Beliefs and attitudes towards sexual education among adolescents aged 11 to 17 years old

Background: Previous reports show that Chilean teenagers have an inadequate knowledge about sexuality and reproduction. Aim: To compare the knowledge about sexuality among adolescents coming from private and public schools, w ith and without sexual education programs. Material and methods. A structur ed anonymous inquiry, and containing multiple choice and open questions, wa s applied to sample of 229 adolescents attending seventh and eigth grade of junior school, in private and public schools of Temuco, Chile. Results: El even percent of adolescents had already their first sexual intercourse at a mean age of 12.2 +/- 2.4 years old. Of these, 96% came from public schools . An overall analysts of tests, disclosed a 53% of correct answers to the i nquiry. Adolescents coming from private schools had a better performance th an those coming from public schools. Sexual attitudes were not influenced b y sexual education programs. Conclusions: Adolescents coming from private s chools have a better sexual knowledge level and more conservative attitudes towards sexuality. Overall knowledge is inadequate albeit overvalued. Thes e teenagers are high risk group for unwanted pregnancies and sexually trans mitted diseases and require efficient sexual education programs.