Sexual Maturation, Attitudes towards Sexual Maturity, and Body Esteem in Elementary-School Children

Sunah Park; Eunyoung Choi; Eunhee Lee; Mikyeong Byeon; Byeongju Lee; Kyea Jung

doi:10.4069/kjwhn.2018.24.2.219

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Park, Choi, Lee, Byeon, Lee, and Jung: Sexual Maturation, Attitudes towards Sexual Maturity, and Body Esteem in Elementary-School Children

Orginal Article

Korean J Women Health Nurs 2018;24(2):219-228.

Published online: 20 June 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4069/kjwhn.2018.24.2.219

Sexual Maturation, Attitudes towards Sexual Maturity, and Body Esteem in Elementary-School Children

Sunah Park¹, Eunyoung Choi^2,, Eunhee Lee¹, Mikyeong Byeon³, Byeongju Lee⁴, Kyea Jung⁵

¹Department of Nursing, Gangneung-Wonju National University, Wonju, Korea

²Department of Nursing, Kyungdong University, Wonju, Korea

³Department of Nursing, Songho University, Hoengseong, Korea

⁴Department of Nursing Science, Andong Science College, Andong, Korea

⁵Department of Nursing, Songgok College, Chuncheon, Korea

Corresponding author: Choi, Eunyoung Department of Nursing, Kyungdong University, 815 Gyeonhwillo, Wonju 26495, Korea. Tel: +82-33-738-1427, Fax: +82-33-738-1457, E-mail: 7358533@kduniv.ac.kr

Received 12 December 201727 May 2017 Accepted 5 June 2018

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate sexual maturation, attitudes toward sexual maturity, and body esteem in the sexual development of Korean elementary-school boys and girls.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 399 fifth and sixth graders (192 boys and 207 girls). The data were analysed with a x² test, t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficients.

Results

Among the 207 girls, 70.5% had pubic hair growth, 68.1% had breast development, and 56.0% had a menstrual period. In boys, 59.4% of the 192 subjects experienced the development of external genitalia and 52.6% had pubic hair growth. Sexual maturation was related to grade (boys, t=7.07, p=.008; girls, t=12.76, p<.001), age (t=-2.20, p=.030; t=-4.11, p<.001), height (t=-5.16, p<.001; t=-7.52, p<.001), and weight (t=-2.89, p=.004; t=-5.19, p<.001) in both boys and girls. Girls were more likely to have sexual maturity than boys (x²=22.29, p<.001). Boys showed more positive attitudes toward sexual maturity (t=2.10, p=.036) and higher body esteem (t=2.12, p=.035) than girls.

Conclusion

This study shows that sexual maturation, attitude toward sexual maturity, and body esteem in sexual development differ between boys and girls. The findings indicate that it is necessary to develop a tailored sex-education program according to the sex of elementary-school children.

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Table 1.

Comparison of General Characteristics and Research Variables according to Gender (N=399)

Variables	Categories	n (%)	Girls (n=207)	Boys (n=192)	x² or t	p
Variables	Categories	n (%)	n (%) or M±SD	n (%) or M±SD	x² or t	p
Area	City	195 (48.9)	100 (48.3)	95 (49.5)	0.06	.815
	Rural	204 (51.1)	107 (51.7)	97 (50.5)
Grade	5	140 (35.1)	68 (32.9)	72 (37.5)	0.95	.331
	6	259 (64.9)	139 (67.1)	120 (62.5)
Age (year)		11.67±0.53	11.69±0.50	11.66±0.55	0.66	.512
Height (cm)		153.65±7.69	153.17±7.32	154.16±8.07	–1.29	.198
Weight (kg)		46.65±11.07	44.53±9.63	48.93±12.05	–4.02	＜.001
BMI		19.58±3.47	18.82±3.01	20.40±3.75	–4.60	＜.001
TV watching time (hr/wk)		8.17±10.37	8.30±11.60	8.03±8.86	0.23	.799
Internet use time (hr/wk)		12.74±17.62	14.69±21.64	10.57±11.29	2.31	.018
Mobile phone use time (hr/day)		3.52±4.07	4.39±5.99	2.58±2.37	4.02	＜.001
Bedtime (hr)	Before 10 pm	80 (20.1)	41 (19.8)	39 (20.3)	0.02	.900
	After 10 pm	319 (79.9)	166 (80.2)	153 (79.7)
Sleep time (hr/day)		8.20±1.25	8.21±1.34	8.18±1.15	0.28	.778
The number of private	None	66 (16.6)	37 (17.9)	29 (15.1)	2.21	.331
academy	1	136 (34.2)	64 (30.9)	72 (37.5)
	≥2	193 (48.5)	105 (50.7)	88 (45.8)
The number of instant	＜1	130 (32.6)	70 (33.8)	60 (31.3)	0.39	.823
meals (n/wk)	2∼3 times	218 (54.6)	112 (54.1)	106 (55.2)
	≥4	51 (12.8)	25 (12.1)	26 (13.5)
Unbalanced diet	Yes	172 (43.2)	95 (45.9)	77 (40.1)	1.26	.262
	No	226 (56.8)	112 (54.1)	114 (59.4)
Sexual maturity^†	Yes		180 (87.0)	129 (67.2)	22.29	＜.001
	No		27 (13.0)	63 (32.8)
Sexual attitudes			1.98±0.41	2.10±0.36	2.10	.036
Body esteem			5.56±3.64	6.33±3.59	2.12	.035

