ABSTRACT

This paper reports on findings of the Sex Ed Dads survey which sought Australian fathers’ perspectives on communicating with their young children about relationships and sexuality, as informal sexuality educators. Given the majority of existing family-based sexuality education research draws on the experiences of mothers, gaining insights from fathers is a much needed first step in designing resources to support paternal engagement in sexuality education. A diverse sample of 612 Australian fathers completed an online survey about their views on sexuality education and their role within it. Participating fathers valued sexuality education for their children and believed that their own informal contribution to its provision was important. Fathers reported high levels of comfort discussing a wide range of topics with their child at the age they deemed appropriate, although a gap between what fathers believed they should discuss and what they actually discussed was found. Findings offer insights for schools, resource developers and sexuality education providers seeking to support increased engagement of fathers in the sexuality education domain.

摘要

本文报告了 Sex Ed Dads 调查的结果，该调查寻求澳大利亚父亲作为非正式的性教育者与他们的幼儿交流关系和性行为的观点。鉴于大多数现有的以家庭为基础的性教育研究都借鉴了母亲的经验，从父亲那里获得见解是设计资源以支持父亲参与性教育的第​​一步。612 名澳大利亚父亲的多元化样本完成了一项关于他们对性教育的看法及其在其中的作用的在线调查。参与的父亲重视对孩子的性教育，并认为他们自己对其提供的非正式贡献很重要。父亲报告说，在他们认为合适的年龄与孩子讨论广泛的话题时，他们感到非常舒适，尽管发现父亲认为他们应该讨论的内容与他们实际讨论的内容之间存在差距。调查结果为寻求支持父亲更多参与性教育领域的学校、资源开发商和性教育提供者提供了见解。