Resumo

MATOS, Margarida Gaspar de  e  SAMPAIO, Daniel. Sexual Education in the Context of Portuguese Schools. Arq Med [online]. 2010, vol.24, n.5, pp.175-177. ISSN 2183-2447.

Introduction: Recurrently, civil society is confronted with disparate information about the alleged evils of sex education in schools with scientifically unfounded statements such as “sex education promotes early initiation of sexual intercourse”, “parents are often the only and best interlocutors of the children in issues of sexuality”, “ young people do not want sex education in schools”. Methods: The aim of this paper is to give voice to young people (rarely heard unless in the context of the somehow hyper-structured youth sections of political parties), and analyze the responses on this subject have 4877 students enrolled in the study Health Behavior School-aged Children in 2006.The sample was randomly selected and has national representation for young people who attend the 6th, 8th and 10th grades, the official teaching. The unit of analysis (“cluster”) was the “class” and the questionnaires were completed in the classroom, and filling anonymous and voluntary. Results: A considerable number of teenagers have the information that they need about sexuality at home by their parents, but for fewer but not insignificant, this education is not satisfactory and does not allow for protection of their health. Discussion: According to youths’ statements regarding sex education, the parental education is very important. The school must provide an education promoting sexual health to young people not covered sufficiently through parental education.

Palavras-chave : sex education; adolescents; parents; teachers.

        · resumo em Português     · texto em Português     · Português ( pdf )