Objective@#To understand the consistency and factors influencing rural
parents knowledge,
attitude and practice about early childhood
sex education, so as to put forward effective
suggestions and countermeasures for improving childhood
sex education in
rural areas.@*
Methods@#A multi stage
stratified sampling method was used to investigate the
knowledge,
attitude and practice of early childhood
sex education among 1 015
parents in 16 kindergartens in
rural areas of Sichuan from March to May 2019. Chi square text and multivariate
Logistic regression analysis were used to analyze factors affecting the consistency of
parents knowledge,
attitude and practice of childhood
sex education.@*Results@#Nearly 64.9%, 85.9% and 44.7% of
parents with sufficient
knowledge, support, and implement of early
children s
sex education, respectively, and the consistency rate of
knowledge,
attitude and practice were 30.2%. The results of the multivariate
Logistic regression analysis showed that
parents aged <31 years ( OR= 5.35 , 95%CI =2.93-9.77), 31-40 years ( OR=4.82, 95%CI =2.65-8.76) and 41-50 years ( OR=2.37, 95%CI =1.10-5.11), and the
mother s
education level being middle
school ( OR=3.67, 95%CI =1.75-7.69),
secondary/
high school ( OR=2.83, 95%CI =1.32-6.05) and college/bachelor s degree and above ( OR=5.44, 95%CI =2.23-12.98),
sex related questions asked by
child ( OR=2.00, 95%CI =1.44-2.78), having
sex education in the
family ( OR=5.38, 95% CI =3.82-7.59), believing that
parents should be responsible for
sex education for young
children ( OR=2.58, 95%CI =1.40-4.74) had a higher consistency rate of
knowledge,
attitude and practice in early childhood
sex education ( P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#In
rural areas of Sichuan, although
parents highly support early childhood
sex education, the eligible rate of
knowledge and the implementing rate are quite low, as well as the consistent rate of
knowledge,
attitude and practice. Relevant departments should pay
attention to strengthen publicity and
education, especially among older
parents, low educated
parents and those opposed to or not yet implementing
child sex education.