Author(s)

Hang Li

Corresponding Author

Hang Li

Abstract

Teenage sex education has become a more and more widely-discussed topic in China. In this study, I designed a standardized online experiment to collect data from students of a high school in Foshan city. The experiment aims to study the extent of teenagers’ sex education and their attitudes towards teen mothers. Results show that participants’ attitudes and behaviors change after reading the materials on teen pregnancy and sex education. The direction and extent of changes vary depending on the relationship to the teenage mother and gender of the participant. Moreover, participants’ mean extent of self-reported knowledge about sexual behavior and teenage pregnancy decreases after reading the materials. Interestingly, although both boys and girls change their ideal time of first pregnancy, boys tend to postpone the pregnancy while girls tend to have their first pregnancy sooner. The findings and results of this study shed light on both empirical and policymaking aspects of sex education in China.

Keywords

Sex education, Teenage pregnancy, Attitudes, China