Adolescent attitudes and relevance to family life education programs

The study was conducted in seven private coeducational English-medium schools in Cochin to understand adolescent attitudes in this part of the country. Queries submitted by students (n=10,660) and responses to separate pretested questionnaires for boys (n=886 received) and girls (n=589 received) were analysed. The study showed a lacuna of knowledge among adolescents with the most frequently asked queries being on masturbation, and sex and sexuality. More than 50% of adolescents received information on sex and sexuality from peers; boys had started masturbating by 12 yr age and 93% were doing so by 15 yr age. Although 73% of girls were told about menstruation by their parents, 32% were not aware, at menarche, that such an event would occur and only 8% were aware of all aspects of maintaining menstrual hygiene. 19% of boys succumbed to peer pressure into reading/viewing pornography; more than 50% of adolescents admitted to having had an infatuation around 13 yrs of age or after. 13% of boys admitted to having been initiated into smoking by friends; mostly between 14-16 yrs age; 6.5% boys had consumed alcohol with peers or at family functions, starting between ages of 15 to 17 yrs. Though >70% of adolescents were aware about AIDS, adequate knowledge about its spread and prevention was lacking.