Talking about sex remains a relatively taboo subject between parents and children, if we judge one surveyconducted with 516 young people aged 12 to 25. The survey, carried out by the Terpan laboratory for family planning, underlines the persistent difficulty ofaddress issues related to sexuality. 42% of respondents have not spoken or do not plan to discuss it with their parents.
Why this restraint? The brakes on this intra-family dialogue are first of all modesty cited by 62% of respondents, judgment for 20% or fear for 14.4%. Religion is only mentioned by 4.2% of respondents.
Unsurprisingly, respondents admit having an easier time bringing up the subject with their friends (over 50%) or health professionals (16%).
When choosing between the two parents, young people feel more comfortable interacting with their mother (20% of respondents) rather than their father (4.8%).
Addressing sexuality with parents, an “uncomfortable” subject
A large majority of young people do not want their parents to get more involved in their sex life, notes the investigation. However, the survey reveals a paradox: if young people prefer to keep parents away from their sexuality and find it difficult to talk about sex with their parents, they mostly agree that parents should intervene in sex education: 64.2% believe that ‘they have the greatest responsibility in this pre-school sexuality education (20.9%) and the public authorities (13.6%).
What topics of sexuality education should be addressed by parents? To this question, 84% of the young people questioned answered mutual consent, contraception (cited by 77%), prevention against risky behavior (65%). Pornographic sites Where sexual desire remain delicate subjects to discuss: only 14% wish to talk about it with their parents.
Increase in STIs among young people
“Sexuality education plays an essential role, and everyone must contribute,” observes Family Planning in reaction to this study. It is important to talk about contraception and STI / HIV prevention to help young people make their own informed choices ”.
Family planning recalls the importance ofuse condomto prevent sexually transmitted infections (IST), while they have experienced an increase between 2012 and 2016particularly among young people, recalled a survey for Public health France in July 2018.
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