The Mental and Social Impacts of Early Sexual Education and Sexual Disease Transmission Awareness among Young, Adolescent Girls

Abstract

As children grow older and gain a better perspective, they are bound to take things into their own hands more often. At such times, it is not because of the upbringing of the parents, but rather the sense of independence that the children are bound to feel from the sense of growing up. Amidst a lot of changes that take place in the minds and bodies of growing children, the sense of being aware of their bodies, sexuality, and the entire process of procreation. This usually happens around the age of puberty, when both the male and female children attains a growth spurt along with a change or enhancement in their bodily organs and functions. Along with puberty come a lot of changes that are bound to impact the mental and physical well-being of both genders. It is because of reasons like these that experts think that children should be made aware of their sexuality and the processes that follow along with it, to avoid misconceptions and the roots of evil from taking place. It has already been observed that parents who keep their children, or more appropriately ‘adolescents’ away from all sorts of sexual education and its relevant discussions, are bound to face negative consequences more than the parents who have a proper discussion with their children. These negative impacts are not only limited to children engaging in sexual activities from a very early age but also include the perspective of having unsafe, unprotected sexual intercourse without any knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and other infections that could turn deadly in the long run. Therefore, to address all these misconceptions and prove a well-researched and evidence-backed statement, this review will explore all the aspects of early sexual education and awareness among adolescent females. For the sake of convenience, the target population has been kept limited to adolescent girls only, as it would be better to judge one gender better than the other in a dedicated review. Also, because these females often turn out to be at the bigger end of the bargain, that is unwanted pregnancies. This review explored the outcomes of early sexual education and awareness among girls of different countries to compare the effectiveness of sexually transmitted disease prevention.