Unlike girls, boys are not encouraged to share their intimate problems. Furthermore, boys think they will be laughed at if they show weakness in front of their friends. A recent local study among secondary schoolchildren in West Sussex [1] found that boys are more likely than girls not to share problems with anyone. When asked specifically about health problems, 13 per cent of 14-year-old males would not share these with anyone, compared with 7.1 per cent of girls in the same age group.Work with young people encouraged the authors to look more closely at the health education needs of young men. Health education is part of the National Curriculum[2] for both sexes, but, because it is often designed and delivered by women, it may not take account of those issues that young men deem to be important.Much work carried out with young women has helped them to develop their assertiveness skills. This increase in confidence among young women, together with the increased representation in the media of young men as "sex objects", with the expectation that they look good and perform well in bed, is thought to have contributed to an increasing incidence of impotence now being described in men in their 20s [3]. Lee[4] states that: "… libraries contain an array of books on young women's health, rights, body images, and on issues like self assertion. They do not seem to have similar material for young men". Changing rolesWe can speculate that feminism has helped girls to develop more positive images of womanhood, but that boys may have outdated images of maleness to which to aspire: tough, without emotion, brave and aggressive. These images contrast with the modern concept of the "new man" who shares in both the physical and the emotional care of his family. Men no longer need to be able to defend their possessions and family from marauding tribes, but boys are offered little guidance as to how to cope with their new role. Unemployment and an increasing number of working wives are further confusing male roles, because the category of "breadwinner" is now also removed from the list [5].Do young men, and those working with them, perceive this changing role? Can they accurately identify the health education needs 13
Examines why young people choose to speak to their friends about sex and personal relationships rather than to people who they think would give them more accurate information. Suggests that young people, and those professionals who care for them, are unclear as to the meaning of “confidentiality”. Concludes that this term means different things to different professional groups. Believes that schools, colleges and youth clubs should have their own policies on confidentiality, and that the contents of the policies should be made clear to young people before they have a need to disclose information, so that they are made aware of the potential consequences of confidential disclosures.
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