Contraceptive and sexuality knowledge among inner-city middle school students from minority groups

In exchange for a free physical examination, 116 minority group youths from inner-city middle schools in Texas consented to answer open-ended questions about their sexual behavior, contraceptive knowledge, and type and source of knowledge of sexuality. The students ranged in age from 12-15 years (mean age, 13 years); 27% were Hispanic and 73% were black. Sex education was not a part of the curriculum at the 4 schools from which respondents were drawn. When asked what sex meant to them, 37% of female adolescents and 23% of males indicated they did not know or it did not mean anything. Among remaining students, recreation was identified as the central meaning be males (23% of total), while females tended to cite romance (21% of total). Only 47% were able to list at least 1 question they had about sex; most common were questions about the morality of premarital intercourse and the experience of adolescent pregnancy and parenthood. 89% of females and 57% of males were able to name at least 1 contraceptive method, generally condoms (44%), abstinence (36%), and the pill (8%). Hispanic females named the highest number of contraceptive methods on average (2.2), followed by black females (1.9), Hispanic males (1.8), and black males (1.3). Among female adolescents, 53% listed their mother as their primary source of knowledge about sexual matters and 6% listed a friend. Among males, fathers (17%) and friends (17%) were the most frequent knowledge sources. The fact that these young adolescents view their parents as credible and approachable sources of information about sexuality suggests that school counselors should encourage such communication. aT the same time, the expressed need for more information on the moral aspects of sexuality indicates that values should be incorporated into any sex education program developed for this age group.     

聋生性知识来源及青春期教育现状调查

本研究对上海市聋哑学校的部分1 2～1 9岁共92名聋生进行了性知识了解状况和青春期教育状况的调查研究,结果显示:青春期聋生的性知识相对缺乏,他们获得性知识的主要途径为电视、同学或朋友、课外读物等,较少使用的途径是热线电话、录像、因特网,广播等。青春期教育对聋生来说非常重要,学校的教师和家长对聋生已进行了有针对性的教育,但仍需要改进。     

‘There are lots of different kinds of normal’: families and sex education – styles,approaches and concerns

This paper reports on qualitative research with Australian parents concerning their attitudes to sexuality and relationships education, both at home and in school. A wide range of values and attitudes were represented among parents in this study. Regardless of the varying approaches parents used, all participants expressed a desire for their children to be well informed about sex, sexual health and relationships, yet many felt inadequate to the task of providing high-quality sex education to their children. Some participants blamed this lack of confidence on their own limited education about sexuality. Their main concern was to ensure that their children are safe and that when they do become sexually active their experiences of sex are positive. Most participants saw sex education as primarily their responsibility, with school sex education as an important adjunct. They wanted to be well informed about the timing and content of school programmes for their children, and to be assured that those educators who will be teaching their children about sexual health have the skills and qualifications to do their job well, while remaining sensitive to the diversity of values among students and their families. While most parents who participated in the research supported sexuality education in schools, they did so with reservations. In particular, they wanted schools to take an active role in communicating with them about the content of sexuality education programmes and be open to meeting with those parents who expressed concerns.     

Primary School Sex Education Programs: Views and experiences of teachers in four primary schools in Sydney,Australia

This small-scale study draws on qualitative data from four government primary schools in Sydney, Australia to investigate the sex education given to grade five and six primary school children by their teachers. This article explores the sexuality issues teachers find difficult to discuss, and reports the concerns teachers have when teaching sexuality education. The practices teachers adopt to encourage parent-teacher partnerships in sex education are also reported. School programs varied in the coverage that was given to contraception and sexually transmitted infections while no school program formally addressed sexual identity and orientation, issues that were brought up by the children through their questions. Teacher concerns included what parents might think about the program and how to manage the different levels of maturity, knowledge and comfort among the children in their class. The article concludes that teachers need to continue fostering their partnership with parents and that many teachers require more opportunities for training so that they can address with comfort the sexuality issues of concern to children and their parents.     

