Clear majorities of Americans, Britons and Canadians believe that parents not schools should be mainly responsible for teaching their children about sex, according to a new survey.

The poll, conducted by American polling company Angus Reid,  found that Americans were the most likely to believe that parents should be primarily responsible for sex education.

It found that four-in-five Americans (81pc), two thirds of Canadians (69pc) and Britons (67pc) agree the parents or guardians should be primarily responsible for teaching sex education to children and teens.

The poll also found a series of other differences across the three countries on the issue of sex education. 

For example, on the issue of when to start sex education in school, Canadians have very different views from Americans and Britons. 

While only 13pc of Americans and 17pc of Britons would begin these courses at age nine or earlier, one-in-four Canadians (24pc) believe this is the ideal age to begin. About a third of respondents in the three countries believe the best time to start teaching sex education at school is between the ages of 12 and 13.

Meanwhile, almost one-in-ten Americans (nine percent) believe that schools should not teach sex education to students—a view shared by only three percent of Canadians and two percent of Britons.

An overwhelming majority of respondents believes abstinence education should be taught. Eighty nine percent of Canadians and Americans favour abstinence education and 81pc of Britons.

Canadians (84pc) and Britons (78pc) are more likely to favour have abortion as part of a sex education curriculum compared to 68pc of Americans. 

Almost nine-in-ten respondents in the three countries believe topics such as pregnancy and birth control, venereal diseases, sexual abuse, and bullying should be “definitely” or “probably” discussed in a sex education course.

Respondents were also asked to look back to the time when they were teenagers, and describe how useful several sources were in enabling them to learn more about sex.

By far the largest proportion of respondents in the three countries (74pc in Canada, 67pc in Britain and 63pc in the United States) said that conversations with friends were “very useful” or “moderately useful.” 

The next reputable source was the media (television, books, movies, magazines), mentioned by nearly three-in-five Britons (65pc) and Canadians (62pc) and more than half of Americans (54pc) as useful.

There are some striking differences in the final two sources. While half of Canadians (54pc) and Americans (52pc) found their sex education courses at school to be useful, only 43pc of Britons share the same view. 

And while more than half of Americans (57pc) said conversations with family were useful, only 49pc of Canadians and 35pc of Britons had the same experience.

The survey was conducted online from November 7 to November 21, among 1,005 Canadian adults, 1,004 American adults, and 2,004 British adults.