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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 20(4)

East–west disparities in safer sex inside China: a sociocultural perspective

Lin Zhang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4051-0772 A # , Yi Mou https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6836-5933 A # and Jilong Wang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8104-574X A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Media & Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

* Correspondence to: jlwang@sjtu.edu.cn

Handling Editor: Huachun Zou

Sexual Health 20(4) 323-329 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH22025
Submitted: 1 February 2022  Accepted: 27 March 2023   Published: 24 April 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Background: This study responds to the increasing rate of HIV/AIDS and unplanned pregnancies among Chinese college students from a sociocultural perspective, and investigates the influences of sociocultural factors in shaping sex-related beliefs and acts among Chinese college students.

Methods: An online survey was conducted on a purposive sample of 1286 female college students in four cities in east and west China.

Results: Significant east–west disparities have emerged in the rate of sexual intercourse experience, rate of safer sex, conservative sexual values, authority sex education, unofficial sex knowledge access and HIV knowledge. A higher rate of sexual activity, but lower rate of safer sex, were found among the students in the west relative to those in the east.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that in a large country, such as China, regional disparities in economy, social development and sexual norms are salient to affect individuals’ sexual behaviours.

Keywords: Chinese college students, conservative sexual value, east–west disparity, HIV knowledge, online survey, safer sex, sex knowledge access channel, sociocultural perspective.


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