“We Talked About Sex.” “No,We Didn't”: Exploring Adolescent and Parent Agreement About Sexuality Communication

Family communication about sex can protect adolescents from risky behavior, like early sex and sex without protection. However, adolescents and parents often disagree about whether they talked with each other about sexual issues, limiting the protective effects of communication. Few studies explore these disagreements. This study included 27 pairs of early adolescents and parents. Adolescent and parent interviews were coded for agreement in reports of sexuality communication. Adolescents’ interview themes were compared across levels of agreement between adolescent–parent dyads. Adolescents who highly agreed with their parents were more likely than those who did not to describe positive parental approaches to sexuality communication and awareness of parental perspectives, while no group differences were found for responses to parents’ viewpoints. Study findings highlight the importance of sex education programs that support adolescent–parent sexuality communication, particularly for middle school students.     

Young people's views of sex education: gender,information and knowledge

This paper derives from research that had the aim of understanding more about adolescents' views of sex education and adolescent sexuality. The data are taken from three separate pieces of research conducted in 1984, 1998 and 2003. This paper presents data about gender, information and knowledge relating to sexuality. It seeks to demonstrate that attitudes to information and knowledge vary significantly with gender. The data suggest that many adolescents we studied were offered different access to information about sex and sexuality in their families. The argument is that this has impact on the sources of information that they rely upon and prefer. We investigate the underlying issues about the ways boys obtain not only information about sex, but also their attitudes to sexual encounters. Sources of information and counselling about sexuality varied with gender. Boys and girls were exposed to different kinds of experience, in which information about sexuality and messages about desire also vary. Home and intimacy with parents, especially mothers, is important for many, although not all, girls in a way it is not for boys. This indicates a picture of boys learning about sex and sexuality in ways that by and large do not include adults, or more especially trusted adults, and where there appears to be some elements of exclusion from the family. This has important implications for sex education programmes, and may offer us insights into why the boys resist school sex education work.     

Back to basics: how young mothers learn about sex and sexuality

Adolescent pregnancy continues to be a major concern for policy-makers, programme developers, helping professionals and society generally in the USA, especially in light of the US federal government's legislative emphasis on abstinence-only sex education until recently. Studies have found that abstinence-only programmes do not succeed in preventing young people from becoming sexually active or pregnant; most young people have sexual intercourse in their teenage years long before they even contemplate marriage. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how 32 teenage mothers learned about sex and their related views about pregnancy and birth control. Findings indicate that they have often received little accurate information about sex from their parents and schools. Findings also reveal their widely varying views about birth control and pregnancy. Overall, the findings support the need for comprehensive sexuality education that addresses the topics covered in this study in an age-appropriate manner. The findings also suggest ways that helping professionals in other settings besides schools can help young people address these issues.     

Couple reports of the perceived influences of a college human sexuality course: an exploratory study

Research on the effects of college sexuality education has been largely quantitative in nature and has focused on changes in individual attitudes, behaviours and knowledge. This study sought to explore, qualitatively, the influences of enrolment in a human sexuality course on relationships. Eight couples from an undergraduate human sexuality course completed a brief questionnaire and 60-minute semi-structured interviews, both together and individually. Interviews were analysed using critical qualitative methodologies. Findings suggest a wider range of perceived influences than indicated in the previous literature. In particular, after taking the class, participants felt less secretive about sex and more comfortable with sexuality overall. All participants shared some aspects of the class with their partners, exposing several themes surrounding perceived influences of the class. These included increased communication overall, and particularly about sex; changes to body image, self-confidence and agency; perceived changes to their relationship and sexual relationship; willingness to try new sexual behaviours or positions; and new information related to health and anatomy that led to increased health protective behaviours and, in some cases, increased sexual pleasure. Implications for intervention evaluation methods and for sexuality educators are discussed.     

