University Of Bristol - Quantitative Social Research

Candidate No: 0138037

Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES / FIGURES

II

INTRODUCTION

1

Background

1

Research Goal

2

METHODOLOGY

3

Variables of Comparison Biological Sex (yprsex) Friends vs Family (ypfriend/ypfriendrecode) Attitude to Premarital Sex (yppms/yppms2) Influence of Media/News (yppaper) Belief in God (ypgodblf/ypgodblf2) The age of the respondents (yprage/yprage2grp)

3 3 4 5 5 6 7

RESULTS / FINDINGS

8

Impact of Friends (ypfriend/ypfriendrecode)

8

Impact of Media (yppaper)

10

Impact of God (ypgodblf/ypgodblf2)

11

Impact of Age (yprage/yprage2grp)

13

CONCLUSION

15

REFERENCES

16

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Candidate No: 0138037

List of Tables / Figures TABLE 1: FRIEND VS. FAMILY YPFRIEND ........................................................................................................8 TABLE 2: FRIEND VS. FAMILY YPFRIENDRECODE ..........................................................................................8 TABLE 3: RESULT OF CHI SQUARE YPFRIENDRECODE ...................................................................................9 TABLE 4: PHI AND CRAMERS V ANALYSIS YPFRIENDRECODE .......................................................................9 TABLE 5: YPPAPER FREQUENCY ....................................................................................................................10 TABLE 6: CHI SQUARE ANALYSIS YPPAPER .................................................................................................10 TABLE 7: PHI & CRAMER'S V YPPAPER ........................................................................................................11 TABLE 8: RECODE OF YPGODBLF TO YPGODBLF2........................................................................................11 TABLE 9: CHI SQUARE OF YPGODBLF2 .........................................................................................................12 TABLE 10: PHI & CRAMER'S V FOR YPGODBLF2..........................................................................................12 TABLE 11: RECODED YPRAGE TO YPRAGE2GRP ...........................................................................................13 TABLE 12: CHI SQUARE YPRAGE2GRP ..........................................................................................................13 TABLE 13: PHI & CRAMER'S V YPRAGE2GRP ...............................................................................................13

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Candidate No: 0138037

Introduction The focus of this report is to analyze the respondents’ answers to the acceptability of premarital sex (44a/yppms) in light of many perceived social factors including but not limited to the desire to spend more time with friends over family (48c/ypfriend), if the respondent reads the paper three or more times a week (63a/yppaper), respondents belief in God (66/ypgodblf), and the respondents age (69/yprage). These comparisons will occur against the backdrop of the observed gender (yprsex) of the respondent as recorded by the interviewer in the 1998 Young People’s Social Attitudes survey. The goal of this secondary data analysis is to gain some insight into the sources of information that provide the basis for sexual and relationship knowledge amongst young people in the United Kingdom.

The

comparison is then to look at the difference between young people who utilize friends (48c), news/media (63a), and religion (66) to provide a basis for social attitudes towards sex.

Background The literature on Young People’s social attitudes toward sex is specifically targeted at the desire to curb the teen pregnancy rate in the United Kingdom (Enhancing Sexual Wellbeing in Scotland, 2003) as well as a desire to inform and educate about the need to utilize contraception and avoid sexually transmitted infections (STI) (Sex and Relationship Education Guidance, 2000, p.15).

The

recurring topic within the literature is the focus on the resources and the educational programs provided by schools in order to assist in educating the young people of the United Kingdom (Sex and Relationships Education in Schools, 2002). Upon reviewing the attitudinal variable selected, young people’s social attitude towards premarital sex (44a) with reference to 1998 YPSA and as well through a literature review it would appear that premarital sex is not accorded any significant moral disapprobation in the United Kingdom (Park, Philips & Johnson, 2004, p. 55). Therefore the response by the United Kingdom is to provide education on the means of contraception and to address the reality of young people having sex before marriage.

