Table 3.
Main categories and subcategories related to challenges of sexual health education for adolescent boys
| Categories | Subcategories | Codes |
|---|---|---|
| Extrapersonal barriers to sexual health education for adolescent boys aged 12-16 years | Lack of clear policies | Concerns about legal consequences |
| Legal prohibition of sexual health education about females | ||
| Lack of an overall policy on sexual health education at schools | ||
| No legal basis of sexual health education within the community | ||
| Conflict between science and law and religious teachings on sexual health education | ||
| Family inadequacy | Negative reactions of family toward adolescent sexual behavior | |
| Low parental awareness regarding sexual health | ||
| Passivity of family concerning sexual health education | ||
| Emotional weaknesses of family | ||
| Conflict in parenting in family | ||
| Parental fears of deviations following sexual health education | ||
| Parents’ refusal (shame) | ||
| Delays in answering sex-related questions by adolescents | ||
| Parental opposition toward early sexual health education in adolescence | ||
| Social barriers | Low social attention to sexual health | |
| Traditional barriers to sexual health education | ||
| Community resistance against sexual health education | ||
| Sustaining manifest sexual discourse in today’s Iranian society | ||
| Sexual discourse as a taboo | ||
| Peer pressure | ||
| Cultural heterogeneity | Cultural differences between parents and children | |
| Cultural differences between adolescents | ||
| Cultural differences between families | ||
| Family opposition toward sexual health education for adolescents | ||
| School inadequacy | Preventive principles of sexual health education for adolescents | |
| Deficit of sexual health education resources for adolescents | ||
| Lack of organized education for chastity classes | ||
| Failure to understand sexual health education meaning | ||
| Inability to manage a sexual health education classroom | ||
| School negligence of adolescent sexual health education | ||
| Ambiguity in sexual health education at schools | ||
| No special instructors to teach sexual health to adolescents at schools | ||
| Lack of control over content provided by invited speakers in the field of adolescent sexual health education | ||
| Cyber threats | Lack of cyber use culture | |
| Risk of incorrect information from cyberspace | ||
| Cultural invasion against Iranian adolescents | ||
| Educational process inadequacy | Ineffective sexual health education for adolescents | |
| Late sexual health education for adolescents | ||
| Lack of trained and expert individuals | ||
| Intrapersonal barriers to sexual health education for adolescent boys aged 12-16 years | Uncontrolled emotions of adolescence | Adolescence love as well as false and transient emotions |
| Lack of abstinence and control | ||
| Friendship with opposite sex as a right | ||
| Interest in experiencing friendship with opposite sex | ||
| Adolescent rebellion | Lack of interactions with parents | |
| Lack of interactions with teachers | ||
| Adolescents’ battle for independence | ||
| Information and communication weaknesses | Lack of raising questions about sex by adolescents | |
| Incomplete information about sexual health among adolescents | ||
| Inaccurate information about sexual health among adolescents | ||
| Irrational shame about sex-related questions among adolescents | ||
| Adolescents’ concerns about being judged by others | Making fun of asking sex-related questioning among adolescents | |
| Uncertainty about confidentiality among adolescents | ||
| Fear of losing social status among adolescents | ||
| Adolescents’ concerns about their parents’ doubts after asking sex-related questions |