Safe sex practice and its antecedents among female Chinese college students: A culture-centered approach

In response to the increasing rates of HIV/AIDS among Chinese college students, this study investigated the informational, motivational, behavioral, and cultural factors affecting Chinese female college students’ sexual behavior and safe sex practice. By applying a culture centered approach to expand the information motivation behavioral skills (IMB) model of AIDS preventive behavior, an online survey was conducted on a purposive sample of 1284 female Chinese college students. The study lent support to the IMB model in a non US context. More importantly, this study revealed different patterns of the roles that various gender values play in the current sexual culture in China. Holding traditional sexual values would refrain young females from engaging in sex ual intercourse at all, while feminine gender role value encourages young females to give up on their assertiveness in negotiation and to engage in more sexual intercourse but with less safety.