American parents say they should be the ones to teach their children about sex but many believe that role is being filled by kids' friends and the media, a new study finds.
Researchers interviewed 1,605 parents of school-aged children in Minnesota and found that 98 percent said they should be responsible for their children's sex education, but only 24 percent believed they were the main source of that knowledge.
Instead, many parents thought the majority of youngsters learn about sex from friends (78 percent) or the media (60 percent).
"Based on previous research, however, youth indicate that parents are a primary source of sex information for them and that parents most influence their decisions about sex," study co-author Debra Bernat, of Florida State University, said in a Center for Advancing Health news release.
The study appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
The findings raise "the question of why youth cannot get the information that they seek -- and prefer -- from their own parents," Nancy Irwin, a Los Angeles clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioral specialist who focuses on childhood and adolescent sexuality, said in the news release.
"This should be a wake-up callto parents: you and your kids want the exact same thing. What's missing are the proper tools," Irwin added.
一项新调查显示，很多美国父母都认为应该由他们来向孩子介绍性知识，但是很多人也承认孩子的朋友和媒体正在代行这一职责。
研究人员通过采访明尼苏达州的1605位学童父母发现，虽然98%的受访者都认为他们应该负责对孩子进行性教育，但是只有24%的人认为他们是孩子性知识的主要来源。
很多父母认为大部分年轻人通过朋友（78%）或者媒体（60%）获得性知识。
该调查的合著者、佛罗里达州立大学的黛布拉 伯纳特在一个健康促进中心的新闻发布会上说：“然而，在之前的调查中，青少年指出父母是性知识的主要来源，而且父母对他们有关性行为的决定影响最大。”
这一调查报告发表在《青少年健康期刊》的网站上。
洛杉矶的一位临床心理学家和认知行为专家南希 欧文在发布会上说，调查结果“提出了这样一个问题：为什么青少年不能从自己的父母那里得到他们想知道和更想了解的信息呢？”欧文专门研究童年和青少年时期的性特征。
欧文还说：“这项调查给父母们提了个醒：你和你的孩子想要的是完全相同的东西，你所缺乏的只是合适的方式而已。”
Vocabulary:
wake-up call: an event that makes people realize that there is a problem or other bad situation that they need to do something about（让人意识到问题或不利处境的）惊醒警告
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