Note. Missing excluded.

^† The sum of numbers (yes=1 point or no=0 point) in each of three dimensions (girls: menstruation, pubic hair, breast development, boys: genital development, pubic hair, emission): 1 or more=yes, 0=no.

Table 2.

Levels of Sexual Maturity of Girls and Boys (N=399)

Variables	Categories	Girl (n=207)	Boy (n=192)
Variables	Categories	n (%)	n (%)
Breast development (only girl)/	Yes	141 (68.1)	114 (59.4)
genital development (only boy)	No	18 (8.7)	78 (40.6)
	Don't know	48 (23.2)	0 (0.0)
Pubic hair	Yes	146 (70.5)	101 (52.6)
	No	61 (29.5)	91 (47.4)
Menstruation (only girl)/emission (only boy)	Yes	116 (56.0)	51 (26.6)
	No	91 (44.0)	141 (73.4)
The number of sexual maturity^†	0	27 (13.0)	63 (32.8)
	1	35 (16.9)	35 (18.2)
	2	67 (32.4)	51 (26.6)
	3	78 (37.7)	43 (22.4)
Onset of menstruation (only girl grade) (n=116)	3	1 (0.9)
	4	6 (5.2)
	5	45 (38.8)
	6	64 (55.2)
Onset of Breast development (only girl grade)	2	6 (4.3)
	3	9 (6.4)
	4	36 (25.5)
	5	67 (47.5)
	6	23 (16.3)
Wear a brassiere (only girl)	Yes	174 (84.5)
	No	32 (15.5)
Note. Missing excluded.

^† The sum of numbers (yes=1 point or no=0 point) in each of three dimensions (girls: menstruation, pubic hair, breast development, boys: genital development, pubic hair, emission).

Table 3.

Relationships between Sexual Maturity Variables in Girls and Boys (N=351)

Variables		Girl (n=159)				Boy (n=192)
		Breast development				Genital development
		Yes (n=141)	No (n=18)	x² or t	p	Yes (n=114)	No (n=78)	x² or t	p
		n (%)	n (%)	x² or t	p	n (%)	n (%)	x² or t	p
Pubic hair	Yes	109 (77.3)	6 (33.3)	15.42 ＜	＜.001	90 (78.9)	11 (14.1)	78.11	＜.001
	No	32 (22.7)	12 (66.7)			24 (21.1)	67 (85.9)
Menstruation (only girl)/	Yes	83 (58.9)	6 (33.3)	4.22	.040	46 (40.4)	5 (6.4)	27.35	＜.001
emission (only boy)	No	58 (41.1)	12 (66.7)			68 (59.6)	73 (93.6)
Voice change (only boy)	Yes					85 (74.6)	14 (17.9)	59.43	＜.001
	No					29 (25.4)	64 (82.1)
Beard (only boy)	Yes					47 (41.2)	4 (5.1)	30.94	＜.001
	No					67 (58.8)	74 (94.9)

Note. Missing excluded.

Table 4.