To be direct the teaching of abstinence as the sole means of

contraception is not a method followed in the United Kingdom. Furthermore there is considerable discussion of the need to tailor the education of both biological sexes independently to meet the needs of the youth of Britain 1

Candidate No: 0138037 (Qualitative Consultation with Young People in the City of Glasgow on Sexual Health and Relationships, 2006). The focus on the difference in sex education between the biological sexes is the main basis for dividing the attitudinal variable concerning premarital sex (44a/yppms) immediately on the basis of observed sex (yprsex). However, it is clear that the difference between the biological sexes in education does not mean that young men or women do not desire to learn about the opposite sex when it comes to sexual health and relationships (Executive Summary: The Sexual Health and Relationships of Young People in Glasgow, 2006, pg IV). Where do Young People get there information on sexual health and relationships? The most common place would be the friends and social groups of the young person involved with “School, books, magazines and TV/radio” coming before “mothers (fifth place) and fathers (seventh)”(Towards Better Sexual Health, 2002). This information provides some insight on the sources of social attitudes of young people on sexual health and relationships and provides the motivation to investigate the relationship between the responses to premarital sex (44a) and friends (48c), media (63a), and religion (66).

Research Goal The goal of this secondary analysis is to identify relationships between young people’s social attitudes to premarital sex and the influence of friends, media, and religion. Based on the review of the literature relating to Young people’s social attitudes and learning methods, the analysis will be conducted while maintaining a division in respondents based on sex (yprsex) (Warwick & Aggleton, 2001, pg. 12). The pool of respondents 474 is almost an even division with 238 respondents being male and 236 being female. The natural division that the 1998 YPSA provides allows for a greater ability to look at differences in social attitudes based on gender and sources of influence. Through preliminary review of relevant studies it was apparent that the educational background of the respondent’s parents and social attitudes of the parents play a key role in the responses of young people however this seems to be incompatible with the knowledge that young people seek friends, media, and religion/belief before parents when it comes to sexual behavior (Park, Philips & Johnson, 2004, pps 54-61). This analysis will hopefully provide a revelation to an avenue which is effective in communicating accurate information as it relates to sexual health and relationships to young people in Great Britain. 2

Candidate No: 0138037

Methodology The approach taken in this research is that the topic of premarital sex in one which is involved in the day to day lives of Young People. Therefore research into the factors which may influence the knowledge and sexual practices of Young People would provide a benefit to current education programs. The variable in question (44a/yppms) looks at the attitudes of the Young Person in relation to the degree of distaste or acceptance of sex before marriage. The question as asked in the 1998 YPSA survey was: 44a. Now some questions about sexual relationships. Firstly, if a man and a woman have sexual relations before marriage, what would you general opinion be? Please choose a number from this card. [Answer Choices: 1 Always wrong, 2 Mostly wrong, 3 Sometimes wrong, 4 Rarely wrong, 5 Not wrong at all, 6 (Depends), 8 (Don’t know)] (Young People’s Social Attitudes 1998, 2000). Taking this question at face value it is one of the only two questions contained within the 1998 YPSA which deal directly with social attitudes towards sexual behavior and practices. Unlike research and surveys which have occurred post 1998 YPSA this survey is limited in its scope concerning sexual health and attitudes. Therefore it is necessary in light of this limitation to try to identify significant relationships between variables which might impact the acceptance of premarital sex amongst Young People.

Variables of Comparison As outlined above Young People’s attitudes to premarital sex (44a) will be compared to the Young Person’s preference of spending time with friends over family (48c), whether or not the Young Person reads the paper 3 or more times a week (63a), and if the Young Person believes in God (66).

These three variables seek to

determine if there is a significant relationship between sources of information on sexual health and social acceptance of sex before marriage in Young People.

Biological Sex (yprsex) The analysis will be carried out by first dividing all the respondents by biological sex (yprsex). Observed biological sex is a dichotomous variable which means that the possible data fits into only two possible categories. Dichotomous variables can be treated as having characteristics of both ordinal and nominal variables, however in this analysis (yprsex) will be treated as a nominal variable. The 3

Candidate No: 0138037 biological sex of the respondent was determined by the observation of the interviewer and therefore was not phased as a responsive question unlike the rest of the variables used to conduct this secondary analysis.

