Teens and Sex Education at the Doctor's Office

Many parents are bringing their young daughters to their first visit with the gynecologist not only to receive the Gardasil human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine but also to bolster the youths' sexual health awareness. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends girls first visit the gynecologist by ages 13-15. A gynecologist, especially one specializing in adolescent medicine, can be a trusted health information resource and a better alternative to misleading peers and Web sites.

About half of the most popular sexual health Web sites for teens include errors and omissions, according to research presented to the recent 2009 annual meeting of the Society for Adolescent Medicine in Los Angeles. The study, conducted by Stanford University researchers Dr. Sophia Yen and Alisha T. Tolani, found six sexual health myths spread on high-volume Web sites appearing among the first 10-15 links based on Google search terms such as "birth control," "morning-after pill," and "sexually transmitted disease."

Of STD Web pages, 93 percent specified STDs can be contracted through oral, vaginal, and anal sex, the researchers noted. These varied in how they described other modes of transmission, with 14 of 29 pages stating that STDs can be contracted through skin-to-skin contact, and nine clearly specifying that STDs (e.g. herpes) can be transmitted orally.

About 40 percent of Web sites incorrectly stated when females should begin Pap smears. In 2003, ACOG recommended that screening begin three years after sexual debut or age 21, whichever comes first.

The researchers identified the following Web sites as the most reliable for teen sexual health: Go Ask Alice, operated by Columbia University; the Center for Young Women's Health, from Children's Hospital Boston; TeensHealth, part of KidsHealth.org; and Teen Wire, a site maintained by Planned Parenthood.

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