Sex Education in the Family and Its Relationship to the Prevalence of Teenage Pregnancies

St. Michaels College

Iligan City

SY: 2011-2012

Introduction of Sex Education in the Family and Its relationship

to the prevalence of teenage pregnancies in Barangay Suarez

A thesis submitted in a partial fulfillment

Of the requirements

For the degree of

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

In

Nursing Research

By:

Beverly Jane Rosco

Merlinda R. Valencia

Jaymar M. Babate

Juven L. Gutang

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Sex education, in one form or another, has always been an issue of controversy. There are those who believe that it go against their moral or religious beliefs. In school, others may think that students can be over excited in such a class because of their lack of maturity. Sex education makes the relationship between parents and children easier since it is the teacher who explains the uncomfortable topic for the first time. Child may also feel less vulnerable talking to some who is not their parents, so as not to be ashamed. In other word, only parents can choose the right time to talk about sex with their children, whether they believe they are mature enough or not. The problem is that because parents are not ready or children are not mature, every day we hear more cases of AIDS and unwilling pregnancies which end in abortion. Teenagers, nowadays, faces the risk of venereal diseases throughout their life. Most parents here in the Philippines are shamed in educating their child about sex and some have lack of knowledge about the proper way of sex education. Cases of unwilling pregnancy, AIDS, and STD have been increasing specifically among teenagers due to premarital sex and lack of knowledge about the consequences of their acts. Barangay Suarez, as one of the most populated barangay in Iligan City, has the most cases of teenage pregnancies and has been called as "productive community" based on the records gathered from the Health Center.

One of the main goals of education is to develop self-fulfillment. That is to say, to develop a sense of responsibility towards life and awareness of the world which they live. In effect, sex education prepares learners to afford the consequences of their acts, helping them to feel more secure and responsible. Moreover, it also breaks the taboo that sex is bad forbidden thing. It is normally expected that parents should socialize their children appropriately and help them navigate the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Discussion between parents and children about sexual issues can clarify expected behavior, enable parents to communicate their values, and provide a chance to educate and inform the child. Parent-child communication can foster a sense of caring between parents, create supportive environment and strengthen the connectedness between parents and children. This exploratory research will be suitable to have a good start to provide strategies in promoting proper way of teaching sex education to parents for the benefits of their children in Barangay Suarez, Iligan City. Thus this study accentuate more on preventive measures on AIDS, and to decrease the cases of early pregnancy, providing guidance on sex education and to demand strongly that "the purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
Statement of the problem

The main objectives of this research study about sex education and its relationship to teenage pregnancy is to educate students and youngsters that sexual activities can lead to pregnancy, to show that the influences of external factors can lead to sexual activities and understand the importance of sex education to prevent early pregnancy.

1. What is sex education? 2. What are the aims of sex education in Barangay Suarez? 3. What skills should sex education develop? 4. What information should be given to young people living in Barangay Suarez?

Does sex education at an early age encourage young people to have sex?

When should parents start talking to young people about sex?

5. Who should provide sex education?

Significance of the study

This study will be beneficial to provide strategies which could improve the way how parents educate their children about sex. The parent-child communication will improve and gain more awareness through effective communication and open relationship. The study positively promotes healthy generation in Iligan City. This section describes the contribution of the study to the knowledge and it discusses the importance of the study to the following:

Parents/carers

At home, young people can easily have one-to-one discussions with parents or carers which focus on specific issues, questions or concerns. They can have a dialogue about their attitudes and views. Sex education at home also tends to take place over a long time, and involve lots of short interactions between parents and children. There may be times when young people seem reluctant to talk, but it is important not to interpret any diffidence as meaning that there is nothing left to talk about. As young people get older advantage can be taken of opportunities provided by things seen on television for example, as an opportunity to initiate conversation. It is also important not to defer dealing with a question or issue for too long as it can suggest that you are unwilling to talk about it. There is evidence that positive parent-child communication about sexual matters can lead to greater condom use among young men and a lower rate of teenage conception among young women.

