An investigation into the sources of sexual information amongst the pupils in standards 9 and 10 in a co-educational high school in Cape Town

An investigation into the actual and preferred sources of sexual information among male and female adolescents in standards 9 and 10 at a private school was undertaken. A review and theoretical consideration of the sources of sexual information among pre-adolescents, adolescents and tertiary students in the Western world during the past seven decades is provided. The sample of 260 pupils completed a four-part questionnaire, which is based on questionnaires used by Davis and Harris (1982), Gebhard (1977), Kallen, Stephenson and Doughty (1983), Spanier (1977) and Thornburg (1970, 1972, 1975, 1981a, 1981b, 1985). Results are quantitative in nature, and are treated predominantly descriptively. Comparisons of the findings are made with regard to previous research of a similar nature. The investigation found that, as a source of information, books/magazines/ pamphlets is the most important one. The other relatively important sources, in order of importance, are mothers, same-sex peers, television/ movies and school programmes. The major source for the 126 males is books/magazines/pamphlets, and their other relatively important sources are same-sex peers, television/movies, mothers and school programmes. For the 134 females, mothers are the most important source, while books/ magazines/pamphlets, same-sex peers, school programmes and television/ movies are also regarded as relatively important by them. Furthermore, it was found that information pertaining to most behaviour-related sexual topics is acquired primarily by these pupils from same-sex peers, information regarding non-behaviour-related topics is acquired primarily from mothers, and books/magazines/pamphlets is the major source for so-called "controversial" sexual topics. The investigation also revealed that mothers are the most preferred source of information for the participants, with books/magazines/pamphlets, school programmes, fathers and same-sex peers being the other sources preferred to a relatively important degree by them. When the sources of males and females are viewed separately, mothers are found to be the most preferred source for both sexes. Furthermore, for 9 of the 12 sexual topics investigated, mothers are found to be the most preferred source, and same-sex peers are found to be the most preferred source for the other three topics. These findings are discussed and compared, implications and limitations of the study are considered, and suggestions for further research, as well as some conclusions, are made.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Centre for Educational Research

Year dc:date.issued

1989

Author dc:creator

• Kagan, Jeffrey

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Heyns, I de V

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21874

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/21874