Impact of parental sex education on child sexual abuse among adolescents

Background: Parental sex education of children is an often overlooked issue in pediatrics, especially in our society where talking about issues concerning sex is regarded as a taboo. Objectives: The objective of this study is to determine the impact of sex education on child sexual abuse among adolescents attending secondary schools in south east Nigeria. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that was carried out among children in three secondary schools in Enugu and Ebonyi states of Nigeria. Five hundred and six adolescents who met inclusion criteria were consecutively recruited into our prospective study between June and October, 2014. Results: Eighty (80%) of respondents were educated by parents on sex abuse. Of those educated majority was by mother (46.2%) and both parents (45.2%). Most (72.1%) were not informed that family members or family friends can abuse children and 73.8% were not told to inform adults if it happens to them. A lower proportion (37.9%) of those educated by parents at home was abused. Those educated by parents were 1.23 times less likely to be abused than those not educated. There was significant difference in sex abuse between males and females (p=0.014) while there were no significant difference for age (p=0.157) and social class (p=0.233). Conclusion: Children educated by parents on sexual abuse were less likely to be sexually abused than those not educated. There is no link between socioeconomic class and child sexual abuse among adolescents.