New Study Examines Sexuality Education in America

Sex Education in America: A View from Inside the Nation's Classrooms, a survey released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, provides an indepth look at school-based sexuality education in the United States. Researchers surveyed 1,501 pairs of students and their parents, 1,001 sexuality education teachers, and 313 principals by phone between February and May 1999. The principal and teacher samples were designed to represent all public middle, junior, and senior high schools enrolling grades 7 through 12 in the United States.

Findings

What Is Taught

• 61% of teachers and 58% of principles report that their school takes a comprehensive approach to sexuality education which is described as teaching that young people should wait to engage in sexual behavior but should practice "safer sex" and use birth control if they do not.
• In contrast, 33% of teachers and 34% of principles describe their school's main message as abstinence-only education, which is described as teaching young people that they should not have sexual intercourse until they are married.
• Secondary school students report being taught the following topics or skills in their most recent sexuality education course: HIV/AIDS (97%), other STDs (93%), reproduction (90%), abstinence (84%), how to use a condom (68%), abortion (61%), how to use and where to obtain forms of birth control (59%), rape and sexual assault (59%), how to talk with a partner about birth control (58%), and sexual orientation (41%).

What Parents Want

• When asked what they wanted their children to learn, parents named the following topics and skills: pressure to have sexual intercourse (94%), the emotional consequences of becoming sexually active (94%), how to discuss birth control with a partner (88%), how to use condoms (85%), other forms of birth control (84%), abortion (79%), and sexual orientation (76%).
• 74% further specified that schools should present issues in a "balanced" way that represents different views in society.
• 33% of parents want their children to be taught abstinence as the only option until marriage. However, many of the same parents also want them to learn how to use condoms and other birth control methods.

What Students Want

• When asked what they wanted to learn, students named the following topics and skills: what to do in cases of rape or sexual assault (55%), how to deal with the emotional consequences of being sexually active (46%), how to talk to with a partner about birth control and STDs (46%), and how to use or where to obtain birth control (40%).
• Many students also say they need more information about topics that are standard in most sexuality education programs such as HIV/AIDS (47%) and other STDs (50%).

Students participating in the study reported that they want to know more and to feel better prepared to handle different situations and decisions. The authors note, however, that not all students' information needs are met by sexuality education which often does not cover skills such as how to use contraception or how to talk to a partner about "safer sex."

The findings further show that virtually all parents, teachers, principals, and students want some form of sexuality education taught in secondary school, and that all overwhelmingly support teaching high school students a broad range of topics including birth control and "safer sex." In fact, the authors note that both parents and students say courses need to cover more and last longer.

For more information:

Kaiser Family Foundation, 2400 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025; Phone: 650/854-9400; Fax: 650/854-4800; Web site: http://www.kff.org