estrecho,fernandez chap 1

1. Base (d) on Youth Ed (1999),
2. With such poor knowledge on such a great step in life (awkward to refer it to sex)
3. Regarding to (omit to) people’s knowledge about sex,
4. Coleman (1961) and Urquiaga (1997) believe so. They think that gender really affects how much a person knows about sex. Coleman thinks that males know more, while Urquiaga believes the opposite, girls are more knowledgeabl (tense consistency; you used past tense earlier)
5. Gutierrez (2010) mentioned on (in) his article
6. Coleman stated that because men are accepted in society as people who think more often about sex, they know more about it. Urquiaga, on the other hand, believes that females know more because they are more exposed to magazines, which he thinks, give off sexual information. (tense consistency)

CHAPTER 1


RATIONALE



Introduction

They are humans currently undergoing the transitional phase between childhood and adulthood. They are meeting different instances and experiences which are slowly teaching them a few lessons in life. They are slowly learning about the importance of the people around them. They are starting to build new relationships which they are slowly learning to appreciate and treasure. They get lost along the way. They make mistakes. They are fun. They are stubborn. They are full of life. They are misunderstood. They are teenagers.
Base on Youth Ed (1999), there are almost one billion teenagers in the world. With such a huge number, it is therefore an undeniable fact that people tend to make so many issues about them. One of the most common talked-about problem involving teenagers is pre-marital sex. On Armstrong and Sarfino’s book (1986), it stated that there is an increasing number of teenagers who engage in sexual acts. Teenagers in the Philippines are not excused. On philippinestoday.net, an article entitled “Teenage Pregnancy” stated that almost 25% of the teenagers are already mothers. The most possible reason why many adolescents end up having babies at such a young age is that they lack knowledge about sex. With such poor knowledge on such a great step in life, teenagers end up facing consequences that they never expected. Many solutions are presented to solve this issue, and one of these is that “sex education” be taught in school. Gutierrez (2010) mentioned on his article that “sex education” promotes safe sex and prevent unwanted pregnancies. At speroforum.com, it is said that, “sex education” can lessen the curiosity of the teenagers in doing the act. By informing the teenagers about sex, they will no longer find the meaning by themselves. But debates are still going on, debates on whether to pursue “sex education” in high schools or not.
Regarding to people’s knowledge about sex, it is a common perception among majority of humans that males know more about it than females. This is a very evident case of a minor discrimination. Most people these days only think about how women are treated unequally, how they are abused and the like, but do we ever consider the men’s side? When we think of men and relationships, we always associate them with sexual side. Can this be possibly true for all of them? Are all of them highly knowledgeable about the topic? Can gender really affect a person’s knowledge about sex?

Coleman (1961) and Urquiaga (1997) believe so. They think that gender really affects how much a person knows about sex. Coleman thinks that males know more, while Urquiaga believes the opposite, girls are more knowledgeable. Coleman stated that because men are accepted in society as people who think more often about sex, they know more about it. Urquiaga, on the other hand, believes that females know more because they are more exposed to magazines, which he thinks, give off sexual information. Can people’s reactions toward sex affect how much they know about it? Maybe it can. This distinction between the two gender’s reactions can possibly contribute to how much they know about it. Lahey (2007), in his book Psychology: An Introduction, enumerated a few differences between mature males and females when it comes to having sex. He said that men, in general, compared to women, want more sex than females do. He also found differences in the preferences of males and females in finding their mating partners. With this knowledge, Lahey declares that males and females view sex in very different perspectives.


So what can possibly contribute to the difference in the knowledge between the two genders? Their source of knowledge can be an answer to that. The accuracy a certain source gives a teenager can definitely affect how much the teen knows about sex. Whether it be magazines, television, internet, friends or family, sex can be taken from anywhere. In modern times, knowledge about sex is easier to grasp because it has become such an interesting topic among people, which is the basic reason why these fresh, young minds have to be careful in where they will pick up their facts about the issue. As to which source is the most reliable of all, that is another question.

