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. 2006 Sep 18;6:232. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-6-232

Table 3.

Period of first awareness of sex, exposure to pornographic media, attitude toward sex by gender and grade

Characteristics Male (%) Female (%)

Grade I (n = 3728) Grade II (n = 3308) Grade III (n = 2949) Grade IV (n = 1270) Total (n = 11255) P value* Grade I (n = 3708) Grade II (n = 3375) Grade III (n = 2869) Grade IV (n = 1286) Total (n = 11238) P value*
Period became aware of sex
Before high school 65.6 59.0 52.8 52.5 58.8 <0.001 42.3 32.3 30.0 26.7 34.4 <0.00
High school 32.6 36.6 39.3 37.2 36.1 51.9 52.3 45.1 41.4 49.1 1
University 1.3 3.8 7.4 9.8 4.6 5.5 15.1 24.7 31.4 16.2
Missing 0.4 0.7 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.5 0.3

First exposure to pornographic media†
Early (≤ 16 year-old) 44.4 31.8 29.8 28.5 35.1 <0.001 10.0 6.8 5.6 3.4 7.2 <0.00
Late (≥ 17 year-old) 27.3 40.4 46.2 52.3 38.9 7.6 13.4 19.9 22.3 14.2 1
Never 19.1 11.2 8.4 8.3 12.8 80.4 77.5 71.0 70.9 76.0
Age unknown/Missing‡ 9.2 16.6 15.6 10.9 13.2 2.0 2.4 3.4 3.3 2.6

First exposure to pornographic website
Early (≤ 16 year-old) 13.7 7.0 3.2 1.8 7.6 <0.001 0.9 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.5 <0.00
Late (≥ 17 year-old) 42.5 55.0 67.1 75.4 56.3 5.0 8.2 15.4 15.9 9.8 1
Never 35.7 22.3 14.9 11.5 23.6 93.3 90.1 81.9 81.3 88.1
Age unknown/Missing‡ 8.1 15.7 14.9 11.3 12.5 0.9 1.2 2.5 2.6 1.6

Meet a girl/boy friend over the Internet
Yes 51.3 49.4 52.2 52.2 51.1 0.31 42.9 40.6 47.1 47.0 43.8 <0.00
No 48.4 50.3 47.5 47.6 48.6 56.9 59.3 52.9 52.9 56.1 1
Missing 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1

Approve of sex during high school
Disapprove 61.1 60.9 61.5 71.1 62.3 <0.001 84.0 87.3 86.8 88.5 86.2 <0.00
Approve/Don't know 37.2 35.4 35.6 27.6 35.2 15.4 12.0 12.3 10.3 13.0 1
Missing 1.7 3.7 2.9 1.3 2.6 0.6 0.7 0.9 1.2 0.8

Approve of sex before marriage
Disapprove 14.1 12.0 9.4 12.4 12.1 <0.001 36.4 29.7 26.7 26.2 30.8 <0.00
Approve/Don't know 83.4 83.5 86.6 85.8 84.5 62.6 69.0 71.9 72.2 68.0 1
Missing 2.5 4.5 4.0 1.7 3.4 1.0 1.3 1.3 1.6 1.2

Approve of commercial sex
Disapprove 69.9 68.4 63.4 65.3 67.3 <0.001 86.5 85.4 83.2 83.1 84.9 <0.00
Approve/Don't know 28.1 27.8 33.4 32.9 29.9 12.9 13.9 15.8 15.6 14.2 1
Missing 2.0 3.8 3.2 1.8 2.8 0.7 0.7 1.0 1.2 0.8

*Chi square test for linear trend in proportion.

† Including pornographic novel, magazine, and/or video.

‡ Missing cases are less than 1% for each grade among both male and female students.