Graduation Year

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Degree Granting Department

Mass Communications

Major Professor

Kelly Page Werder, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Yao Sun, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Kimberly Walker, Ph.D.

Keywords

Chinese parents, sex education in China, promote sex education for children

Abstract

In China, "sex" is a sensitive, even taboo topic. In this special cultural background, the lack of sex education for children is worthy of attention. This study aims to extend the Situational Theory of Public (STP) to the field of sex education for children. The results of an online questionnaire survey among 424 Chinese parents show that a high degree of problem recognition and high level of participation in child sex education will lead Chinese parents to actively search for relevant information on this issue. Being able to identify children's sex education problems, having a low barrier to solving the problem and having a strong perceptual connection to the problem will trigger Chinese parents' passive information processing of the problem. But feeling oneself can influence the outcome of the question without triggering an active search for information. The results also found that the level of involvement was the key factor leading Chinese parents to actively seek relevant information and become active publics. Thus, this study suggests holding online or offline sex education campaigns to publicize the advantages and disadvantages of early childhood sex education in accordance with Chinese law. The researcher suggest that future studies should expand the regional distribution of participants, add qualitative research methods such as interviews, and take cultural factors as reference standards for data measurement. This study hopes to promote the development of children's sex education in China and help Chinese parents to improve their knowledge of and participation in children's sex education.

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