Adolescents’ Perspective on Their Sexual Knowledge and the Role of School in Addressing Emotions in Sex Education: An Exploratory Analysis of Two School Types in Austria

ABSTRACT

Sex education for adolescents should include building knowledge on the emotional, social and physical aspects of sexuality. This study aimed to find out how adolescents from two different school types perceived their own knowledge on sexual matters, the importance they placed on sex education in school, and how well they felt that emotional, social and physical issues were raised within the frame of sex education. A cross-sectional 74-item questionnaire survey was conducted among adolescents (n = 198, age 13–16 years) from two secondary schools and one polytechnic school in Austria. From the linear regression analyses, secondary school students felt more knowledgeable on sexual matters than polytechnic students (beta = −0.288, p = .005). Secondary school students had more knowledge on the biology of sexuality but were less informed of the emotional aspects and other topics masturbation [mean score (SD)] [2.42(1.24) vs 3.42(1.44); p < .001], forms of sexual contact [2.81(1.08) vs 3.54(1.22), p = .006] and dealing with love and sexual feelings in relationships [2.68(1.19) vs 3.33(2.60); p = .030] than polytechnic students. While teachers were considered important providers of sex education, a more varied and practical means of learning was desired. Sex education should allow for the interplay between fact and emotion using varied teaching and learning strategies.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank those who helped with this study, and all student participants who actively shared their time for the survey. An oral presentation of the findings was given at the 22^nd Austrian Public Health Conference in May 2019.

Ethical Consideration

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Medical University of Vienna [EK: 1878/2016] and the City school council [600.010/0018-R/2017]. The teachers, parents and students were provided with written information about the study. As the survey was online and anonymous, parental consent was not deemed necessary in accordance with the ethical requirements.

Data Availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.