Intimate attitudes, knowledges and practices: Chinese-speaking international students in Australia

Abstract

In 2018, University of Melbourne and Burnet Institute conducted the survey Intimate attitudes, practices and knowledges: Chinese-speaking international students in Australia. This study aimed to generate data on Chinese international students’ sexual experiences in order to inform sexual health service provision in Australia. We provide this summary report as a resource and reference for future work in this area.

The survey was open for nine weeks and completed by 723 Chinese-speaking international students. Participants were aged 16 years and over, self-identified as Chinese-speaking international students, and were studying across Australia iin high schools, universities, language schools, foundation studies courses, and the Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) sectors. The majority (96%) of participants were from the mainland of the People’s Republic of China, and almost half (47%) had been in Australia for less than a year. The median age of participants was 22 years and most identified as female (69%).