Moral Pluralism and Sex Education

How should common schools in a liberal pluralist society approach sex education in the face of deep disagreement about sexual morality? Should they eschew sex education altogether? Should they narrow its focus to facts about biology, reproduction, and disease prevention? Should they, in addition to providing a broad palette of information about sex, attempt to cover a range of alternative views about sexual morality in a “value‐neutral” manner? Should they seek to impart a “thick” conception of sexual morality, which precisely articulates how individuals should lead their sexual lives? In this essay, Josh Corngold cautions against the adoption of each of these various approaches. He argues that schools should instead adopt an “autonomy‐promoting” approach, which will aim to empower students, cognitively and emotionally, to exercise sovereignty over their own sexuality.     

Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about HIV/AIDS among Hindu students from a government women's college of South India

The purpose of the study was to determine the attitudes of Hindu students from a government women's college of South India toward people with AIDS, to assess their beliefs about HIV/AIDS, to determine their knowledge level about HIV/AIDS and to determine how they gain information about HIV/AIDS. The sample consisted of four hundred female students at a government funded Women's University in Southern India who participated in an AIDS survey research project. Participants completed a survey asking about their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about HIV/AIDS. Results indicated that a majority of the participants learned about HIV/AIDS from reading material while some learned about HIV/AIDS from school classes, and only a few learned from family members. Thirty-nine percent had never communicated to any one about HIV/AIDS. The results indicated that the majority of Indian women in this study did not know about explicit sexual behaviors which transmit the virus. The study also showed that those Indian women university students, by and large, are accepting of people with AIDS but still have fears of getting HIV/AIDS. This data suggest a need to increase educational efforts at the university. It was suggested that counselors take responsibility for helping this population of Indian women become self advocates, particularly in a society which permits men to have multiple sexual relationships. Educators and counselors working with this population must initiate programs that impart accurate and specific knowledge to these female college students and begin to address the multiple psychosocial issues related to HIV/AIDS.     

Motives,barriers, and ways of communicating in mother-daughter sexuality communication: a qualitative study of college women in Tanzania

In Tanzania, young women aged 15–24 are at high risk for HIV and nearly half (45%) of women experience pregnancy or childbirth before age 19. The HIV epidemic has motivated many parents to overcome cultural taboos and talk with their children about sexuality, but few studies in Tanzania have examined how young adults perceive these discussions. In-depth interviews with 31 Tanzanian college women (ages 18–25) reveal how they make sense of sexuality messages from mothers that are sometimes vague, admonishing and fear-based. Participants identified how mothers focused on the health, educational and social consequences of premarital sex and emphasised the avoidance of men as a strategy to maintain virginity. Mothers avoided providing specific information about safer-sex practices, or strategies to negotiate romantic relationships, sexual pressures or sexual desires. Findings offer insight into how relational and cultural contexts influence mothers’ sexual socialisation and can inform education and intervention approaches that consider the changing cultural landscape. Future qualitative research with mothers is recommended to develop programmes that are more responsive to mothers’ and daughters’ needs.     

Why schools should make condoms available to teenagers

The controversy surrounding sex education and condom availability programs in schools in New York City and throughout the US continues because parents worry that such programs encourage teenagers to engage in sexual behavior. But the reality is that more and more teenagers are engaging in sexual behavior anyway. The Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development found the 17% of girls and 29% of boys engaged in sexual intercourse by the time they were 16 years old. Many parents are ready to blame sex education and condom availability programs for these figures; these parents issue calls for "chastity education." Opponents of sex education also believe that these programs violate the rights of parents to education their children about moral behavior and religious values. But the truth is that these programs do not preclude the right of a parents to teach a child anything. They simply prevent the use of the public schools to impose religious beliefs on students. Those who argue that the mandate of schools is only to teach academic subjects forget that public high schools are the best place for sex education and condom availability programs because the schools are full of teenagers and of adults who are trained and willing to counsel them. Few educators would argue that schools should not teach values, and sex education and condom availability programs provide an excellent way to help teenagers understand not only human sexuality, reproduction, and the spread of disease but also social relationships, the development of cultural norms, and the role of responsible citizens. At the same time that we encourage sexual abstinence among young people, we must also teach about sexual responsibility. Sexual responsibility today means using a condom to prevent pregnancy and disease. If teenagers are embarrassed in their efforts to acquire condoms, pregnancy and diseases will be the result, not abstinence.     

