The gender-specific associations between perceived parenting and sexual-related behaviors among secondary vocational school students in China: a cross-sectional study

Simin Xu¹Xiayun Zuo¹Yan Cheng¹Yan Jin²Yuhang Fang¹Yujia Zheng¹Chunyan Yu¹Qiguo Lian¹Chaohua Lou¹Lihe Li³Ping Hong³Xiaowen Tu^1*

• ¹Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China
• ²Shaanxi Xin Hang Public Health Research Center, Xi’an, China
• ³China Family Planning Association, Beijing, China

Background Although parenting practices are closely linked to adolescent sexual-related behaviors, few studies have been conducted to explore the links between them in Chinese culture, which is characterized by unique familial expectations and conservative values regarding sexuality. Compared to their academic high school counterparts,secondary vocational school students exhibit elevated sexual activity and risk. The study investigates the gender-specific associations between paternal and maternal parenting and sexual-related behaviors among this group. Methods A self-report questionnaire was employed to collect data from a cross-sectional study conducted among 3,237 secondary vocational school students from April to June in 2021 in Shanghai Municipality and Shaanxi Province in China. Perceived parenting was assessed using validated scales measuring connectedness, behavioral monitoring, and psychological control. A two-level multivariable logistic regression model was used to examine the associations between perceived parenting and sexual-related behaviors using both variable-centered and person-centered modeling approaches. The latter is based on latent profile analysis that identifies distinct groups of individuals with similar patterns of parenting behaviors. Results Variable-centered analysis showed that paternal connectedness was negatively associated with romantic relationships (aOR=0.82, 95%CI= 0.71~0.94) and intimate behaviors (aOR=0.83, 95%CI= 0.71~0.97) for girls. For boys, paternal and maternal behavioral monitoring were negatively associated with intimate behaviors (paternal: aOR=0.86, 95%CI=0.75~0.98; maternal: aOR=0.83, 95%CI=0.73~0.95) and sexual intercourse (paternal: aOR=0.69, 95%CI=0.51~0.92; maternal: aOR=0.69, 95%CI=0.51~0.92), and paternal psychological control (aOR=1.17, 95%CI= 1.00~1.36) was positively associated with pornography use. Maternal connectedness and psychological control were not associated with students' sexual-related behaviors (P>0.05). Person-centered analysis also shows gender differences in associations between parenting style and sexual-related behaviors. Compared with authoritative parenting, free-range and tiger parenting were positively associated with romantic relationships (free-range: aOR=1.65, 95%CI=1.05~2.60; tiger: aOR=1.71, 95%CI=1.01~2.89) and intimate behaviors (free-range: aOR=1.82, 95%CI=1.24~2.66; tiger: aOR=1.79, 95%CI=1.21~2.64) in girls; whereas free-range (aOR=3.93, 95%CI=1.52~10.15), monitoring (aOR=3.25, 95%CI=1.20~8.77), psychological control (aOR=3.69, 95%CI=1.33~10.28) and tiger parenting (aOR=4.47, 95%CI=1.39~14.39) were positively associated with pornography use in boys. Conclusions Parental-child connectedness, behavioral monitoring and authoritative parenting style are negatively associated with sexual-related behaviors among secondary vocational school students with some gender differences. It is necessary to develop school-based interventions to encourage authoritative parenting styles and improve gender-specific parenting