The Influencing Factors of Comprehensive Sexuality Education Capacity and Its Correlation with Subjective Social Status among Chinese Junior High School Students

Abstract

(1) Objective: Evidence suggests that comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) can protect and empower younger generations to advocate for their reproductive health and wellbeing. This survey aims to investigate the current status and influencing factors of CSE among Chinese junior high school students, and to evaluate its correlation with the learning experience of sex education and subjective social status (SSS) to provide evidence for the implementation of CSE in the future. (2) Methods: A total of 4109 participants aged 11 to 16 years were recruited using data from a cross-sectional survey among junior high school students in China in 2021. CSE knowledge, attitude, and skills were used to generate the CSE comprehensive capacity by a principal component analysis. One-way ANOVA was used to assess the different effects of school sex education and family sex education. Multiple linear regression was used to assess the association between CSE comprehensive capacity and SSS. (3) Results: The average score of CSE comprehensive capacity was 82.44 ± 8.60 (with a total score of 100 points) among participants. After the adjustment, subjective social status was positively related to CSE comprehensive capacity (B = 0.28, 95% CI: 0.20–0.36), and SSS (School) (beta = 0.62) had a higher impact on CSE comprehensive capacity compared to SSS (Family) (beta = −0.10). School sex education was associated with the CSE knowledge level with a larger magnitude compared to family sex education (mean deviation = −0.53, p = 0.031), whereas family sex education was related to the CSE skill level with a greater magnitude (mean deviation =1.14, p = 0.005). (4) Conclusions: These findings suggest that sex education at school and within the family might have a different impact on CSE capacity, which was positively associated with SSS among junior high school students.