Sexual information sources and psychosexual well-being: cultural and gender differences among young people in China and the UK

This study examined how the reported acquisition of sexual information from ten sources (school, healthcare, religious institutions, community, parents, siblings, peers, internet, pornography and movies/TV) was associated with sexual satisfaction, sexual pleasure, sexual inferiority, and relational sexual shame among 1553 young people (18–25 years) in China and the UK. Linear mixed-effects models tested cultural and gender differences in reported information acquisition, and structural equation modelling assessed associations with psychosexual well-being. In both countries, the most common sources of sexual information were peers, the internet, and pornography; religious institutions were the least common. Acquisition of sexual information from healthcare or pornography (and community in China) was positively associated with sexual satisfaction. Acquisition from pornography or the internet was positively associated with sexual pleasure in China. Acquisition from the internet was positively associated with feelings of sexual inferiority, as was (only in China) pornography. Relational sexual shame was positively associated with acquisition from the internet and was also negatively associated with acquisition from religious institutions (only in China). In the UK, women reported lower satisfaction and higher sexual inferiority than men, whereas in China, men reported higher sexual inferiority than women. Findings highlight the need for culturally and gender-responsive sex and sexuality education.