Friends vs Family (ypfriend/ypfriendrecode) The first analysis undertaken was to access the influence of friends as a source of information about sexual health and relationships. As stated above friends are the primary source of Young People’s knowledge about sex. The question was asked of the respondents in the following manner: 48c. Please tell me how much you agree or disagree with each of these statements. Again, please choose a number from this card. [Statement] I’d rather spend time with my friends than my family. [Answers] 1 Agree Strongly, 2 Agree, 3 Neither agree nor disagree, 4 Disagree, 5 Disagree strongly, 8 Can’t choose. (Young People’s Social Attitudes 1998,2000) Primary analysis was done by using the crosstabs in SPSS 14. Using (yprsex) as the independent variable (rows), (yppms) as the dependent variable (columns), and (ypfriend) as a filter for a three-way crosstab the analysis was unable to yield results which displayed a significant relationship between social attitudes to premarital sex and spending time with friends over family. Therefore it was necessary to recode the responses to (ypfriend) into a new variable (ypfriendrecode) to assist in the identification of a significant relationship. The recoding of the variable (ypfriend) to (ypfriendrecode) involved the consolidation of answers in the following manner. The responses of Agree Strongly (1) and Agree (2) were consolidated in the response friends over family (1 rec). Neither agree nor disagree (3) was left as an independent category renamed sometimes friends over family (2 rec). The responses Disagree (4) and Strongly Disagree (5) were combined to form family over friends (3 rec). Finally the Can’t choose (8) and Not Answered (9) was recoded into one category of not answered / don’t know (4 rec).

After this recoding the analysis still was unable to yield

significant results so the variable of interest (yppms) was as well recoded to increase the number of respondents for the appropriate statistical tests. Utilizing the crosstabs feature of SPSS 14 the analysis was then re-processed using (yprsex) as the row, (yppms2) as the column, and (ypfriendrecode) as the filter for the three way analysis which yielded more relevant results.

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Candidate No: 0138037

Attitude to Premarital Sex (yppms/yppms2) With reference to the discussion above it was determined that the attitudinal variable of interest required recoding to allow for the analysis to yield statistically significant results. The recoding process involved taking the possible responses and condensing them into larger categories of attitudes to yield larger respondent pools for analysis. The responses of Always wrong (1) and Mostly wrong (2) were coded into Wrong (1 rec). The basis for condensing these responses is that the attitude that is captured is a sentiment that premarital sex is wrong. The responses of Sometimes wrong (3) and Depends (6) were condensed into sometimes/depends (2 rec) which illustrates that the opinion the respondent had was of situational distaste to the act of premarital sex. The responses of Rarely wrong (4) and Not wrong at all (5) were grouped together into the category of Okay (3 rec) to signify that the respondent did not have a problem with premarital sex. Finally the answers of Don’t know (8) and Not answered (9) were recoded into Not answered/Don’t know (4 rec) and the analysis was continued.

The recoding of the variable was able to create more

substantial groups of respondents which would yield better insight into the possible link between young people’s attitudes to premarital sex and friends, media, and god.

Influence of Media/News (yppaper) To investigate the influence of media on the Young persons social attitudes to premarital sex a crosstab was done with (yprsex) row, (yppms) column, and (yppaper) as a filter.

This analysis was limited by the grouping of the variable (yppms)

therefore the recoded variable of (yppms2) was utilized in a follow up comparison which was able to yield more relevant results.

The crosstab was (yprsex) row,

(yppms2) column, and (yppaper) filter. The relevant variable (yppaper) was asked in the following manner: 63a. Now some questions about yourself. Firstly, do you normally read any daily morning newspapers at least 3 times a week? [Answers 1 Yes 2 No] (Young People’s Social Attitudes 1998, 2000) The focus of this variable is then to look at the means by which Young People acquire information about the events of the day. However, it is also evident from the review of three “daily morning newspapers” that attitudes to sexual health and relationships are prevalent in such media ( Abortion Wait is Cruel, 22-1-2007, pg 18; All ages shun birth control, 23-1-2007, pg 7; Women wary of condom ‘jinx’…, 24-1-2007, pg 11). 5

Candidate No: 0138037 There was no need to recode the variable (yppaper) because the respondents made it a dichotomous variable with only two (2) possible responses.

The

respondents also managed to all answer the question making it unnecessary to address not answered responses.

