Korean J Child Health Nurs.  2000 Oct;6(3):329-343.

A Study on Korean Gender Egalitarianism among High School Students

• Kim JY
• Ahn CS

Abstract

This study was conducted to measure the degree of Korean Gender Egalitarianism among the students from six different high schools(132 girls, 127 boys) in Sunchon si, Chunnam province from Dec. 7th to Dec. 15th in 1999. The survey on gender egalitarianism was done in relation to the public understanding of the subject matter, parents' hug times, and parent's communication skills. Korean gender egalitarianism scale was standardized by Korea Woman Developmental Institutes in 1999. The data was analyzed by SAS program. Results were as follows: 1) Generally, girls are more conscious of gender egalitariannism than boys(t=-13.79, p < .001). Above all, the younger the students are, the more they feel equal(F=8.01, p < .01). In sibling cases, two sisters have the highest level of gender egalitarianism while two brothers have the lowest level of gender egalitarianism(F=9.20, p < .001). Students who come from religious families are more inclined to demonstrate gender equality(t= 2.42, p < .05). However, there is no diffrence in relation to the parents' ages or academic background or harmony within the family. 2)There is no difference that girls and boys generally communicate with their parents. In ages, 17 years old students communicate more than 18, 19 with parents(father F=3.97 p < .05?mother F=5.31, p < .01). That is, the younger students can communicate with their mothers more often than the older ones. In sibling cases, two sisters have more openly communication to parents while two brothers have(F=2.84, p < .05). Students communicate with their parents regardless of parents' academic background. But those from the family in harmony have more open chance to communicate than those who are not in hamony(father F=21.66, p < .001?mother F=13.37, p < .001). They can comm -unicate with their parents better when their fathers hug them than when they didn't get hugs(father t=-4.76, p < .001? mother t=-2.34, p < .05). They can also communicate with their patents better when their mothers hug them once or more than when they didn't get hugs(father t=-3.78, p < .001?mother t=-5.64, p < .001). 3) There is no diffrence whether the father hugs or not, but the mother's hug is very important because students whose mothers hug them once or more have significantly more gender egalitarianism than those students whose mothers didn't do(t=-3.98, p < .001). Based upon these results, it is recommended that we reconsider the role of gender in the socialization of high school students and also include gender egalitarianism in sex education. In this context, further study should be done for the improvement of students' communication within the framework of egalitarianism based upon parents' hugs(semi-language). Continued study is especially important in regards to the mother's hug and its enhancement of the students' gender egalitarianism.

MeSH Terms

Academies and Institutes
Adolescent
Fathers
Female
Humans
Jeollanam-do
Korea
Mothers
Parents
Sex Education
Siblings
Socialization
Child Health