Teachers

In school the interaction between the teacher and young people takes a different form and is often provided in organized blocks of lessons. It is not as well suited to advising the individual as it is to providing information from an impartial point of view. The most effective sex education acknowledges the different contributions each setting can make. School programmes which involve parents, notifying them what is being taught and when, can support the initiation of dialogue at home. Parents and schools both need to engage with young people about the messages that they get from the media, and give them opportunities for discussion.

Young people

The involvement of young people themselves in developing and providing sex education has increased as a means of ensuring the relevance and accessibility of provision. Consultation with young people at the point when programmes are designed, helps ensure that they are relevant and the involvement of young people in delivering programmes may reinforce messages as they model attitudes and behaviour to their peers.

Scope and limitation

The study will be conducted in Barangay Suarez, Iligan City which has the most cases of early pregnancy reported. This is an exploratory research, utilizing the qualitative and quantitative method, aims to promote awareness to parents about their role as an educator of their children for sex matters. The respondents are the parents (mother or father). Purposive non-probability sampling will be employed in the selection of respondents.

Theoretical Framework

In assessment phase the parents will be assess on their awareness, strategy techniques, involvement to their child, and sex education management. The parents concerns will also be assessed in terms of parent-child communication, and knowledge deficit on the consequences of not educating their child about sex. After assessment, the researchers plan to develop a health teaching program to promote affective as well as cognitive learning on understanding the facts about sex education for the benefits of their children. After planning, the strategies will be implemented to promote better understanding about the importance of sex education at home and the benefits of it when practice at home. Researchers will utilize different services to increase awareness in terms of sex education for the child. And finally, the respondents will be evaluated on what benefits they and their children will gain from the health teaching program.

Conceptual Framework

CHAPTER II
Review of Related Literature

The Filipino government has backed off from its trial run of sex education on account of the strong resistance by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. The government had distributed the program to two areas of Metro Manila as part of the “pilot stage” of the Department of Education’s attempt to introduce it to the whole country. However, the Filipino Bishops have objected that the introduction of sex education into the public schools would encourage teenagers to try premarital sex rather than remain abstinent, and emphasized that sex education is the parents’ responsibility, not the governments. On top of that, the sex education program instructs youth in the use of artificial contraceptives and condoms, which stridently violate the Church’s solemn teachings on human sexuality.(http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061908.html)

The education department, which presented the module as a response to the nation's booming population growth, emphasized it is not a sex manual but rather a teaching guide dealing with family planning, reproductive health, and the dangers of early and pre-marital sex. According to a UPPI survey, 23 percent of Filipinos ages 15-24 engaged in pre-marital sex in 2002, up from 18 percent in 1994. The prevalence of high-risk sexual behaviors among adolescents rose from 20 percent in 1994 to 27 percent in 2002. Further, this age group now accounts for 17 percent of all induced abortions in the nation. (http://www.aegis.com/news/ads/2006/AD061232.html)

In 1995, while the number of abortions increased slightly among Oregon teens age 10-17; the abortion rate remained unchanged due to a proportional increase in the population. The number of abortions to those age 15-17 decreased by 0.9 percent and the number for teens under the age of fifteen increased by nearly 32 percent from 1994. The abortion rate of 18-19 year-olds increased by 3.1 percent. Pregnancies among all teens were more likely to result in a birth than an abortion. Although teens under 15 years were nearly as likely as those age 15-17 to take a pregnancy to term in 1994, the differential which has historically characterized the youngest teens reappeared in 1995. (http://www.dhs.state.or.us/dhs/ph/chs/data/arpt/95v1/chapter4/chp4-nar.shtml)