Belief in God (ypgodblf/ypgodblf2) The final avenue of investigation is the role of a belief in god in the social attitudes of young people which may impact the permissible/impermissible nature or premarital sex. The question was posed to the respondents in the following manner: 66. Please choose a number from this car to show which of the statements best describes your beliefs about God. [Statements: 1. I don’t believe in God and I never have, 2. I don’t believe in God now, but I used to, 3. I believe in God now, but I didn’t use to, 4. I believe in God and I always have, 5. Other answer (write in), 8. (Don’t know)] (Young People’s Social Attitudes 1998, 2000) The purpose of this question is to address the belief in God which is prevalent in the respondent and I would suggest this variable would have impact on the response of the social attitudes to premarital sex. The analysis was conducted by running a cross tab with (yprsex) row, (yppms) column, and (ypgodblf) as a filter, a three way cross. The analysis however was once again plagued by respondents dispersed among many groups therefore a recoding was necessary to continue the analysis. The recoding was undertaken and the variable (ypgodblf2) was created to condense the responses to allow for more accurate data analysis. The responses never believed (1) and used to believe (2) were combined under the general meaning of the variables into do not believe currently (1 rec). The responses do now, but didn’t (3) and do now, always did (4) have been recoded into the response believe currently or always did (2 rec). Finally the responses of other answer (5), don’t know (8), and not answered (9) are grouped into one category of other/ don’t know/ not answered (3 rec).

Once the recoding was complete the

analysis was continued using cross tabs with (yprsex) row, (yppms) column, and (ypgodblf2) as a filter. This analysis was still unable to yield results so the finally analysis using crosstabs was done with (yprsex) row, (yppms2) column, and (ypgodblf2) as a filter. The final analysis was able to produce the results desired by grouping the responses into larger groups of respondents.

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Candidate No: 0138037

The age of the respondents (yprage/yprage2grp) The final variable considered when conducting the analysis of the social attitudes of Young People in relation to premarital sex was the age of the respondents (yprage). The question was posed in the following manner: 69. How old were you last birthday? [Answer: Write In, Refuse] (Young People’s Social Attitudes 1998, 2000) The respondents then gave their age as a numeric value. The category itself (yprage) was unable to provide assistance in the analysis in its current form and required recoding into the variable (yprage2grp) in order to allow for a larger pool of individuals to compare responses.

The recoding was done by grouping the

individuals who reported their age between 12 and 15 years old into one group (1 rec) and the 16 to 19 year old respondents into a second group (2 rec). This process allowed the new variable to be utilized to look at the impact of age on the response to the view of premarital sex. The crosstab involved (yprsex) row, (yppms2) column, and (yprage2grp) as a filter to look for a relationship in the responses based on the age of consent in the United Kingdom. The age division was the result of dividing the group along the lines of age of consent, which is 16 in the United Kingdom, to provide larger sample groups for analysis.

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Candidate No: 0138037

Results / Findings The analysis of the Young People’s Social Attitudes 1998 with reference to attitudes surrounding premarital sex (yppms / yppms2) while looking at the sources of information on sexual health and relationship such as friends (ypfriend / ypfriendrecode), media (yppaper), and belief in god (ypgodblf / ypgodblf2) with the final analysis looking for differences in respondents attitudes when looking at age (yprage / yprage2grp) yielded the following results.

Impact of Friends (ypfriend/ypfriendrecode) Why recode (ypfriend) into (ypfriendrecode)? The rationale is that it is necessary to have large groups on individuals in order to conduct an analysis of possible association between variables. With this in mind the grouping was transformed as displayed in the tables below: Prior to the recode: ypfriend (48c)

Frequency Valid

Agree strongly

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

6

1.3

1.3

1.3

62

13.1

13.1

14.3

Neither agree/disagree

146

30.8

30.8

45.1

Disagree

Agree

188

39.7

39.7

84.8

Disagree strongly

46

9.7

9.7

94.5

Can't choose

21

4.4

4.4

98.9

5

1.1

1.1

100.0

474

100.0

100.0

Not

answered

Total

Table 1: Friend vs. Family ypfriend

After the recode: ypfriendrecode

Frequency Valid

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

friends over family

68

14.3

14.3

14.3

sometimes friends over family

146

30.8

30.8

45.1

family over friends

234

49.4

49.4

94.5

26

5.5

5.5

100.0

474

100.0

100.0

Not answered / Don't Know Total

Table 2: Friend vs. Family ypfriendrecode

8

Candidate No: 0138037 Once the recoding of the variable was complete the analysis was then completed using crosstabs to identify the following relationship between (yppms2) and (ypfriendrecode) with respect to biological sex (yprsex). Chi-Square Tests

ypfriendrecode friends over family

sometimes friends over family

Pearson Chi-Square Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear Association N of Valid Cases

