Do parents and young people communicate on sexual matters? The situation of Family Life Education (FLE) in a rural town in Ethiopia

Abstract: As a result of a cultural taboo, adolescents in many developing countries rarely discuss sexual matters explicitly with their parents. Most information for their patchy knowledge often comes from peers of the same sex, who may themselves be uninformed or incorrectly informed. This report is a summary of two surveys carried out on two occasions (November 1996 and October 1997, respectively) on 343 high school students and 246 families who had children 10-24 years of age in a rural town 160 Km south of Addis Ababa. The purpose was to assess the awareness and attitude of both study groups on major Family Life Education (FLE) components and know the level of parent-adolescent communication on matters related to young people’s sexuality. Findings suggest that young people’s knowledge on aspects of their sexuality is incomplete and not enough to minimise risk-taking. Yet, more than half of them believed that is unacceptable to discuss growth changes and sexual issues with parents during adolescence. Different grade and age levels did not influence the consensus except for a female sex, which significantly favoured this negative attitude. For some who approved discussion (sexual matters and contraception), peers were preferred most. Furthermore, 31.5% of the students were sexually active, and 65.7% of the sexually active ones reported use of some contraception (including calendar method) in the past. Likewise, parents had a partial knowledge regarding adolescent sexual maturation and behaviour or complication of teenage pregnancy. Nonetheless, 93% did not approve premarital sex and ironically, not more than 20% of them reported discussion of growth changes during adolescence, sexuality, and contraception in the past. However, parental education and lower family size positively influenced this attitude and practice. Implications of the study were discussed and recommendations made on future needs to initiate a comprehensive FLE in the school system and increase the responsibility of parents in adolescent sexuality. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1999;13(3):205-210