The vast majority of Italian adolescents learn about sex from their friends and classmates, while only a minority seek information from their parents, according to a new study.
Carried out by the Italian Pediatric Society, the study found that 74% of males and 65.5% of females between the ages of 12 and 14 learned about sex from their peers.
Mothers were a source of answers about sex for 36.6% of the females quizzed in the study and 18.5% of the males, while fathers were the preferred talking partner for 20% of male adolescents and 11.5% of females.
Within the family circle, 31.7% of the adolescents learned about sex from their cousins and 15.7% from their brothers or sisters.
Only 21% of male and 30% of female adolescents said they would ask a teacher about sex, most after school hours, while 15.4% of adolescents said they used the media, internet and pornographic publications to expand their sexual knowledge.
