RESUMO
Information about sexual matters among adolescents according to sex, parent-adolescent communication and religious practices were studied in a sample that is representative of school-children from various socioeconomic levels at metropolitan Santiago, Chile (n = 1.782). Girls get more information from mothers than do boys (p less than 0.0001) which in turn obtain more information from teachers (72.3%), father (50.8%), friends (50.3%) and communication media (39.8%) than girls. Females usually know less about age at which both sexes are able to procreate and become responsible parents than boys (p less than 0.00001). Only about one half of girls and one third of boys regularly practice religion (p less than 0.0001). These results may be related with persistent high rates of pregnancies in adolescent girls in spite of generally declining birth rates and may indicate a need to provide sexual education, which should be given by mothers and teachers, specially among girls.