Value 2.343(a) 2.780 .981

3 3

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) .504 .427

1

.322

df

68 4.075(b) 4.277

3 3

.254 .233

2.909

1

.088

family over friends

Pearson Chi-Square Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear Association N of Valid Cases Pearson Chi-Square

1.312(c)

3

.726

1.315

3

.726

.303

1

.582

Not answered / Don't Know

Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear Association N of Valid Cases Pearson Chi-Square Likelihood Ratio

234 6.149(d)

3

.105

7.035

3

.071

146

Linear-by-Linear .540 1 .462 Association N of Valid Cases 26 a. 6 cells (75.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .49. b. 4 cells (50.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 2.33. c. 1 cells (12.5%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 4.83. d. 6 cells (75.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .92.

Table 3: Result of Chi Square ypfriendrecode Symmetric Measures

ypfriendrecode friends over family

sometimes friends over family family over friends

Not answered / Don't Know

Nominal by Nominal

Phi Cramer's V

N of Valid Cases Nominal by Nominal

Phi Cramer's V

N of Valid Cases Nominal by Nominal

Phi Cramer's V

N of Valid Cases Nominal by Nominal

Phi Cramer's V

N of Valid Cases

Value .186 .186 68 .167 .167 146 .075 .075 234 .486 .486 26

a. Not assuming the null hypothesis. b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.

Table 4: Phi and Cramers V analysis ypfriendrecode

9

Approx. Sig. .504 .504 .254 .254 .726 .726 .105 .105

Candidate No: 0138037 With the understanding that people who spend more time with their friends would be more likely to feel premarital sex is okay a hypothesis was created that people who spend time with their family would be less likely to feel premarital sex is okay. The null hypothesis was then created that people who spend more time with family would be more likely to find premarital sex okay. Upon review of the results it appears that the Null Hypothesis is correct as well the analysis using Chi square was unable to yield results in all but one case. In that case there still was at least one cell with a count less than 5 but that is within guidelines for crosses larger than 2x2. The Phi and Cramer’s V analysis of the same result still is unable to display an association that is related to anything greater than chance. In this case the hypothesis was unable to be supported by the results even after recoding. The only observation of note was that the Young People that stayed at home actually were okay with premarital sex, but this could be due to the large group size.

Impact of Media (yppaper) This variable (yppaper) did not require the recode of information since the variable was dichotomous in nature. The frequency of response was as follows: Media Influence - yppaper

Frequency Valid

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Yes

211

44.5

44.5

44.5

No

263

55.5

55.5

100.0

Total

474

100.0

100.0

Table 5: yppaper frequency

The analysis was then conducted of (yprsex) row, (yppms2) column, and (yppaper) as a filter to look for a significant relationship. Chi-Square Tests R reads newspaper 3+times a week? YP63A READPAP Yes

Pearson Chi-Square Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear Association N of Valid Cases

Value .980(a) .987 .008

3 3

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) .806 .804

1

.930

df

211

No

Pearson Chi-Square 2.271(b) 3 .518 Likelihood Ratio 2.269 3 .519 Linear-by-Linear .511 1 .475 Association N of Valid Cases 263 a. 2 cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 1.29. b. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 8.52.

Table 6: Chi Square Analysis yppaper

10

Candidate No: 0138037 Symmetric Measures R reads newspaper 3+times a week? YP63A READPAP Yes

Value Nominal by Nominal

.068

.806

Cramer's V

.068

.806

Phi

.093

.518

Cramer's V

.093

.518

N of Valid Cases No

Nominal by Nominal

Approx. Sig.

Phi

211

N of Valid Cases

263

a. Not assuming the null hypothesis. b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.

Table 7: Phi & Cramer's V yppaper

The results once again were disappointing. The analysis did yield a field that was able to survive the use of a crosstabs/contingency tables however even with no cells with a count below zero the analysis is unable to continue because the level of significance is above the allowed level of p<0.05 or 5 in 100 and therefore any relationship can not be determined on this factor alone. One point of interest was the evidence that females that don’t read the paper seem to be more likely to think sex is okay.

