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The relative importance of social ecological factors on psychosexual health among adolescent students: based on dominance analysis

Xiuqing Fang , Mengfan Zhang, Mengjie Yang, Wenjing Liu, Linpei Dong, Yawen Ren, Wenguang Wang, Li Yang, Ting Liu

Abstract

Background: Psychosexual health refers to an individual’s capacity to acquire sexual knowledge through appropriate means, develop healthy values, accept bodily changes, align with socio-cultural norms, and regulate sexual behaviors. The study aimed to explore the relative importance of general self-efficacy, sexual refusal self-efficacy, peer relationship, parental monitoring and parent-teen communication about sex in influencing psychosexual health among secondary vocational school students. Methods: A total of 2895 secondary vocational school students from of Shandong province in China were selected to complete General Self-Efficacy Scale, Sexual Refusal Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, Peer Relationship Scale, Parental Monitoring Questionnaire, Parent-Teen Communication about Sex Questionnaire, School Connectedness Scale, School Sex Education Questionnaire and High School Student Psychosexual Health Scale. Dominance analysis was used for statistical analysis. Results: Dominance analysis revealed that importance rankings of the social-ecological factors on psychosexual health in descending order were: peer relationship (the degree of contribution was 36.1%), parent-adolescent communication about sex (the degree of contribution was 34.2%), general self-efficacy (the degree of contribution was 14.5%), sexual refusal self-efficacy (the degree of contribution was 9.6%) and parental monitoring (the degree of contribution was 5.9%). Conclusions: Peer relationship, parent-adolescent communication about sex, general self-efficacy, sexual refusal self-efficacy, and parental monitoring are the main social-ecological factors on psychosexual health among secondary vocational school students. Accordingly, helping students build good peer relationship, facilitating appropriate parent-adolescent communication about sex and proper parental monitoring, increasing students’ general self-efficacy and sexual refusal self-efficacy are crucial measures to improve psychosexual health for secondary vocational school students.

SH25001  Accepted 04 June 2025

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