The purpose of this study was to examine the perception of mothers with mentally retarded adolescents(mothers) on their children’s sexual and social awareness, and their concerns regarding their children’s sexuality. The research subjects were 116 mothers who have children in special schools in G city and C province, and the members of the Parents Association of Handicapped Children in Korea. The instrument employed for the study was the Sexual Awareness Survey which was developed by Ruble (1992). Data were collected from March 13th to 25th, 2000.
SAS PC+ program was used for statistical analysis and the data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, 2-test, and Fishers Exact test. The results obtained were as follows.
1. Mothers reported that ’children knew the meaning of sexual organ(45.7%)’, but only 21.6% reported that children knew its function. There was a significant difference according to their level of mental retardation on their knowledge about sexual organs(p= .03), the mildly retarded knowing better. Mothers reported that ’children respect others privacy’(30.2 %), but 59.5 % reported that ’want respect childrens’ privacy from others’. There were significant differences according to mothers education level(p= .02) and religious(p= .02) on ’want respect childrens’ privacy from others’.
2. Twenty-seven % of the mothers reported that their children exhibit inappropriate sexual behaviors, in which ’touching the opposite sex inappropriately’(41.9%) was the most frequently mentioned problem.
3. Mothers were the most concerned about ’children’s behavior being misunderstood as sexual, although it was not’(45.7%). Mothers responded no concerns on their ’children’s possible infection with venereal diseases or AIDS(56.6%)’, or on ’children’s unusual interest on the same sex’(73.2%).
In conclusion, the mothers of mentally retarded adolescents were unaware of their children’s sexuality. In addition, they have inaccurate knowledge on sex related with their children with mental retardation. Continuous sex education and counseling is necessary to change perception on sexuality of mothers with mentally retarded children.
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