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Young people, as an integral part of future society, receive high expectations from the public. This early stage in people’s lives is not only essential for their physical and psychological development, but also drives early sexual experimentation (Akibu et al., 2017). Actual sexual behaviours are concomitant with curiosity about sex. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2014), 16 million girls aged 15–19 get pregnant each year globally and 3 million of these pregnancies end up with unsafe abortions. In addition, there are many negative ramifications of sexual intercourse, including a tendency to smoke and drink (Chiao & Yi, 2011) and a higher possibility of adverse physical and psychological symptoms (Madkour et al., 2010).
Sexual debut is a heated topic since it symbolizes the beginning of sexual intercourse, as well as the risks associated with sex (Pettifor et al., 2004). Research into the sexual debut of young people has exposed the risky behaviours exhibited by young people (Kassahun et al., 2019). Sexual activity can have risky health outcomes (e.g. HIV; see Anderson et al., 2007), and can trigger depressive symptoms if initiated too early (Ekundayo, 2007; Spriggs & Halpern, 2008; Chiao & Ksobiech, 2015). Kim (2016) indicated that early sexual debut was correlated with an increase in aggressive behaviours and even suicide among youngsters in South Korea. It is therefore necessary to explore the predictors of early sexual behaviours, and sexual debut in particular, in order to explicate this issue and avoid risky outcomes for young people.
Young people’s sexual behaviour is easily affected by family, peer and social pressure (e.g. Murray et al., 1998; Babalola, 2004; Nnebue et al., 2016). Many studies have been conducted in developed countries in North America and Europe, and in some developing countries in Africa, but few have been conducted in Asia. Given that the cultural background and social values of Asian countries can differ greatly from those in other regions, studies in Asia, and especially East Asia, are needed. Adolescents in East Asia tend to have more conservative attitudes towards sex and sexual behaviours owing to the influence of Confucianism (Guo et al., 2020). The current study, set in China, investigating the potential predictors of sexual debut among youths,...