© Kamla-Raj 2004 Anthropologist, 6(2): 101-103 (2004) Awareness Regarding Sex Knowledge Among Adolescent Girls (16-20 Years) Nirojini Bhat Bhan, Payal Mahajan and Minal Sondhi INTRODUCTION Adolescence is the invention of techno- logical, industrial society that is marked by a discontinuity between childhood and adulthood. (Saraswati, 1999). World health Organization (WHO) has defined adolescence as the age of 10 to 19 years. It is characterized by physical, psychological and social change transformation and maturation that takes place during this period. It is also called as period of stress and storm, a period when society sends mixed signals to its youngsters which results in confusion, frustration, despair and risk taking behavior. Young people want to see guidance but do not know from where to get it. Sex education perhaps helps in preparing young adolescents to have responsible attitudes and behaviour towards sex for a harmonious sexual life. Sex knowledge is the inculcation of the moral attitude towards sex instincts. It also dispels many myths and superstitions and clarifies the various terms of sexuality. As a study conducted by National Family Health Survey (1992-1993) indicates that there were around 12% spontaneous abortions among girls in the age group of 13-14 years with almost no induced abortions, whereas in the age group 15-19years, there were 7.3% spontaneous abortions and 1.7% induced abortions. Besides poor access to contraception and contraceptive failure, lack of information or misinformation regarding reproduction as also the incidence of rape, contribute to the high rate of abortions amongst adolescents. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Most parents do not discuss topics related to sexual issues. As a result, many teens turn to peers and media for related information which leads to inaccurate information with jumbled and often provide contradictory messages regarding sex and other related issues. Sex education is required for adolescents to provide them positive direction, right information which would avoid unnecessary worries and tensions. For example, many young girls without proper knowledge about menstru-ation are shocked to find themselves bleeding during that phase. Parents and teachers have to be very tactful so that girls do not obtain wrong information. Miscon- ceptions lead to teenage pregnancies outside marriage which are rising in India. Parents often blame the perverse influence of cinema and counsellors blame ignorance. Adolescents who receive the related infor- mation from books or sex educators have infor- mation superior in quality to that of their peers and they usually feel more satisfied with it. METHODOLOGY The sample for the study consisted of 75 adolescent girls in the age group of 16-20 years from 3 different educational institutes of Pathankot city (Punjab). Purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of sample. For data collection pre-tested interview schedule was used to know the level of sex information among adolescent girls. Interview schedule consisted of 2 major parts-(i) General information, which consisted of questions like name, age, educational qualification, type of family etc.; (ii) Specific information regarding menarche, homosexuality, heterosexuality, STDs, birth control devices, etc. After the collection of data, the procedure of content analysis was adopted, coding was done on the basis of categories. RESULTS The results of the present study reveal that 46.6% of the total sample were in the age group of 16-18 years and were studying in 10 th to 12 th standard. The rest 53.4% were in the age group of 18-20 years and were doing graduation with different subjects like medical (22%), non- medical (18%), commerce (12%) and arts (48%). Menarche: It has been seen that majority of the sample (76%) experience menarche at the