| Author: | Ji, Zhe |
| Title: | Sexual health and intimacy needs of divorced and widowed older Chinese women in Shanghai and Wuhan of China |
| Advisors: | Yan Chau Wai Elsie (APSS) |
| Degree: | DSW |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Subject: | Older women -- China -- Sexual behavior Older women -- China -- Psychology Widows -- China Divorced women -- China Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Applied Social Sciences |
| Pages: | 248 pages : illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | The rapidly ageing population, the growing rate of divorce, and the longer life expectancy of women compared to men have resulted in a large proportion of older Chinese women being alone. The sexual health and intimacy needs of this group of women are ignored due to traditional Chinese cultural values that undermine older people’s needs for sex and intimacy, and the subordinate position of women in society. The present study uses a quantitative survey method to investigate bio-psycho-social factors associated with divorced and widowed older Chinese women’s sexual health and intimacy needs in two cities in China: Shanghai and Wuhan. The conceptual framework of this study is guided by cognitive stress theory, attachment theory, gender theory, socioemotional selectivity theory, objectification theory, and activity theory. The author adopted a model involving demographic, biological, psychological, and social factors to unearth the mechanism influencing divorced and widowed older Chinese women’s sexual health and intimacy needs. The following scales were translated and adapted for use in this study: the InCharge Financial Distress/Financial Well-Being Scale (IFDFW), the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS), the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO–PI–R), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Marital Conflict Scale (MCS), the Gender Norm Attitude Scale (GNAS), the Sexual Adjustment and Body Image Scale (SABIS), the Ageing Sexual Knowledge and Attitude Scale (ASKAS), the Intimacy Attitude Scale – Revised (IAS-R), and the Senior Adult Sexuality Scale (SASS). To ensure that all of the instruments were psychometrically sound, all assessment tools were forward-back translated. An expert panel was consulted about the cultural relevance of these instruments. A pilot study was conducted with 20 divorced and widowed older Chinese women in Wuhan before the data collection, to examine the validity of the survey instruments. A convenient sample of 278 (N = 278) divorced and widowed older Chinese women was recruited (166 in Shanghai and 112 in Wuhan). The results indicated that all adapted scales exhibited acceptable internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alphas ranging from .79 to .98. The present study found that the participants had strong beliefs in egalitarian gender roles (Nanda, 2011), high levels of body and sexual satisfaction (Özalp et al., 2015), greater sexual knowledge, more permissive attitudes, and positive attitudes toward intimacy (Weinstein & Rosen, 1988), as well as frequent engagement in sexual behaviour (Weinstein & Rosen, 1988), and the adult children form an important part of the social support of the participants. In general, most of the research hypotheses were confirmed, however, no mediation effect of sexual health and intimacy needs was found between any of the factors and sexual behaviour. Most participants in this study seemed to have found new intimate partners with whom to continue participating in sexual activities after their divorce or widowhood. Most of the participants challenged and resisted the mainstream norms of intimate relationships and sexuality in their later years. Divorced and widowed older Chinese women are trying to open up possibilities for various intimate and sexual subjectivities in their later years by themselves. The present study is one of the first pieces of empirical research to examine the sexual health and intimacy needs of older Chinese women who are divorced or widowed. The first-hand data of this study have laid a foundation and provide hope for future quantitative research into the intimacy and sexuality of older Chinese women. The results from this study will help to improve our understanding of this issue, especially for social workers, healthcare providers, and policy makers working with bio-psycho-social factors associated with sexual health and intimacy needs among divorced and widowed urban older Chinese women. The findings generated by this study will also inform the design and implementation of appropriate social programmes for this demographic, and provide invaluable insight for social workers, educators, sex therapists, healthcare professionals, community workers, and policy makers working with this population. Future research could expand upon this study by looking at rural regions, older men and women who have never been married, divorced and widowed older heterosexual men, people of homosexual orientation, and sexual minorities among older adults. Furthermore, a qualitative approach, or a qualitative/quantitative hybrid approach, could be explored in the future, which will lead to more comprehensive analyses in this area of research. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6903.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 1.98 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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