Survey shows parents know less sex knowledge than their children

Parents have less knowledge about sex than their adolescent children, according to a survey conducted by the educational authority of Beijing's Shijingshan District.

The results of the survey were revealed at a population development forum held by the Beijing Shijingshan District government on Wednesday, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

The survey covered 5,000 junior high students, 3,000 senior high students and 6,800 parents and took three months to complete. The survey asked adolescent students questions about their physical and psychological knowledge, the source of their sex knowledge, their sex ethics and communications with the opposite sex.

The results of the survey are appalling: parents only know about 30 percent of the required knowledge, while their children knowing far more knowledge than them.

The survey also showed that most students got their sex knowledge through their classmates and teachers, instead of their own parents, as over 60 percent of students said they never talked to their parents about sex topics.

Most of the students said the sex knowledge taught to them by their school was not enough and half of the parents confessed that they didn't know how to teach their children about sex issues.

Zhang Yaojun, a professor with the Population and Development Research Center of Renmin University, said the survey exposed problems that are common in Beijing.