CHICAGO (EGMN) –Less than 40% of female college students and just 20% of their male counterparts responded correctly when asked to label the vagina on an anatomical diagram.
This startling finding, taken from a brief survey conducted among 236 students at a Midwestern university, highlights the general lack of gynecologic knowledge among today’s college students, according to lead author Dr. Jill S. Huppert.
“Although they report a high level of sexual activity, they have a significant knowledge deficit,” she said at the annual meeting of the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. “Addressing this gap in knowledge might be an important strategy in improving the sexual and reproductive health of many young women and men.”
The 40-item survey was distributed to six health, physical education, and recreation classes; it was completed by 138 women and 98 men. A knowledge score was generated by totaling correct responses to nine items on menstruation, Pap smear, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and pregnancy, and using a word bank to correctly label 11 spots on a diagram of the female anatomy. The anatomy score ranged from 0 to 11, and the total knowledge score ranged from 0 to 20, and included the nine knowledge items plus the anatomy score.
The median age of the respondents was 20 years (range, 18-36 years), and 84% reported prior vaginal intercourse, Dr. Huppert noted. Men were significantly more likely to report having more than one lifetime sexual partner (61% vs. 39%), and less likely to have prior STD testing (30% vs. 43%). Notably, 10% of respondents had a parent who was a physician, and one-third of those were ob.gyns.
In general, women did better at identifying their own anatomy than men. The mean anatomy knowledge score was 7.2 for women vs. 4.5 for men, which was significantly different, said Dr. Huppert of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The ovary was correctly identified by both sexes the most frequently and the vagina the least often. Just about 70% of women and less than 60% of men could find the clitoris. Scores were low overall, with only 53% of women and 29% of men correctly identifying more than 80% of the anatomical structures on the diagram.
With regard to general knowledge, half of the men and women knew that a Pap smear detects cancer, 60% knew that menarche usually occurs at age 12 years, and 73% understood that 25% of women aged 18-24 years were infected with an STD, she said. A majority, or 94%, of both sexes knew that pregnancy delays periods, while 68% knew that depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (Depo-Provera) can do likewise.
There were significant differences between the sexes, with 24% of men recognizing that the risk of pregnancy with unprotected sex for a year is at least 75%, compared with just 13% of women, Dr. Huppert said. Women, however, were significantly more likely than men to know that menstrual periods can be delayed by stress (94% vs. 76%), losing weight/anorexia (91% vs. 66%), or high levels of exercise (80% vs. 46%).
The mean total knowledge score was significantly lower at 10 for men vs. 13.4 for women. In regression analysis, scores were not influenced by sexual experience or STD testing, Dr. Huppert said.
When the researchers looked at the influence of parents, there was a trend for higher anatomy scores among both sexes if a parent was an ob.gyn. Total knowledge scores also trended higher among women if a parent was an ob.gyn., and were significantly higher among men if their mother or father was an ob.gyn. at 15.7, vs. 9.9 if a parent was not an ob.gyn., she said.
Dr. Huppert and her associates reported no relevant financial disclosures.
