Family Socioeconomic Status and Chinese College Students’ Premarital Sexual Attitudes and Behavior

This article examines the distinct impact of different dimensions of family socioeconomic status (SES) on premarital sexual permissive attitudes and behaviors among Chinese college students. Based on data from the Beijing College Students Panel Survey from 2009 to 2012 (N = 4043), we differentiate students by parental education, parental occupation, and family income. It is shown that, other things being equal, family income has a robust and positive correlation with both premarital sexual permissiveness and involvement. Parental education is negatively related to the likelihood of having premarital sex. No significant effect is detected for parental occupation. Further mediation analyses suggest that the positive effect of family income is established through increasing an individual’s experiences of intimate relationships, while the negative effect of parental education plays out via encouraging a higher level of educational aspiration.