Attitudes of parents and health promoters in Greece concerning sex education of adolescents

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore the attitudes and views of Greek parents concerning the provision of sex education to adolescents, as well as the opinion and the involvement of school health promoters in sex education. A questionnaire containing 20 items was constructed and administered to 93 parents of adolescents who participated in parents' associations. Another 10‐item questionnaire was constructed, and telephone‐administered to the coordinators of all the Health Promotion Divisions of the Greek Educational system. Although the majority of parents (91%) reported that they discuss issues concerning sex education with their children, only 47% state that it is ‘moderately’ easy for them. The majority (70%) believe that sex education should start before adolescence, but 80% believe that school is not adequate to provide it. Regarding the coordinators, most of them (83%) have implemented school‐based sex education programmes and one in three believes that parents are slightly sensitised to the issue but 51% believe that adolescents are extremely sensitised to sex education. In conclusion, this study shows a discrepancy between parents' and coordinators' views, and one can assume that this hinders their cooperation on adolescents' sex education.