Comparison of General Characteristics and Body esteem and Sexual Attitude by Sexual Maturity in Girls and Boys (N=399)

Variables	Categories	Girl (n=207)				Boy (n=192)
		Sexual maturity^†				Sexual maturity^†
		Yes (n=180)	No (n=27)	x² or t	p	Yes (n=129)	No (n=63)	x² or t	p
		n (%) or M±SD	n (%) or M±SD	x² or t	p	n (%) or M±SD	n (%) or M±SD	x² or t	p
Area	City	90 (50.0)	10 (37.0)	1.58	.209	67 (51.9)	28 (44.4)	0.95	.330
	Rural	90 (50.0)	17 (63.0)			62 (48.1)	36 (55.6)
Grade	5	51 (28.3)	17 (63.0)	12.76	＜.001	40 (31.0)	32 (50.8)	7.07	.008
	6	129 (71.7)	10 (37.0)			89 (69.0)	31 (49.2)
Age (year)		11.74±0.49	11.33±0.49	–4.11	＜.001	11.72±0.50	11.52±0.62	–2.20	.030
Height (cm)		154.48±6.53	144.41±6.25	–7.52	＜.001	156.13±7.92	150.13±6.82	–5.16	＜.001
Weight (kg)		45.79±9.21	36.07±8.04	–5.19	＜.001	50.66±12.57	45.40±10.14	–2.89	.004
BMI		19.07±2.95	17.17±2.92	–3.13	.002	20.59±3.88	19.99±3.47	–1.04	.298
TV watching time (hr/wk)		8.33±11.92	8.11±9.43	–0.09	.928	8.16±9.55	7.77±7.30	–0.29	.773
Internet use time (hr/wk)		14.36±19.14	16.81±34.20	0.36	.718	10.64±11.94	10.42±9.87	–0.12	.905
Mobile phone usage time (hr/day)		4.10±4.39	6.33±12.11	0.95	.350	2.65±2.49	2.44±2.11	–0.59	.557
Bedtime (hr)	Before 10 pm	36 (20.0)	5 (18.5)	0.03	.857	25 (19.4)	14 (22.2)	0.21	.646
	After 10 pm	144 (80.0)	22 (81.5)			104 (80.6)	49 (77.8)
Sleep time (hr/day)		8.23±1.25	8.11±1.87	–0.42	.674	8.13±1.00	8.27±1.41	0.78	.436
The number of	None	31 (17.3)	6 (22.2)	1.31	.520	19 (15.1)	10 15.9)	0.94	.624
private academy	1	54 (30.2)	10 (37.0)			51 (40.5)	21 (33.3)
	≥2	94 (52.5)	11 (40.7)			56 (44.4)	32 (50.8)
The number of	≤1	58 (32.2)	12 (44.4)	2.87	.238	41 (31.8)	19 (30.2)	1.24	.539
instant meals	2∼3 times	98 (54.4)	14 (51.9)			73 (56.6)	33 (52.4)
(n/wk)	≥4	24 (13.3)	0 (0.0)			15 (11.6)	11 (17.5)
Unbalanced diet	Yes	82 (45.6)	13 (48.1)	0.06	.801	55 (43.0)	22 (34.9)	1.14	.286
	No	98 (54.4)	14 (51.9)			73 (57.0)	41 (65.1)
Body esteem		5.46±3.65	6.26±3.55	1.07	.285	6.08±3.49	6.84±3.77	1.38	.168
Sexual attitudes		1.96±0.41	2.12±0.38	1.88	.062	2.08±0.37	2.14±0.36	1.00	.316

Note. Missing excluded.

Table 5.

Relationships among Sexual Maturity, Sexual Attitudes, and Body esteem in Girls and Boys (N=399)

Variable	Girl (n=207)			Boy (n=192)
	Sexual maturity	Sexual attitudes	Body esteem	Sexual maturity	Sexual attitudes	Body esteem
	r (p)	r (p)	r (p)	r (p)	r (p)	r (p)
Sexual maturity^†	1			1
Sexual attitudes	–.21 (.002)	1		–.07 (.345)	1
Body esteem	–.13 (.054)	.87 (＜.001)	1	–.09 (.237)	.78 (＜.001)	1

^† The sum of numbers (yes=1 point or no=0 point) in each of three dimensions (girls: menstruation, pubic hair, breast development, boys: genital development, pubic hair, emission).

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