9% have auto-erotic asphyxia and all are boys. The study shows that no matter they have sex experience or not, they choose masturbation when sexual desires come. 42.8% of those who have masturbation experience express that they choose to masturbation when they have desires for sex and 62.6% said they do masturbation by touching their sexual organs. 3. Sampled students are different in their knowledge of masturbation depending on whether they are in high school or vocational school, how often they are exposed to sex information, whether or not they have sex experience and how often they communicate with their friends of the same gender about masturbation. It is found that those who are exposed to sex information more than 10 times per month, often talk with friends of the same gender about masturbation and have sex experience know masturbation much better. 4. Sampled students are different in their attitudes toward masturbation depending on school system (regular or vocational), gender, sexual organ, the frequency of being exposed to sex information, the existence of sex experience and masturbation experience, and the frequency of communicating with their friends of the same gender about masturbation. The result shows that sampled boy students who are in senior high school, are satisfied with their sexual organs, are exposed to sex information more than 10 times per month, often talk with their friends of the same gender about masturbation, sometimes talk with their friends of the opposite gender about masturbation have more positive attitudes toward masturbation. 5. How the profile characteristics of the 3rd graders of senior high and vocational school in Kaohsiung city effect their masturbation behaviors are as follows: a. when it comes to “his/her age of the first masturbation experience, the following items all reach “Statistics Standard”: gender, the frequency of being exposed to sex information, the communication with his/her father about masturbation and the communication with friends about masturbation b. when it comes to “masturbation frequency”, the following items all reach “Statistics Standard”: gender, sexual organ, the frequency of being exposed to sex information, the communication with his/her father about masturbation and the communication with friends about masturbation c. when it comes to “the usage of sexual media”, the following items all reach “Statistics Standard”: gender, sexual organ, and the communication with friends of the same gender about masturbation d. when it comes to “the usage of sexual tool”, the following items all reach “Statistics Standard”: gender, the existence of sexual experience, the communication with his/her father about masturbation and the communication with friends about masturbation e. when it comes to “doing masturbation with friends”, the following items all reach “Statistics Standard”: study performance, how tall his/her is, the communication with his/her father about masturbation and the communication with friends about masturbation 6. The correlation between masturbation knowledge and masturbation attitude of the 3rd graders of senior high (vocational) schools in Kaohsiung city are positive. The better the students know masturbation, the more positive the students’ attitudes toward masturbation are. The correlation within “masturbation vs. sex”, “masturbation vs. morality” and “masturbation worry” are positive in “masturbation knowledge” and “masturbation attitude”. 7. “his/her age of the first masturbation experience”, “the frequency of masturbation” and “the usage of sexual media” are important factors in “masturbation knowledge”. Those who had the first masturbation experience at the age of 11-12, do masturbation 12 times per month, and use sexual media almost each time when doing masturbation know masturbation better. 8. “his/her age of the first masturbation experience”, “the frequency of masturbation”, “the usage of sexual media” are important factors in “masturbation attitude”, “ masturbation and sex”, and “masturbation and morality”; “the frequency of masturbation” and “the usage of sexual media” are important factors in “masturbation worry”. Those who had the first masturbation experience at the age of 11-12, do masturbation 12 times per month, and use sexual media almost each time are more positive in “masturbation attitude”, “masturbation and sex” and “masturbation and. morality”. In addition, those who do masturbation more than 12 times per month and use sexual media during masturbation worry less about masturbation. 9. “Masturbation attitude” “school system” and “existence of masturbation experience” are the predictors of masturbation knowledge. The explained is 32.7% and the item “masturbation attitude” performs greater. 10. “Masturbation knowledge”, “existence of masturbation experience”, “frequency of being exposed to sexual information” and “the existence of sex experience” are the predictors of masturbation attitude. The explained is 39.5% and the item “masturbation knowledge” performs greater. Based on the findings of the study, further suggestions are offered for future studies.