CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION
The stage of a person’s life that occurs between childhood and adulthood and is referred to as adolescence. The Latin word “adolescere,” which literally translates to “to grow,” is where we get the English word “adolescence.” Between the ages of 10 and 19, adolescents are a distinct demographic that falls between the categories of children and adults (WHO, 2009). This type of person will typically go through a variety of changes, both physically and psychologically, as well as challenges, including those associated with sexuality. The adolescent, consequently, needs to be appropriately informed on issues relating to sex in order to make informed decisions about sexuality, and relevant educational opportunities are required for this. Home Economics education should be able to equip adolescents with the competencies (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) in sex education that will allow them to deal with challenges relating to sexuality and develop their potentials to the fullest extent possible. These competencies can be provided as part of sex education, and they can be provided to adolescents. A person’s mental, sexual, and physiological development all progress during adolescence, a time of life that is also fraught with a bewildering variety of stresses brought on by the many distinct developmental shifts that occur during this period (Burt, 2010). An adolescent is a male or female that is in the process of transitioning from childhood to adulthood. This transition involves a number of changes on a biological, cognitive, and emotional level. Adolescents can be either male or female. During puberty, a person’s body goes through a series of physiological changes, including a spurt of growth, shifts in hormone levels, and maturation of the sexual organs. Individual thinking and intelligence can change as a result of cognitive changes, which can lead to an increase in abstract, idealistic, and logical thinking. Individuals’ feelings, personalities, and their relationships with one another are all part of socioemotional change (Santrock, 2004). The intellectual, social, physical, emotional, and moral characteristics of adolescents are all present in equal measure. These characteristics include things like modeling behavior, restlessness, mood swings, storms, and stress, just to name a few. In many cases, they are distinguished by the youthful exuberance and propensity for experimentation that they display, particularly in terms of sexual behavior (Moore, 1993).
In the fields of biology and psychology, sex is referred to as both an identity and an activity, which makes it an important terminology. It is the anatomical structure of a person’s sexual organs in conjunction with certain physiological operations that determines whether or not a person is male or female according to identity standards. Caring for one another and having sexual encounters are both aspects of this activity (Sandler, 1980). This is body chemistry, and what they (adolescents) take to be love is something they experience. It is also important to consider the location of the adolescent, such as whether he or she lives in an urban or rural area, as well as the people with whom they engage in sexual activity. Adolescents are better able to exercise self-control over their sexual needs when they have received an education that includes useful information about sexual behaviors and values. This type of education is referred to as sexual education. It is also possible to define it as any and all forms of education that successfully address the problems that adolescents face and the social relationships that are directly or indirectly connected to sexuality (Anyaegbunam, 2003). According to a report that was presented to the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2001, sex education is defined as the type of education that helps young people develop the ability to make informed choices about their behavior and the confidence to act on those choices. The author of this piece agreed with this definition. Therefore, the knowledge, skills, and attitudes relating to sexuality and sex that enable adolescents to deal with the sex challenges they face make up what is known as “sexuality and sex education.” It is also the educational measures that focus on sexuality, which stand for an individual’s protection, presentation, improvement, and development (Burt, 2012).
The process of instilling in adolescents the knowledge, attitude, and skills necessary to manage the challenges presented by adolescent sexuality is referred to as “sexual education.” It involves knowledge, attitude, and skill that help to promote and affect positive behavior change in adolescents. Adolescents are the target population for this. The primary purpose of sex education is to encourage the healthy growth of a person’s personality as well as their sexual life. It also helps adolescents develop the desired skill necessary to enhance interactive learning tasks, which allows for the development and practice of skills such as communication, negotiation, and listening (Mario, 2011). It is generally acknowledged that adolescents have a right to receive sexuality instruction because this is a method through which they can be assisted in protecting themselves against exploitation, unintended pregnancy, STDs, and HIV and AIDS. Challenges are presented to adolescents by their bodies and their emotions, by their relationships with people of the opposite sex, and by their ignorance of the dangers that are inherent in their sexual act. These dangers include the possibility of adolescent pregnancy, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), sexually transmitted infections (STIs), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Challenges are difficult tasks that test someone’s ability and skill, and many adolescents see challenges as problems. Some of the challenges include adjusting to the altered appearances, functioning of the maturing body, learning to deal with sexual desires, confronting sexual attitudes and values, experimenting with sexual behaviors, and integrating these feelings, attitudes, and experiences into a developing sense of adulthood. Challenges are difficult tasks that test someone’s ability and skill. Challenges are seen as problems by many adolescents (Moore, 1993).
A person’s knowledge, experience, and natural aptitude all contribute to their ability to perform a task successfully, which is what we mean by the term “skill.” It is a potential that can be obtained by an individual through training, and it is intended to ensure that the individual is proficient and competent in the performance (Nnachi, 2008). The development of positive social behaviors in an individual, such as self-discipline, good judgment, and the capacity to get along with others, is facilitated by skill, and this skill can be obtained to a large extent by meeting the requirements of sex education.