SUMMARY :
The outpatient clinic for Adolescent
Gynaecology of Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Rome carries out periodical surveys
using questionnaires about sexual attitudes among a group of girls attending a
school near the hospital.
The purpose of the study is to compare sexual attitudes
between girls coming to the gynaecological clinic and those without specific medical
needs.
There are 54 questions in the questionnaire, one half of which focus
on the evaluation of medical problems while the other on sexual attitudes.
In
February 2000, 253 girls aged between 14 and 21 were interviewed in the same school
where the same questionnaire had been used in 1987.
The authors evaluated differences
and similarities about sexuality over the years, also taking into consideration
other recent Italian analyses.
Today, adolescents seem to be better informed
about sexual issues than before, even though friends are still the main source
of information about sex rather than parents.
One third had their first sexual
intercourse at an average age of 16, while in the previous survey one fourth had
experienced it at an average age of 15. Only half declare to have received sex
education, and all the sexually active girls say they use a contraceptive (60
% of them use a condom, with respect to 50 % in the previous survey).
The adolescent
girls seem to be insufficiently informed about sex. She thinks she has the right
information but she does not know the real function of the reproductive apparatus
and consequently is at risk regarding unwanted pregnancy, abortion, sexually transmitted
diseases, but all this to a much lesser degree than in other countries.
Most
of them would like to have sex education in the school, while one half would prefer
specific adolescent out-patient clinics.
Key words :
o Sex education
o
Adolescent girls
o First sexual
intercourse
o Survey