A cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess the opinion of 20-49 years old men and women in urban and rural areas on the Pcsociation with opposite sex and the pregnancy before marriage. A questionnaire was administered to 1,426 men and women (749 in Taegu City and 677 in Kyungsan County) who were randomly selected with consideration of age, sex and educational level from March 1 to March 31, 1988.
Regarding offspring´s association with opposite sex before marriage, the negative response rate was lower for the neighbor´s offspring than for the respondents own offspring, lower for son than for daughter, and was decreased as the age of offspring increased. And the negative response rate was lower in male respondents than´, in female respondents, in urban respondents than in rural respondents, and the negative response rate decreased as the respondent´s age decreased" and the educational level increased.’
Regarding the pregnancy of offsprings before marriage, the negative response rate was much higher than in case of association with opposite sex but the rate differentials between neighbor´s offspring and own offspring, between son and daughter, and among age groups of offsprings were similar and the positive response rate had never been over 5% in any case. Also the response rates showed little difference between urban and rural;, between
men and women, among age groups and among educational levels. In case of premarital
pregnancy of respondent´s own offspring, they showed a high negative response rate and
the positive response rate was less than 5% even if the offspring were in marriageable age. However, around 30% of the respondents considered that their neighbors would accept the premarital pregnancy if the offspring were in´ marriageable age. This contradictive response rates might reflect that the respondents have a great regard for their honor while approving the social changes.
Although the respondents showed high negative response rate toward offspring´s association with opposite sex and pregnancy before marriage, earlier studies revealed that over 50% of high school boys had experience of associating with opposite sex and around 3 % had sexual intercourse. A large gap between the behavior of adolescents and the opinion of older generation may cause conflicts between them. Therefore, adults should recognize the changing social climate of today and be prepared to guide their offsprings for sound association with opposite sex.
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