The reproductive and sexual health deci sion of young people has several adverse SOCIOdemographic.rneconomic, and health consequences. Understanding of youth sexual behavior inrnrelation to parental characteristics is very crucial. A cross sectional survey on parentalrncharacteristics and sexual behavior of school youth was conducted in Bahir Dar town,rnNorthwestern Ethiopia to examine the influence of parental characteristics on youth sexualrnbehavior. Data were gathered through structured questionnaire from a total of 766 school yo uthrnaged 15-24 years old and further supported by qualitative data from focus group discussion andrnin depth interview of key informantsThe study found that 297(38.8%) of youth had sexual experience, of which 51 .5 percent werernfemales. The mean age of sexual commencement was 16.3 Â± 1.34 years old. Among those whornwere sexually experienced 43.4 percent of them had multiple sexual partners. Yet, only 32.7rnpercent of sex ually experienced youth were using condom in their last sex ual experience.rnIndividual characteristics such as age, frequency of religious attendance and livingrnarrangement had significant association with sexual behavior of youth. Similarly, parentalrncharacteristics such as religiosity, marital status, education level, house hold income, parentyouthrncommunication and monitoring had showed significant association with sexual behaviorrnof youth. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the sexual behavior of youth had beenrnsignificantly con-elates with parental socio-demographic and economic characteristics.On the basis of the above findings, it is recommended that parents should take thernresponsibility of creating conducive atmosphere where by their youth feel free to discuss issuesrnrelated to reproductive health in general and sexuality in particular. In formation, education andrncommunication (IEC) programs and concerned organizations in the area of reproductive healthrnissues need to spend maximum effort to tackle the cultural taboo about parent-youth discussionrnon sexual matters by both youth and their parents so that youth can be less sex uallyrnexperienced. At the same time policy makers and implementing agencies should deserve duernattention (n implementing of integrated activities related to the challenges of youthrnreproductive health.