Current situation of family reproductive health education and its influence on adolescents' reproductive health knowledge

Objective:To analyze the profile of current family reproductive health (RH) education on adolescents and also to understand its influence on adolescents' RH knowledge.Methods:A total of 536 adolescents were sampled through cluster random sampling from nuclear families of 27 communities in Xuhui District, Shanghai, and were investigated by face to face interview with structural questionnaire on RH knowledge and questions related to family RH education.Results:Adolescents who responded parents had ever talked with them about RH accounted for 51.31%, with the proportion of girls (67.97%) having such response higher than boys (36.07%). Those who said the father had ever started the topic accounted for 19.48%; while those who answered the mother had ever done so reached 44.03%. Altogether, about one-third (37.69%) of adolescents had asked their parents RH questions, 11.19% asking the father and 33.58% asking the mother. Adolescents scored 42.30 on average on RH related knowledge.Those who had communicated with their parents scored 15 points higher than the others.Conclusion:Adolescents' RH knowledge is in a low level. Family RH education, though could significantly improve adolescents' awareness of RH knowledge, is still insufficient.