This seems counter-intuitive when it is thought that media provides

information to Young People about sexual health but maybe the media is providing stories which scare rather than educate. The hypothesis then that the media influences or is associated with Young People’s social attitude to premarital sex is also not supportable.

Impact of God (ypgodblf/ypgodblf2) This variable once again required recoding to provide results in a form that could provide a foundation for testing the hypothesis concerning which avenue of information influences the young person’s attitude to premarital sex. The recoding provided these new groups: YP God Belief No, Yes, Unknown

Frequency Valid

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Do not believe currently

203

42.8

42.8

42.8

Believe currently or always did

233

49.2

49.2

92.0

38

8.0

8.0

100.0

474

100.0

100.0

Don't Know (8) / Not Answered (9) / Other Answer (5) Total

Table 8: Recode of ypgodblf to ypgodblf2

11

Candidate No: 0138037 Using crosstabs/contingency tables the following cross was conducted (yprsex), (yppms2), and (ypgodblf2) which yielded the following results: Chi-Square Tests YP God Belief No, Yes, Unknown Do not believe currently

Value Pearson Chi-Square Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear Association N of Valid Cases

Believe currently or always did

3.540(a) 3.634

3 3

.316 .304

.137

1

.711

1.008(b)

3

.799

1.010

3

.799

.028

1

.867

3

.437

203

Pearson Chi-Square Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear Association N of Valid Cases

Don't Know (8) / Not Answered (9) / Other Answer (5)

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

df

233

Pearson Chi-Square

2.716(c)

Likelihood Ratio

3.460 3 .326 Linear-by-Linear 2.172 1 .141 Association N of Valid Cases 38 a. 3 cells (37.5%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 1.81. b. 1 cells (12.5%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 4.76. c. 6 cells (75.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .42.

Table 9: Chi Square of ypgodblf2 Symmetric Measures YP God Belief No, Yes, Unknown Do not believe currently

Value Nominal by Nominal

.132

.316

Cramer's V

.132

.316

Phi

.066

.799

Cramer's V

.066

.799

N of Valid Cases Believe currently or always did

Nominal by Nominal

203

N of Valid Cases Don't Know (8) / Not Answered (9) / Other Answer (5)

Nominal by Nominal

Approx. Sig.

Phi

233 Phi

.267

.437

Cramer's V

.267

.437

N of Valid Cases 38

a. Not assuming the null hypothesis. b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.

Table 10: Phi & Cramer's V for ypgodblf2

The results again proved to not support the hypothesis that there is a relationship between the Young Person’s belief in god and attitude to premarital sex with reference to the gender of the Young Person. The hypothesis could not be supported even though with recoding the analysis was able to yield at least one contingency table that could provide some data. The problem with the data is that even after 12

Candidate No: 0138037 recoding the pool of respondents seems too small to enable results to support the hypothesis that this variable has influence over the young person’s social attitude to premarital sex.

Impact of Age (yprage/yprage2grp) The age of the respondent was also an important factor that would seem to influence the response of Young People concerning premarital sex. If someone was below or above the age of consent it would seem it would impact the response. However, the data on hand must be recoded to yield larger groups. The recoded data and the results of the crosstab of (yprsex), (yppms2), and (yprage2grp) is displayed below. Young People Rage 12-15 16-19

Valid

12-15 yr old 16 - 19 yr old Total

Frequency 258 216 474

Percent 54.4 45.6 100.0

Valid Percent 54.4 45.6 100.0

Cumulative Percent 54.4 100.0

Table 11: Recoded yprage to yprage2grp Chi-Square Tests Young People Rage 12-15 16-19 12-15 yr old

Value 2.971(a) 2.995

Pearson Chi-Square Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear Association N of Valid Cases

.243

3 3

Asymp. Sig. (2sided) .396 .392

1

.622

df

258

16 - 19 yr old

Pearson Chi-Square 5.295(b) 3 Likelihood Ratio 6.093 3 Linear-by-Linear .033 1 Association N of Valid Cases 216 a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 9.53. b. 2 cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .94.

.151 .107 .856

Table 12: Chi Square yprage2grp Symmetric Measures Young People Rage 12-15 16-19 12-15 yr old

Nominal by Nominal

Phi Cramer's V

N of Valid Cases 16 - 19 yr old

Nominal by Nominal

Value .107

Approx. Sig. .396

.107

.396

258 Phi

.157

.151

Cramer's V

.157

.151

N of Valid Cases

216

a. Not assuming the null hypothesis. b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.

