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Canadian Teens Say Parents, Not Sex-Ed, is Best for Info on Healthy Sexuality

By Gudrun Schultz

MONTREAL, Quebec, February 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canadian teenagers view parents as their primary source for information on sex and healthy sexuality, a new Ipsos-Reid poll reveals.

In a survey jointly conducted by the Canadian Association for Adolescent Health (CAAH) and Ipsos on the sexual behavior and knowledge of teenagers, researchers were startled to discover that a majority of teenagers identified their parents as the most valuable resource for information on sex.

“One of the most surprising results of the study was how parents underestimate their importance and the role teens expect them to play when it comes to their sexuality and sexual health,” said Dr. Miriam Kaufman, a CAAH spokesperson and paediatrician at the Adolescent Division at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, in a press release yesterday.

 “Canadian teens look up to their parents and consider them a valuable source of information. We are hoping that by making this information widely known, parents will feel more comfortable breaking the wall of silence that too often exists when it comes to discussing sexuality with their children.”

Parents were identified as a major source of sex information by 63 percent of teenagers polled. Almost half (43 percent) said parents were the most useful and valuable source of information.

However, 38 percent of teens said they have not discussed sex and sexuality with their mothers.

Sex education in schools received a very low rating by teenagers—only 23 percent said they found it to be useful.

The survey also revealed an alarming lack of accurate information on sexuality among teenagers.  Confusion over what constitutes sexual activity and the health hazards associated with certain sexual practices were marked among those polled, with 26 percent of teens defining abstinence as compatible with oral sex.
 
The poll, completed in October 2005, was conducted among 1,171 teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17. The survey also incorporated information from interviews with 1,139 mothers of teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17. All interviews were conducted online. The results are considered accurate to within 2.9 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.

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