ChatGPT-3.5 Answers Teens’ Questions About Sex and Relationships in New Study

Researchers have documented how ChatGPT-3.5 responds when adolescents ask questions about romantic relationships and sexuality, in one of the first studies to examine the chatbot’s potential role in sex education.

The study, published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, was conducted by Stéphanie Couture, Marie-Michèle Paquette, Roxanne Guyon, Martine Hébert, Mylène Fernet, Sophie Bergeron and colleagues. It appears as part of a special section on artificial intelligence and sexuality.

Using a more-than-human netnography approach, the team collected 393 anonymized emails written in French and English from adolescents aged 14 to 16. The messages came from a recognized youth support organization. The researchers submitted these questions to ChatGPT-3.5 between January 14 and 31, 2024, and analyzed the responses the chatbot generated.

A key finding concerned safety screening. Overall, 17.8% of the emails were flagged as potentially violating ChatGPT-3.5’s content policy, indicating that the chatbot’s moderation systems identified a substantial minority of adolescent queries as touching on restricted content.

The responses that were provided came in two formats: structured text or continuous text. Both formats followed a recognizable pattern, beginning with an introduction that clarified the question, normalized the adolescent’s experience, or validated their emotions.

After the introduction, the chatbot typically offered a list of recommendations and closed with a conclusion that promoted support seeking or a positive outlook. This consistent structure suggests the model applies a recognizable template when addressing sensitive questions from young users.

The content analysis of the recommendations revealed five recurring themes. ChatGPT-3.5 encouraged adolescents to embrace authenticity and personal agency, practice self-care and build self-confidence, engage in open communication, develop meaningful relationships, and seek support when needed.

The authors note that large language model chatbots such as ChatGPT have attracted growing attention in education because of their versatility, processing speed, and widespread accessibility. However, their application to sexual education remains understudied, and the research team highlighted the need for more work on their potential to support informed decision-making among youth.

The study’s findings, according to the researchers, highlight ChatGPT’s potential to contribute to comprehensive sex education for adolescents seeking information. The analysis focused on identifying content violations, describing response formats, and describing the chatbot’s recommendations through conventional content analysis. As the study examined ChatGPT-3.5 responses generated over a limited period in early 2024, the findings reflect that specific model and timeframe rather than the performance of newer systems.

Subject of Research: ChatGPT-3.5 responses to adolescents' questions about romantic relationships and sexuality

Article Title: Sex Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: A Qualitative Analysis of ChatGPT-3.5 Responses to Adolescents’ Questions on Romantic Relationships and Sexuality

Article References: Couture, S., Paquette, M.-M., Guyon, R., Hébert, M., Fernet, M., & Bergeron, S. (2026). Sex Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: A Qualitative Analysis of ChatGPT-3.5 Responses to Adolescents’ Questions on Romantic Relationships and Sexuality. Archives of Sexual Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-026-03575-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s10508-026-03575-2

Keywords: ChatGPT, artificial intelligence, sex education, adolescents, large language models, romantic relationships, sexuality, netnography, content analysis, youth support, Education, Artificial