The Newcastle-based Streetwise Young People's Project received fundingfrom the Camelot Foundation to investigate young people's attitudestowards and experiences of sex.
Of the young people surveyed, 83 per cent had seen pornography, withsome believing it to be an acceptable source of information about sex.The survey also found that peer pressure, poor sex education and youngpeople lying about sexual experience had an impact on individual sexlives.
One 14-year-old told researchers: "If you didn't watch porn you wouldn'tknow what to do."
In total, 1,060 young people from the north-east of England wereinvolved in the research.
Ellen Smith, lead researcher on the project, said: "Consideration needsto be given to the impact of pornography, media and wider societalfactors on the decisions young people make about having sex. We aseducators need to equip young people with the knowledge to deciphermessages about sex.
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