27 October 2008     Australia's leading sexual and reproductive healthcare organisation today called on governments around the country to introduce mandatory sex education in all schools following release of new research showing that, of teens who are sexually active, a third had their first experience at age 14 years or younger, yet almost one in ten say they have not been taught sex ed at school.
 
“To best support our teens, open communication, a solid sex education offering and a thorough understanding of their situation is vital - yet feedback from teenagers and their parents indicate that this is lacking in many cases,” said Jill Michelson, General Manager of Operations for Marie Stopes International.

Other key findings in the report SEX – telling it like it is: a parent and teen insight include: 
 

• 22% of parents think that their teen is sexually active, but in reality 31% claim to be. At the same time, 13% of parents admit that they wouldn’t know whether their teen was sexually active or not.
• The large majority of parents (90%) rate themselves as approachable on the topic of sex, whereas only three-quarters (74%) of teens agree.
• Half of all teenagers (51%) say they either don’t talk about personal issues with their parents or don’t fully confide in their parents on some personal issues.
• In general more parents think they’ve had “the talk” about sexual health than teens do (80% vs. 73%), with 20% of parents admitting that they have never had the conversation with their teenager.
• Teenagers who have had “the talk” with their parent on average become sexually active later than those who haven’t had the talk (15.3yrs v 14.7yrs).
• Although 61% of teens rate their knowledge of sexual health issues as good/excellent:
        - nearly half (45%) were not aware that they could be infected with Chlamydia but have no symptoms;
        - 3 in 10 (30%) teens were unaware whether they could contract sexually transmitted infections (STIs) from oral sex; and
        - over half (52%) think that by using a condom, they won’t contract herpes.
• Many parents (56%) and teens (69%) feel that sex education at the teen’s school is of average or lower quality.
• Less than half of teens who have received sex education at school claim to have been taught topics such as sexual decision making (51%), emotional aspects of sex (39%) and non-consensual sex (43%).
• 66% of teens and 75% of parents support mandatory sex education in schools.

“These findings suggest significant room for improvement in STI knowledge levels generally amongst teens and a need for stronger sex education and support programs in schools and the community for both teenagers and their parents,” said Ms. Michelson.

“In 2007 there were over 52,000 notifications of Chlamydia nationwide and, of those notifications, 13,000 or 1 in 4 were recorded for males and females aged 19 or under.

“STIs and teenage pregnancy are key health issues that affect many Australian teens and it is time that they received the support and level of sex education they deserve to deal with them."

SEX – telling it like it is: a parent and teen insight was commissioned by Marie Stopes International and conducted by Quantum Market Research, enlisting the database of Pureprofile to select the sample. 1,000 teenagers and their parents nationally took part in the research. A copy of the research findings can be downloaded from www.mariestopes.com.au/research

About Marie Stopes International: Marie Stopes International is a not-for-profit sexual and reproductive healthcare provider, with centres in the ACT, VIC, NSW, QLD and WA. MSI offers a range of services, including abortion, vasectomy, sexually transmitted infection check-ups, contraception and community-based health promotion and education. The organisation is part of a global international partnership that delivers vital health services to over five million people in 42 countries worldwide. Surplus funds support Marie Stopes International Australia, our charity partner, which works to save lives and improve sexual and reproductive health in Indigenous Australia and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. For more information on the organisations, visit www.mariestopes.com.au and www.mariestopes.org.au

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