Research Of The Impact Of Introductory Sexology Course On University Students’ Implicit And Explicit Sexual Attitudes

Objectives:(1) To test the reliability and validity of the Brief Sexual AttitudesScale(BSAS).(2) explore the impact of the Sexology course on explicit and implicitsexual attitudes of university students.Methods: First,621university students were tested by BSAS and the scale isrevised. Second,46university students were chosen by pre-test the BSAS scalemeasure explicit sexual attitude, then use the Implicit Association Test to measureimplicit sexual attitude, the experimental group(N=23), the control group(N=23). Theexperimental group received12weeks Sexology course, and the control group did nottake part in any treatment. At the end of the experiment, two groups conductedpost-test with the Implicit Association Test IAT and the BSAS scale.Results:(1) The Cronbach’s α coefficient of BSAS was0.84; the subscalescorrelation coefficients was between0.50-0.79; the test-retest coefficient was0.85;test-retest correlations for the subscales were between0.69-0.83.The four-factorstructure was confirmed by a confirmatory factor analysis;the fit indices wereχ2=1120.21,df=224,NFI=0.70,IFI=0.75,TLI=0.71,CFI=0.75,AGFI=0.80,GFI=0.84,RMSEA=0.08, all met the criteria standards for adequacy of fit.(2)After12wksSexology course, compare the pre-test with post-test in experimental group, there wassignificant difference include total scale (T=-3.908,P﹤0.01) and the subscales ofpermissiveness (T=-2.368,P﹤0.05),Communion (T=-2.800,P﹤0.01) andInstrumentality (T=-2.493,P﹤0.01) of the experimental group explicit sexualattitudes. Compare the experimental group and control group at post-test, there wassignificant difference after12wks Sexology course(T=2.046,P﹤0.05).(3) there was asignificant difference in experimental group implicit sexual attitudes after12wksSexology course(T=2.127, P﹤0.05). Compared to the experimental group with thecontrol group in post-test data, there was also significant(T=-2.053, P﹤0.05). Themean of post-test implicit sexual attitudes of the experimental group was negative thatindicated the experimental group implicit sexual attitudes were positive.Conclusion:(1) Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale is a reliable and valid measure ofthe four sexual attitudes and has strong psychometric properties.It should be effectiveand efficient for both research and clinical uses.(2)12wks Sexology course effectively changes university students’ explicit sexual attitude healthier;(3)Intervention of12wks Sexology course effectively improved university students’implicit attitudes healthier.