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Adolescents’ sexual knowledge and behaviors: An exploratory study
Journal Title: RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA  
Author/s: Elena Canzi, Miriam Parise, Laura Ferrari, Maria Giulia Olivari 
Year:  2020 Issue: 2 Language: Italian 
Pages:  24 Pg. 575-598 FullText PDF:  278 KB
DOI:  10.3280/RIP2020-002006
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This work presents the results of an exploratory study on adolescents’ sexual and relational-emotional knowledge, sources of information, and behaviors. The study also investigates adolescents’ risky experiences in both real and vir-tual life. The sample consists of 1522 adolescents of Italian nationality with age range between 12 and 18 years (44% males and 56% females), who completed an on-line self-report questionnaire. Results show that, contrary to their percep-tion, adolescents’ knowledge about sexuality and emotionality is rather scarce. They refer primarily to parents, friends, and, to a considerable extent, to the In-ternet to get information about sexuality. In addition, the percentage of sexual-ly active adolescents who report to enact risky behaviors, especially among the youngest (12-14 years), is noteworthy. Finally, a consistent percentage of ado-lescents report to receive or send "sensual" photos through the Internet and to receive requests to provide personal material/information by strangers.
Keywords: Adolescence, sexual risky behaviors, relationships, sexuality, knowledge about sexuality, source of information about sexuality.

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Elena Canzi, Miriam Parise, Laura Ferrari, Maria Giulia Olivari, Adolescents’ sexual knowledge and behaviors: An exploratory study in "RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA " 2/2020, pp. 575-598, DOI:10.3280/RIP2020-002006

   

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