Sex and Sexuality among Unwed Mothers in Kerala

Abstract

The lack of factual knowledge of sexual matters among teenagers is often attributed as one of themajor causes of unwed pregnancies. This article attempts to find out the relevance of theknowledge on sexual matters among the unwed mothers residing in the licensed homes in Kerala.A standardized scale on Sex and Sexuality developed by Rao (2006) was used to measure thesame. The study also seeks to understand whether there is any association between age and
education, and the knowledge about sex. The respondents (unwed mothers) were selected fromthe nine licensed homes based on an inclusion criteria. Findings revealed that the overallknowledge about sex among the unwed mothers was very low. There was association betweeneducation and sexual knowledge. There was no association between the level of sexual knowledgeand age of unwed mothers. The results offer guidance to human service agencies in making
decisions on additional components and enhancements to existing programmes and services forunwed mothers.