According to a 2004 survey by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, rates of pregnancy, birth, and abortion among U.S. teenagers have continued to fall steadily, and, since peaking in 1990, have continued to decline. Sex experts attribute this decline to sex education programs, and many analysts believe that increased home sex education would lead to further declines. Of course, even if more parents begin to educate their children about sexuality, the subject will likely still be a part of school health curricula. However, with parents contributing more to the sex education of America's youths, perhaps parents' satisfaction with school sex education programs, which would become strictly supplemental, would increase, and the controversy surrounding such programs abate. (http://socialissues.wiseto.com/Topics/SexEducation/)

Sexuality, in most of its aspects can be a joyful topic for discussion in the family and perhaps parents might consider giving sex education by means of joke and so on, parents also need to provide accurate information and decision. Making skills to help protect the teenager from pressure to have sex, unattended pregnancy and HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. (Sarah Lee Rosenberg, 2005)

Sex education aims to reduce the risks of potentially negative outcomes from sexual behavior, such as unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and infection with sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. It also aims to contribute to young people’s positive experience of their sexuality by enhancing the quality of their relationships and their ability to make informed decisions over their lifetime. Sex education that works, by which we mean that it is effective is sex education that contributes to both these aims thus helping young people to be safe and enjoy their sexuality. (http://www.avert.org/sex-education.htm)

The skills young people develop as part of sex education are linked to more general life-skills. Being able to communicate, listen, negotiate with others, ask for and identify sources of help and advice, are useful life-skills which can be applied to sexual relationships. Effective sex education develops young people's skills in negotiation, decision-making, assertion and listening. Other important skills include being able to recognize pressures from other people and to resist them, dealing with and challenging prejudice and being able to seek help from adults - including parents, careers and professionals - through the family, community and health and welfare services. (http://www.avert.org/sex-education.htm)

Sex education that works also helps equip young people with the skills to be able to differentiate between accurate and inaccurate information, and to discuss a range of moral and social issues and perspectives on sex and sexuality, including different cultural attitudes and sensitive issues like sexuality, abortion and contraception. (http://www.avert.org/sex-education.htm)

There are many reasons children get involved in sex". Most common being the peer pressure. Their common response is "since everybody is doing it". One of the reasons is their desire for sexual competence with adults and a way to get ahead. Another common reason is their lack of self-esteem which they want to acquire and improve by becoming a father or mother. Sometimes it is due to lack of other alternatives to divert their sexual energies. It could also be due to lack of love and appreciation at home. Detachment from home can lead to attachment elsewhere. (Dr. ShahidAthar, http://www.missionislam.com/family/sex_ed.htm)

We need to teach them responsible parenthood in consonance with the sex education. We don’t need to teach everything but at least give them the basic facts. Along the way, the children can do some more research on their own. Philippines Catholic Bishops Oppose Sex-Ed in Schools, Say it should be Left to Parents is true if all parents know how to discuss sex with their children. We can’t assume parents know how to discuss sex openly. Some might be uneducated to understand the anatomy of reproduction and thus fail to grasp natural birth control methods. The schools together with the parents can bridge the gap of sex education. (http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/sex-education-2)

Parent Who already talked to their children appeared confident and comfortable doing so, over 96% said they felt "very comfortable" or "comfortable", 97% reported feeling confident about their ability to hold this talks, and 97% considered themselves well informed and knowledgeable enough to hold these discussion. (Page 9, KarusaKigaru, Cathy Watson, Menard Muhwezi, Richard Kiborribo, Nelson, Ann Akia-fiedler, and MilkanJuma, 2007)

Parents are ought to be their children's primary sexuality educators, but may need help and encouragement to fulfill this important role. Religious leaders, youth and community group leaders, and health and education professionals can complement and augment the sexuality education that takes place at home. (http://socialissues.wiseto.com/Topics/SexEducation/)

The evidence is overwhelming that any parent who puts his or her mind to it, and who has the confidence of the right approach and the right tools, can teach a child to view sex positively and responsibly; that a parent can protect his or her child from the devastating physical and emotional dangers of experimental, casual, or promiscuous sexual activity and enhance the child's chance for a stable, happy, committed marriage and family. (http://socialissues.wiseto.com/Topics/SexEducation/)

