The aim of the study was to evaluate teenagers’knowledge about sexuality.

The sample includes 315 teenagers (126 girls, 189 boys), from two high schools in Caserta and Latina. The students’mean age was 15.4 (SD ± 1.6). The students filled in a questionnaire anonymously. The questionnaire we created is composed by two domains of 10 and 26 questions respectively. The first domain presents general questions, the second one investigates studentʼs knowledge. The students from Latina re-filled in the test after a program of sexual education.

Teenagers prefer to talk about sexuality with friends; the main information source is the web. 94% of students didn’t have a previous sexual education. They wish to examine closely some topics like: masturbation (31%), first time (27%), sexual development (15%), sexually transmitted diseases (14%), petting (6%), homosexuality (9%). There is no relevant difference between the groups at time 0 (p value after χ test >0.01 - mean of correct answers <43%), though thereʼs a significant improvement in the group from Latina, after the sexual education program (p< 0.01).

Teenagers show an inaccurate knowledge about sexuality, so the study points out the importance of sexual education as a preventive mean, like itʼs shown by the results after the re-test in Latina.