A new Canadian study has found that teens look to their parents, rather than their friends for sexual guidance.
The study from the University of Montreal has found that 45 percent of teens rely on their parents for sexual advice, ahead of their friends (32 percent) and celebrities (15 percent), Time reported.
"People are surprised parents are role models," said the study's lead author Jean-Yves Frappier, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Montreal
"But I'm not. Parents are the most important role models for teens."
Frappier said this study reinforced the need for parents to stay involved in their children's lives and giving them the "birds and the bees" speech, even if the teens would prefer they didn't.
The survey of 1171 teens between 14 and 17 and 1139 mothers asked where the teens got their sexual health information, how sex was communicated to then, family dynamics and how sexually active they are. The teens were also asked who they perceived as their role models on sexual issues.
Of the mums surveyed, 78 percent thought their children would look to their friends for guidance on sex.
"The mothers think that friends are role models, so that means that the parents kind of quit," says Frappier.
"Parents are more important than they think," says Frappier. "It's the role of the teen to be autonomous and turn away, but it is the role of the parent to remain a role model."
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