Conference Program

Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) is recognized as a lifelong learning process since childhood, grounded in shared educational responsibility between schools and families. The school environment should provide CSE as a multidisciplinary and transversal subject, in line with international guidelines (IPPF, 2017; UNESCO, 2018; WHO & BZgA, 2010). On the other hand, families should openly introduce sexual and relational issues, supporting healthy development and behavior, increasing knowledge and awareness, and fostering positive and respectful attitudes toward one’s own and others’ sexuality (Ball et al., 2023; Benoit & Ronis, 2023; Castro et al., 2024; Nattabi et al., 2023). Italy still seems behind in the formal introduction of CSE in school contexts, as no law allows it, and the focus seems mostly on the duty and right of families to educate their children exclusively on sexual and relational topics (Bruno, 2024, 2025). However, studies on family discussion regarding sexual and relational issues highlight that difficulties and resistances are often encountered, which often lead to avoidance, discomfort, and embarrassment (Ballard & Gross, 2009; Grossman et al., 2017; Holman et al., 2023). While parents lack knowledge and competencies, adolescents who report an educational need use mostly informal sources (e.g., friends, partners, the web, pornography, social media, and peers) to self-educate (Alloni et al., 2017; Moreira et al., 2023; Unis & Sällström, 2020) and parents are considered incompetent (McCrimmon et al., 2024). Hence, family communication about CSE is perceived as inadequate or unsatisfactory (Bruno et al., 2026; Bleakley et al., 2018; Narushima et al., 2020). For these reasons, the present mixed-method study aims to explore CSE’s experiences and opinions in a triadic perspective, involving Italian adolescents, their parents. The first phase of the study included semi-structured interviews with an adolescent, the mother, and the father in each family; the second phase, still ongoing, involves administering an online questionnaire to adolescents, mothers, and fathers. The first phase was an exploratory qualitative study involving 50 families, while the second one aims to reach a wider, more heterogeneous sample, enabling statistical analyses and comparisons of experiences and opinions across families, adolescents, parents and Italian contexts.

The present study aims to provide a deeper understanding of how families and single members (adolescents and parents) experienced CSE and, looking forward to it, how they would like to receive it. Making them part of the rethinking process of educational change, the future aim is to design training and educational programs for both adolescents and parents.