Abstract
Sexual health and education are rarely investigated in the Middle East countries, including Egypt. We performed the current study to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors towards sexual health practices among Egyptian youth. A self-administered questionnaire was translated from English to Arabic. After pilot-testing, the eligible population was invited to fill it online. Nine-hundred and fifty-five participants filled the questionnaire (53% males and 88.5% single). Around 61% of the participants were of the opinion that sexual education is necessary and rejected the notion that sexual education is religiously prohibited. Only 26% discussed sex-related matters with a parent. Although over 80% think that masturbation is either prohibited, wrong or medically harmful, 62% have masturbated before. Living with parents was not associated with less masturbation (p = 0.23). Moreover, although 85% of the participants think that watching pornography is either wrong or prohibited, 74% have watched porn clips before (significantly more frequent among males: p < 0.0001). A quarter of the responders indicated that they have been touched by a stranger/relative against their will. In conclusion, the majority of surveyed Egyptian youth expressed unfavorable attitudes towards masturbation and watching pornography -despite being quite common- and supported the importance of sexual education.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
All collected data will be made available online in a specific dataset (Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors among Egyptian Adolescents Database: SABEAD) for further analysis and data collection by other researchers.
References
Abdelaziz, A. (2009). Sexual knowledge, attitude and behavior among Egyptian and Jordanian married women. Transcultural Study. Current Psychiatry, 16(4), 335–342.
Azmat, S. K., Ali, M., Ishaque, M., Mustafa, G., Hameed, W., Khan, O. F., et al. (2015). Assessing predictors of contraceptive use and demand for family planning services in underserved areas of Punjab province in Pakistan: Results of a cross-sectional baseline survey. Reproductive Health, 12(1), 25.
Bashir, Q., Usman, A., Amjad, A., & Amjad, U. (2017). ‘The Taboo that silences’: Awareness about sexual and reproductive health issues among adolescent females during pubertal transition. Isra Medical Journal, 9(6), 381–385.
Choo, E. K., van Dis, J., & Kass, D. (2018). Time’s up for medicine? Only time will tell. New England Journal of Medicine, 379(17), 1592–1593.
Cleland, J., Ingham, R., Stone, N. (2001). Illustrative questionnaire for interview-surveys with young people. Asking Young People About Sexual and Reproductive Behaviors. Illustrative Core Instruments, Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/adolescence/sample_core_instruments.pdf.
DeJong, J., Jawad, R., Mortagy, I., & Shepard, B. (2005). The sexual and reproductive health of young people in the Arab countries and Iran. Reproductive health matters, 13(25), 49–59.
Farquhar, C. M., Roberts, H., Okonkwo, Q. L., & Stewart, A. W. (2009). A pilot survey of the impact of menstrual cycles on adolescent health. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 49(5), 531–536.
Feleke, S. A., Koye, D. N., Demssie, A. F., & Mengesha, Z. B. (2013). Reproductive health service utilization and associated factors among adolescents (15–19 years old) in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia. BMC Health Services Research, 13(1), 294.
Gagnon, J. H. (1985). Attitudes and responses of parents to pre-adolescent masturbation. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 14(5), 451–466.
Marrone, G., Abdul-Rahman, L., De Coninck, Z., & Johansson, A. (2014). Predictors of contraceptive use among female adolescents in Ghana. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 18(1), 102–109.
Parent, A.-S., Franssen, D., Fudvoye, J., Pinson, A., & Bourguignon, J.-P. (2016). Current changes in pubertal timing: Revised vision in relation with environmental factors including endocrine disruptors. Endocrine development, 29, 174–184.
Rodgers, J. L. (2018). Sexual transitions in adolescence. In J. Graber, et al. (Eds.), Transitions through adolescence (pp. 85–110). New York: Psychology Press.
Saghi, S., Mirghafourvand, M., Charandabi, S. M. A., Nabighadim, A., Seidi, S., & Rahmani, A. (2016). Knowledge and attitude about pubertal health and their socio-demographic predictors in Iranian adolescents. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 28(4), 397–405.
Sundby, J. (2006). Young people’s sexual and reproductive health rights. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 20(3), 355–368.
Tamang, L., Raynes-Greenow, C., McGeechan, K., & Black, K. I. (2017). Knowledge, experience, and utilisation of sexual and reproductive health services amongst Nepalese youth living in the Kathmandu Valley. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare, 11, 25–30.
Tavrow, P. (2010). Promote or discourage: how providers can influence service use. In S. Maalarchar (Ed.), Social determinants of sexual and reproductive health: Informing future research and programme implementation (pp. 15–36). Geneva: World Health Organization.
Terzioglu, F., Kok, G., Guvenc, G., Ozdemir, F., Gonenc, I. M., Hicyilmaz, B. D., et al. (2018). Sexual and reproductive health education needs, gender roles attitudes and acceptance of couple violence according to engaged men and women. Community Mental Health Journal, 54(3), 354–360.
UNICEF. (2019). Adolescent demographics. Retrieved from https://data.unicef.org/topic/adolescents/demographics/.
Von Elm, E., Altman, D. G., Egger, M., Pocock, S. J., Gøtzsche, P. C., Vandenbroucke, J. P., et al. (2007). The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement: Guidelines for reporting observational studies. PLoS Medicine, 4(10), e296.
Wamoyi, J., Fenwick, A., Urassa, M., Zaba, B., & Stones, W. (2010). Parent-child communication about sexual and reproductive health in rural Tanzania: Implications for young people's sexual health interventions. Reproductive Health, 7(1), 6.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the members of Al-Azhar Medical Students’ Association (AMSA), Benha Students’ Scientific Society (BSSS), Kena Medical Students' Association (KMSA), Mansoura Students' Scientific Association (MSSA), October Students’ Scientific Society (OSSS), and Menofia Students’ Scientific Association (MSSA). Collaborators of the SABEAD Study: (Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt: Zainab Mohammed, Alaa ElHady, Ebtehal Mahmoud, Menna Ahmed, Amany Eissa), (Faculty of Medicine, South valley University, Qena, Egypt: Kerollos Hany Shaker, Ahmed Montaser Elkady, Meryhan Youssef Mohammed, Amira Nagy Mohamed, Nashwa Sayed Gumaa), (Faculty of Medicine, Menofia University, Menofia, Egypt: Ahmed Assar, Shrouk Ahmed Elfeshawy), (Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt: Shazaa Elsheikh), (Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt: Nourhan Ashraf) and (Faculty of Medicine, October 6 University, Giza, Egypt: Cindrella Samy) contributed to data collection and management in this project.
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
The collaborators of the SABEAD Study are listed in acknowlegements section.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Menshawy, A., Abushouk, A.I., Ghanem, E. et al. Break the Silence: Knowledge and Attitude Towards Sexual and Reproductive Health Among Egyptian Youth. Community Ment Health J 57, 238–246 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00641-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00641-4