Talking to kids about sex at a younger age will encourage them to start having sex earlier in Life?

BIG MYTH! 🤗

Research finds there’s no truth behind this worry & suggests that when it comes to teaching your kids about sex,the younger,the better.

In a study published in the JAMA #Pediatrics journal, researchers sought to understand how parental involvement in kids’ sex ed affected actual sexual health outcomes. In other words, does having parents who talk to them about sex lead to kids making better decisions about their sex lives?

To answer this question, researchers examined 31 past studies on #sex-ed programs that involve ‘parents’ in teaching kids about sex. In total, the meta-analysis involved data on over 12,000 kids between ages 9 & 18 whose parents participated in their sex education.

Learning about sex DOESN’T make kids start having sex earlier.

First of all,the results showed that if parents are actively engaged in teaching their kids about sex, they are more likely to use condoms during sex, were more open with parents about sexual experiences & had higher sexual self-efficacy (the ability to advocate for needs in bed), & the more hours the parents spent participating in their kids’ sex education, the stronger these effects were.

The most interesting finding – Parents helping to educate their kids about sex had NO effect on how old their kids were when they started having sex.! 💥

This should be reassuring for parents who are concerned that talking about sex may somehow result in their children initiating sex.

The results also showed the positive effects were even stronger when they happened at a younger age. 😁 Rather than encouraging kids to start having sex earlier, these conversations actually just create an envt where kids have more knowledge to make informed decisions about sex later in life. Instead of stumbling into sexual situations in their #teens without having had any formal conversations about sexual health or communication, kids have that basic info with them for whenever their sexual lives begin.
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Source : shortened version-
Kelly Gonsalves’s article frm Mindbodygreen.com.
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Swati Jagdish
Sexuality health educato