© Kamla-Raj 2004 Anthropologist, 6(4): 265-268 (2004) Attitude of Adolescents Towards Family Life Education (FLE): A Comparative Study of Jammu and Palampur Neeru Sharma, Payal Mahajan and Meenakshi Samkaria INTRODUCTION Adolescents are growing up in the world in which they will have to make more decisions for themselves than any previous generation. They experiment more, make choices and risks and learn by their own experiences rather than by those of others, many are able to face change and confidence and with the vision of better life in future which they can build with their own efforts. Yet for others, the result is confusion, despair and risk taking of a kind which is ultimately self destructive, considering ‘the adolescent stage as a traumatic period.” Early pregnancy, increased pre- marital sexual activity and limited knowledge regarding reproductive health, all results in increased risks of STD infections including HIV/AIDS, maternal morbidity and mortality, unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion, thus endangering the physical and reproductive health, and productivity of adolescent. As per results revealed by Registrar General of India and National Family Health Survey, for1992- 1993 in India, 38% girls get married at 19.5 years. In 1991, 26.1% of the total fertility in India is attributed to women in the age group of15-19 years, 8% of India’ 26-27 million annual birth are to mothers under 19 years of age; 7.1% of currently married women in the age group 15- 19 years were practicing contraception; the infant mortality rate among live births of adolescent women is about 30% higher compared to those of older women aged 20-24 years. Another study conducted by Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) in1991 in 6 metropolitan cities of India has revealed that 40% prostitutes are less than 18 years of age. Also Govt. estimates that almost 25% of rape victims are adolescent girls. According to WHO, 250 million new cases of STD’S occur worldwide each year? One in every 20 teenagers acquires STD each year. (Coonly and Koontz, 1994) Adolescents are very important asset for prevention of HIV/AIDS and other major problems country is facing today. All this require adolescent education of Family Planning and Sex Education Programme which will help them to learn the right way to live. Young people want to seek guidance but they don’t know where to get it. This results that many teenagers turn to their peers or media for related information, which often provide inaccurate information (Thapar, 1998). Family Life Education (FLE) includes a study of self-awareness, understanding of others, of sexuality, marriage and parenthood as FLE is concerned with learning about living, family and social relationship and personal development. FLE program is developed with concern for changes in modern world. The goal is to develop the ability of family members to carry out their roles more effectively, to enhance comm- unication between family members and to improve quality of family life. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The sample of the study consisted of: Sample I: Textbooks of SCERT (English, social science and science) of standard 7 th -10 th . Sample II: Adolescents from 7 th -10 th standard Sample I consisted of textbooks of standard 7 th -10 th . The textbooks identified were mostly science books and had content related to FLE like-Population Education; Human Reproduction etc. Population Education was comprised of components as- problem our country is facing today, causes of increasing problems or cause of tremendous growth of population, factors responsible for High Birth Rate, legal age of marriage (both for boys and girls), ideal size of the family, ideal composition of the family etc. Sample II consisted of 40 adolescent boys and girls each of both regions from STD 7 th -10 th . From each STD 5 boys and 5 girls were selected. Tools: Questionnaire was used for the collection of data. It consisted of 2 major categories: Background Information: This includes the respondent’s name, age, sex, birth order, type of family area of residence etc.