The Relationship between the Levels of Sexual Health Literacy of Parents and Their Adolescent

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Medical Library and Information Science, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Prof., Department of Medical Library and Information Science, Faculty of Paramedicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.

3 Department of Library and Medical Information, Faculty of Management and Medical Information Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.

4 Department of Medical Library and Information Science, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Health Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical

5 Digital library Department, The Special Library of the Academy of Art, Tehran, Iran.

6 Department Of Library and Information Science, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

7 Manager of Information Center in Medical Library of Bushehr, Bushehr, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objective: Children and adolescents are at risk of experiencing sexual behaviors, which can harm their physical and mental health. Parents must understand gender issues and distinguish between normal and abnormal sexual behaviors to prevent maladaptive behaviors. This study aimed to examine the sexual health literacy of parents and adolescents and their correlation.

Materials and Methods: The research conducted was correlational and focused on employees of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences. The sample size consisted of 87 parents and 33 children, selected through available sampling between 2020 and 2021. The researcher created questionnaires to measure the sexual health literacy of both parents and children. Data analysis was done using SPSS 23 software and the U-Man-Whitney test at a significance level of 0.5.

Results: The Results show that the total score of parents' sexual health literacy is equal to 117.05 and the standard deviation is 17.50. The highest average is related to an understanding with an average of 59.43 and the lowest is related to evaluation with an average of 16.89. It is 108.52 with a standard deviation of 25.56. The highest average is related to an understanding with an average of 54.97 and the lowest is related to evaluation with an average of 15.76. Also, the findings do not show a significant relationship between the level of sexual health literacy of parents and children.

Conclusion: The study found no notable correlation between parents' and children's sexual health. However, parents displayed a higher level of health literacy compared to their children. This could positively impact the education of adolescents, given the importance of family-oriented education. Therefore, it is crucial to empower parents to educate their teenagers.

Keywords

Availability of data and materials: The datasets used and analysed during the current study is included in this article.
Conflict of Interest: There is no conflict of interest to declare.


Ethical consideration: The study was approved by ethic committee in Bushehr university of medical science (ethics code: IR.BPUMS.REC.1400.050)


Funding: financial support from Bushehr University of Medical Sciences.


Authors' contributions: All authors contributed to this project and article equally. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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