The Durex Network just released The Face of Global Sex 2009, a study exploring attitudes and knowledge about sex and relationships among Eastern European youth from seven countries.
Interestingly, one effect the “Westernization of attitudes and values” has had on young people in the region is an earlier age of sexual debut. Not suprisingly, this is accompanied by an increased demand for accurate and complete information about sex and relationships at an early age.
Among the study’s findings:
- A significant link was found between young people’s perceived need for sex and relationship education and the age at which they were first taught about sex. Of the respondents who were exposed to sexuality education programs before the age of 12, fewer than 80 percent indicated a need for more sex and relationship education. However respondents who first received sex ed at the age of 17, more than 90 percent felth that they needed to learn more. Than percentage jumps to almost 95% when respondents receive education for the first time at age 19.
- Eastern European youth who rely on teachers and health professionals to lean about sex are less likely to report a need for more sex and relationship education later in life. However, for other sources of sex and relationship education, significant differences were detected, especially when it comes to the internet: respondents that rely on the internet to learn about sex are 113 percent more likely to demonstrate a need for further sex and relationship education.
- Among those surveyed, there was a strong link between the perceived importance of sexual health checks and the need for more sex and relationship education.
As Durex states on its website, “a healthy and rewarding sex life should be everyone’s to enjoy.” With the health and happiness of the world’s largest generation of youth ever at stake, let’s hope the world heeds this aspiration.
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