Table 13: Phi & Cramer's V yprage2grp

13

Candidate No: 0138037 The results once again did not provide the results of statistical significance in the analysis. The recoding of the variable however did achieve the creation of a viable cross tabulation involving the 12-15 yr old group. However any association is outside the acceptable parameter of p<0.05 and no association between age group and respondents opinion on premarital sex can be substantiated. However it does appear that females in the age range between 16-19 have more hesitation about premarital sex (79 Okay) when compared to 12-15 (89 Okay) which may be explained by personal experience alone.

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Candidate No: 0138037

Conclusion The goal of this secondary analysis was to identify and evaluate the presence of any significant association between Young People’s social attitude to premarital sex (yppms) and the influence of friends (ypfriend), media (yppaper), God (ypgodblf), and age (yprage) to target the style of education and knowledge base of Young People’s sexual awareness. The analysis utilized the differentiation in the literature based on biological sex as a constant and then compared the recoded variable (yppms2) to the following variables to discern any link between them utilizing the Chi Square Test as well as Phi and Cramer’s V. The variables that remained in all analysis were (yprsex) row, (yppms2) column, and then a third filter factor (ypfriendrecode, yppaper, ypgodblf2, and yprage2grp) was interchanged to provide the analysis. The results however did not support any clear association between the variables and even after recoding the issue remained that many of the cells involved in the Chi Square test did not have sufficient data to allow for analysis.

This research was not able to sustain the

hypothesis that one of these variables had an association to the Young person’s attitude towards premarital sex. This is a disappointment however it appears from literature review that more recent studies clearly involve a much larger data pool that this study at a cap of 474 respondents. The results may not have been forthcoming in the analysis however they do provide insight into some social trends that should be studied in more detail.

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Candidate No: 0138037

References 1. ‘Abortion wait is cruel’, 2007, Metro, 22 January, p. 18 2. ‘All ages shun birth control’, 2007, Metro, 23 January, p. 7 3. Bryman, 2004, Social Research Methods: Second Edition, Oxford University Press, New York 4. Enhancing Sexual Wellbeing in Scotland: A Sexual Health and Relationships Strategy: Proposal to the Scottish Executive, 2003, html document, Scottish Executive, viewed 23 Jan 2007, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/11/18502/28854 5. Executive Summary December 2006: The sexual health and relationships of young people in Glasgow, 2006, online pdf, FMR Research, viewed 23 Jan 2007, http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4EB58C91-8DB1-4119-A5BD757391BC7F27/0/FMRfinalExecSummary61206.pdf 6. Park, Philips & Johnson, Young People in Britain: The Attitudes and Experiences of 12 to 19 Year Olds, 2004, online pdf, viewed 23 Jan 2007, http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR564.pdf 7. Qualitative Consultation with Young People in the City of Glsgow on Sexual Health and Relationships, 2006, online pdf, Progressive, viewed 23 Jan 2007, http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/1CC3947A-98D8-44EB-B0915190D403BA04/0/Progressivefinalexecsummary61206.pdf 8. Sex and Relationship Education Guidance, 2000, online pdf, viewed on 23 Jan 2007, http://www.dfes.gov.uk/sreguidance/sexeducation.pdf 9. Sex and Relationships Education in Schools, 2002, online pdf, viewed on 23 Jan 2007, http://www.hpw.wales.gov.uk/healtheschool_01/pdf/sexrel_e.pdf 10. Social and Community Planning Research, Young People’s Social Attitudes, 1998 [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive [distributor], December 2000. SN: 4231 11. Towards Better Sexual Health: Main findings of this major new survey of the sexual attitudes and lifestyles of young people in Northern Ireland, 2002, online pdf, FPA, viewed 23 Jan 2007, http://www.ulster.ac.uk/news/summary-tbsh.pdf 12. Warwick & Aggleton, Learning from what young people say …about sex, relationships and health, 2001, online pdf, viewed on 23 Jan 2007, http://www.safepassages.soton.ac.uk/pdfs/learningfromypsay.pdf 13. ‘Women wary of condom ‘jinx’…’ , 2007, Metro, 24 January, p. 11

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