Factors Associated with Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Lower Secondary School Students in the Digital Age.

Abstract

This correlational research aimed to investigate the factors associated with sexual risk behaviors among lower secondary school students in the digital era in Surat Thani Province, Thailand. The sample consisted of 192 students selected through a multistage random sampling process from large schools within the jurisdiction of the Secondary Educational Service Area Office 1 in Surat Thani Province. Data were collected through a questionnaire consisting of six sections: personal information, attitudes toward sexual risk behaviors, family support, perception of peers' sexual risk behaviors, exposure to sexual content in media, and students' sexual risk behaviors. The instrument demonstrated strong content validity (CVI = 0.91) from 3 experts and acceptable reliability with Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from attitudes toward sexual risk behaviors, family support, perception of peers' sexual risk behaviors, exposure to sexual content in media, and students' sexual risk behaviors as 0.81, 0.85, 0.83, 0.88 and 0.84 respectively. The findings revealed statistically significant correlations between sexual risk behaviors and the following factors: perception of peers' sexual risk behaviors (r = .313, p < .01), exposure to sexual content in media (r = .493, p < .01), and attitudes toward sexual risk behaviors (r = –.158, p < .05).