Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T05:02:43.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Teenagers’ perception of their sexuality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

J. Ben Thabet
Affiliation:
CHU Hédi Chaker, Sfax, Tunisia
A. Feki
Affiliation:
CHU Hédi Chaker, Sfax, Tunisia
N. Zouari
Affiliation:
CHU Hédi Chaker, Sfax, Tunisia
J. Masmoudi
Affiliation:
CHU Hédi Chaker, Sfax, Tunisia
L. Zouari
Affiliation:
CHU Hédi Chaker, Sfax, Tunisia
M. Maâlej
Affiliation:
CHU Hédi Chaker, Sfax, Tunisia

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The objective of this work was to study the perception of teenagers for their own sexuality in the Tunisian socio-cultural context. One hundred teenagers participated in the study. They filled in an anonymous self-report questionnaire, consisting of 14 items relative to the aspects that seemed to us the most meaningful concerning teenage sexuality. Eighty-one percent of the participants did not manage to provide answers, in conformity with scientific data, to a minimum of 75% of the items. Fifty percent considered masturbation at adolescent age to be pathological. The possibility of a homosexual tendency during adolescence was rejected by 75%. Eighty-one percent perceived the subject of teenage sexuality as embarrassing. They were not permissive regarding the issue of sexual protected relations amongst adolescents in 44% of the cases, and regarding the interest that a female teenager could have in sexuality in 23% of the cases. Our study demonstrated a relatively high frequency of prejudice relating to teenage sexuality amongst the teenagers, reflecting the impact of the taboo on sexuality and particularly on the female teenager in the Tunisian socio-cultural context. The change in mentalities regarding teenagers’ sexuality should take place very smoothly.

Type
P03-567
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2011
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.