Who knows more about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)? parents or adolescents?

Abstract

Previous research at our institution on adolescent STD knowledge found that adolescents lacked basic knowledge about STDs. They were unable to name the 8 major STDs and provide information on STD curability. The teens in our study received much of their STD education from their parents. There is little documented, however, on the level of parental STD knowledge. Using the same STD knowledge assessment used in the adolescent study, we sought to evaluate basic STD knowledge in a convenience sample of parents and compare their knowledge to that of our adolescents previously studied.