Korean J Women Health Nurs.  2002 Mar;8(1):20-33.

A Study of Factors Influencing Adolescent Attitudes toward Sexual Violence

• Kim HK

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to afford basic data for planning a program to strategically prevent adolescent sexual violence by clarifying the concept of sexual violence in adolescence and investigating factors influencing the adolescent attitudes towards sexual violence. Subjects of the study were 288 adolescents between the ages of 14 to 21, living in K city in Chungnam Province. The data was collected for this study between May 30 and June 13, 2001. For this study, the following materials were used as instruments: the types of attitudes toward sexual violence developed by Nam, S. Y.(2000), the antisocial personality by Min, B. K., Choi, S. J., & Lee, G. H.(1978), the self-esteem developed by Rosenberg(1965) and interpreted by Jeon, B. J.(1974), the family support developed by Cobb(1976), the stereotyped sex role and the attitude on sexuality by Kim, E. J.(1997). The data was analyzed, using SPSS 7.5 for Windows Program, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and discriminant analysis. The results of this study were as follows: 1. Adolescents of the first type, ones blaming social morals, amounted to 34.7%(100 subjects), the second type, ones blaming the victims, amounted to 22.3%(64 subjects), the third type, ones claiming reform of consciousness, amounted to 25.3%(73 subjects), and the fourth type, ones coping actively, amounted to 17.7%(51 subjects). 2. Attitudes toward sexual violence were influenced a great deal by the sex of the subject. 3. The study revealed that various types of the attitudes toward sexual violence was significantly different from one another, related to antisocial personality(F=2.80, P= .04). Especially the first type and the third type were most different from each other. The latter showed the antisocial personality strongly, compared with the former. 4. Discriminant analysis revealed that the most powerful predictors of attitudes toward sexual violence were the sex of the subject and whether or not they had an antisocial personality. 5. The degree of possibility of identifying a risk group of adolescents was 45.9% and the possibility of identifying a non-risk group was 73.3%. The hit ratio was 67.8%. In conclusion, the results of the study lead us to understand the type of adolescent attitudes toward sexual violence. The results will be useful to furnish a guideline for nursing intervention and education programs to prevent sexual violence in adolescence.

MeSH Terms

Adolescent*
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Chungcheongnam-do
Consciousness
Education
Gender Identity
Humans
Morals
Nursing
Sex Offenses*
Sexuality