Capuno (2008), in an article he constructed stated that a lot of teenagers have very false knowledge about sex. He further said that teenagers get most of their information from friends or the internet. He concluded that these sources are not that reliable. Is it possible then that systems handled by adults such as the home, school and church are the best teachers of sex? This is question we hope will be answered as we go along our study.

The purpose of a teenager for acquiring knowledge about sex is also considered to play an important role in his or her amount of knowledge about it. We believe that if the reason for learning about sex is self-interest, there will be a higher possibility of having high knowledge on the subject. If the adolescent was just forced because he needed to know about it, then he might have low knowledge on the topic. We believe that the interest of a teenager plays a vital role to how much he or she would study about sex.


Statement of the Problem


This study is conducted to determine the degree of knowledge certain teenage males and females have about sex. It will be conducted under the following
objectives:

1. To know who between the genders has more knowledge about sex, teenage males
or teenage females

2. To show if gender can affect a teenager’s degree of knowledge about sex

3. To determine the source of knowledge the teenager has about sex.

4. To distinguish if the source of the teenager’s knowledge about sex can influence the amount of information he or she has it.

5. To identify the purpose of the teenager for learning about sex.

6. To tell if the teenager’s purpose of learning about sex can influence the amount of information he or she has about it.


Significance of the Study

This study will help the parents in understanding their teenage children. Many parents are having a hard time relating to their children especially on topics like sex. Hopefully, by reading this study, the parents take notice on where their teenagers are getting information about sex. By knowing the sources, the parents can limit their children’s exposure to these soruces (i.e internet, magazines, television, etc.). The purpose of the teenager will also be identified. The parents can make necessary changes in their children’s view towards the topic. They can correct wrong information and wrong motives of their teenagers which can maybe avoid the possibility of pre-marital sex.

Most teenagers rely on media such as television, poster and print ads, magazines and internet for most of their information on varying aspects in life. The study will consider how teenagers might possibly attain their knowledge about sex from media, and how this can possibly affect the way they act towards sex. Media can definitely control the amount of information they give out to their readers once they read this study. They can realize how much their information affect a normal teenager’s life, and hopefully, they’d avoid any wrong manipulations.


This study will be an intensive help to the government in making solutions to the issue involving the teenagers’ exposure to sex. The Department of Education will have an outlook on how much teenagers really know about sex. From this, they can make some adjustments and conclusions regarding the continuing debates on “Sex Education”. In the issue of “sex education”, DepEd will have a clearer view on what teenagers really know about sex; therefore, they can see whether or not these young adults need help or not. Decisions will be made in accordance to how teenagers’ react to sex based on this study. The decisions will be either: to implement the “sex education” because of the low level of awareness among teenagers or not to implement it because teenagers might interpret the data in a different manner.


This topic will also help gender difference theorists in spotting the difference of degree of knowledge about sex between two genders. They will have an idea on the difference on how the two genders react to the topic about sex. The difference of the source and purpose of the knowledge about sex will also be known, and might possibly affect a teen’s degree of knowledge on the said topic.


Because of the study’s quiz type questionnaire, people who will come across this study will be able to test their knowledge about sex as well. They will also be able to realize themselves whether or not they do know about sex. The study can serve as a source of new information and facts about sex.


The future researchers will not have hard time to understand our study because we made it simple. They may now have a background on the difference of the outlook of the two genders regarding sex. If the researchers want to focus on the source of the knowledge about sex, we made table on the relationship between the degree of knowledge on the source of the teenagers. On the other hand, if they want to concentrate on the purpose of the teenager in acquiring the knowledge about sex, same as the source, it will be easy for them to interpret because we made direct relationship between the degree of knowledge and the purpose.


This can also help men in aspects on how society thinks of them, and treats them. The study that we conducted will start to realize how men are also discriminated.