[Adolescent females' knowledge about pregnancy prevention methods and sexually transmitted diseases]

To evaluate knowledge about sexuality, contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) by female adolescents from both rural and urban zone attending public school.

A cross sectional study was made with 506 teenagers, 10 to 16 years old, attending Dr. Roberto Feijó Public School in Guararema, São Paulo. A semi-structured questionnaire with general questions about sexuality, contraceptive methods and STD was administered. The Chi-square test was used to verify the association between variables.

Mean age of the girls from the rural zone was 13 years and 11 months and from the urban zone age was 13 years and 7 months, with no statistical difference. Of all the girls, 31% came from the rural and 69% from the urban zone. Adolescents from the rural zone looked for more information about sexuality (81.2%) when compared to those from the urban zone (72.2%) (p<0.0568). Parents were the main source of information for both zones. The condom was the most familiar method in the rural (44%) and the urban (45%) zones (p=0.0022). AIDS was the best known STD by girls from the rural (43%) and urban (39%) zones (p=0.7843).

Most of the surveyed female adolescents sought information about sexuality, however their knowledge about STD and contraceptive methods was inadequate.