Parents and Peer Attachment as Correlates to Sexual Attitudes: Basis for Proposed Sexual Education Program

Abstract

The researcher seeks to investigate the relationship of the nature of attachment of the adolescents to their parents and peers in terms of trust, quality of communication and feelings of anger and alienation and the sexual attitudes. The researcher utilized the descriptive correlational method of research. 236 Grades 11 and 12 students of the Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Vocational High School were selected using Convenience Sampling and were required to answer the Inventor of Parents and Peer Attachment (IPPA) and Sexual Attitudes and Experiences Questionnaire The results were subjected to statistical treatment and interpretation. Findings showed that majority of the respondents have placed the highest level of trust to their mothers, followed by their peers and fathers. They exhibited the highest quality of communication towards their peers, followed by mothers and their fathers. As to feelings of anger and alienation, they demonstrated the highest feelings of alienation to their peers followed by their mothers, the feeling of alienation is lowest to the fathers. They manage self-control in engaging in sexual acts and seemed to put a great deal on having monogamous relationships. Meanwhile, respondents who are living on their own were more agreeable and knowledgeable in terms of sexual issues while respondents living with their relatives displayed more conservative views about sexual issues. The respondents’ views about reproduction or procreation have a positive weak relationship with their fathers. The nature of parents and peer attachments plays a small protective role in adolescent sex behavior and attitudes because it was found out that there is no significant relationship between parents and peer attachment and their sexual attitudes. As a result, a proposed program on Sexual Education was proposed. The module answers the need that will make sure that the adolescents will be properly guided as they undergo the period of sexual exploration. Furthermore, it aims to eliminate or avoid the risky sexual behaviors; strengthen the impact of parental roles to improve the understanding of the adolescents to the different issues on sexuality; create a peer education session that will engage the adolescents to foster a mature relationship with their co-peers underlining life skills in dating; and reinforce the relationship between the parents and the adolescents, to address the gap on the level of trust and quality of communication between parents and adolescents.