A. Theory

According to Sigmund Freud’s first essay, on "The Sexual Aberrations", designated 'the person from whom sexual attraction precedes the sexual object and the act towards which the instinct tends the sexual aim, and stressed that 'numerous deviations appear in respect of both of these - the sexual object and the sexual aim. Turning to neurotics, Freud emphasised that 'in them tendencies to every kind of perversion can be shown to exist as unconscious forces...neurosis is, as it were, the negative of perversion. Freud concluded that 'a disposition to perversions is an original and universal disposition of the human sexual instinct and that...this postulated constitution, containing the germs of all the perversions, will only be demonstrable in children. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Essays_on_the_Theory_of_Sexuality)

B. Sexual reproductive health in the country and teenage pregnancies

An estimated 1.8 million adolescent males and nearly 700,000 females were sexually active in 2000. Reportedly, only a small proportion of married youth of each sex (14% among males and 30% among females) reported no sexual experience before marriage. Adolescent norms are changing and influencing youth behavior, including risk-taking—more are moving out of their homes to urban areas,having non-familial household arrangements, or going through a “younging” in their dating experiences
(e.g., going steady, first date). The following is a typology of youth premarital experiences:
1) Committed sex – sex with a partner who subsequently becomes the marital partner. Two-thirds of married female and male adolescents belonged to this category.
2) Commercial sex – includes males with one time sexual experience only, repeated sex with only one partner, and those with multiple sex partners. Around 8 percent of adolescent males reported commercial sex experience. By age 21, 12 percent of young men have had the experience.
3) Casual sex – sex with a partner who did not subsequently become the marital partner and in which the transaction did not involve money. Sexually active, single male adolescents often reported their first premarital partner with a friend or acquaintance while female adolescents
(http://www.policyproject.com/pubs/countryreports/ARH_Philippines.pdf)
CHAPTER III
Methodology

Exploratory design was employed in the study utilizing the qualitative and quantitative methods which the researchers aims to gain richer familiarity regarding the parents involvement on adolescence sex education and develops health teaching program promoting proper way of teaching sex education to adolescence. This study will be conducted in Barangay Suarez, Iligan City which has the most cases of teenage pregnancy, it is 7.7km away from the city proper and the population comprises of 1,000 as of 2010. This study will use non-probability sampling specifically, purposive type. The respondent will be given an inform consent before the study and are willing to participate in the research. There will be ten parent mother or father who have child ages 13-19y/o a residents of Barangay Suarez, Iligan City. This study will utilize Focus Group Discussion. The Activity will compose of a facilitator and two secretaries. A questionnaire will be for assessment, and a checklist for evaluation. An evaluation checklist will be used for the evaluation of the individual after the implementation.

St. Michaels College
College of Nursing
Iligan City

Name: (optional)
Gender:
Region:
Ethnicity:
No. of children:
Length of residency:

Check on the following:

Questions:

| |YES |NO |
|1. Do you consider yourself a religious or spiritual person? | | |
|2. Do you involve your child in sex education at home? | | |
|3. Do you involve your child in sex education program in some | | |
|organization? | | |
|4. Do you feel that your religious values enhance your ability to talk about sexuality to your child? | | |
|5. Do your child ask you about sex? | | |
|6. Do you find it difficult to talk to your child’s about sex? | | |
|7. Do you think you are capable enough in teaching your child sex | | |
|Education? | | |
|8. Would you encourage your child’s to take sex education course | | |
|at school if there is such? | | |
|9. Is sex education can help your child to prevent early | | |
|pregnancy? | | |
|10. Is it necessary to conduct sex education in Barangay Suarez? | | |

Comments/suggestions:

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"The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one"

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Intervening Variables

Client’s Profile:
Age (13-19)
Gender (Female/Male)
Marital Status
Educational Background
(Highschool/college level)
Occupation
(Unemployed)

Independent Variables

Dependent Variables