Prevention of child sexual abuse in China: knowledge, attitudes, and communication practices of parents of elementary school children

OBJECTIVE: Active involvement by parents may contribute substantially to the success of school-based programs to prevent child sexual abuse (CSA). In China, little is known about parental understanding of CSA. This study investigated Chinese parents' knowledge, attitudes, and communication practices with their children about CSA. METHOD: Six hundred and fifty-two parents of Grade 3 pupils of seven elementary schools in Jingzhou city, Hubei province (central China), completed an anonymous questionnaire (response rate=81%). RESULTS: More than 95% of respondents agreed that elementary schools should provide programs to prevent CSA and were willing to have their children participate in such programs. Although nearly all parents talked with their children about stranger danger, they were much less likely to talk specifically about sexual abuse. Many parents personally lacked basic knowledge about characteristics of perpetrators, the sexual abuse of boys, and nonphysical consequences of CSA. About half (46.8%) expressed some concern that CSA preventive education could cause their children to know "too much about sex." Contrary to expectations from research in western nations, parents who talked with their children about CSA did not have better knowledge or more supportive attitudes to CSA prevention than did parents who said they never discussed CSA with their children. CONCLUSION: This study confirms and extends two recent surveys indicating strong support for the concept of school-based CSA prevention in China. However, given the apparently low levels of knowledge about CSA, even among those who talk about this problem with their children, future prevention programs should include community-wide efforts to educate adults to ensure that parental advice is accurate and hopefully, effective.     

建构大学生性教育知识体系的理念探讨

伴随着理论和认识上的深化、立法的推进以及现实问题的迫使,对青少年性教育（包括大学生性教育）的认识在理论和实践上不断有所突破。但是,在性教育知识体系上存在较大差异和争论,还有很大局限性和进一步研究的必要性。大学生性教育知识体系的建构需要遵循以指导学生的生活实践为准则、体现适度原则和以情感、态度、价值观的形成为目标的理念,以期建构一个能够指导大学生学习如何生活,在内容和方法上适合大学生特点的,能促进大学生的人格完善和价值观形成以实现其幸福人生和自我发展为最终和最高目标的大学生性教育知识体系。     

Politicising action research through queer theory

Queer theory and action research together offer possibilities for exposing the deep injustice of both homophobia and heterosexism. Underpinning identity categories of sexuality and gender, these forms of social injustice lurk in schools, families, religions, communities, and nation‐states. For educators and educational researchers, addressing homophobia and heterosexism in schools and other educational institutions may be enabled through action research that takes up the premises of queer theory. The inquiry part of queer theory and research is interested in how gender, sex, desire, and sexuality organise all human behaviour. Action research can materialise the radical potential of queer theory through research projects that provide opportunities for homophobic and heterosexist teachers, students, administrators, counsellors, parents, and even researchers towards asking questions about how they identify self and other and how this in turn is implicated in a social hierarchy that devalues those whose sexual practices are different from the norm.     

A Review of Parent-Based Barriers to Parent–Adolescent Communication about Sex and Sexuality: Implications for Sex and Family Educators

Although adolescents' sexual health is generally better when parents and adolescents communicate about sex and sexuality, researchers have found parents can be reluctant to engage adolescents in conversations about those topics. To better understand why, we reviewed prior literature and identified four types of parent-based barriers to communication with adolescents about sex: limited sexual health knowledge, believing adolescents are not ready to discuss sex, discomfort discussing sex, and demographic factors. We then used the Theory of Planned Behavior to develop recommendations for how health educators can address these barriers, thereby increasing parent–adolescent sexual health communication.     

Parental opinion concerning school sexuality education in a culturally diverse population in the USA

This study aimed to expand upon previous research related to parental opinion concerning school sexuality education by sampling a culturally diverse, low-income population that has been traditionally under-represented in the literature. A total of 191 parents attending an urban community college completed a written questionnaire about what topics schools should teach their children about sexuality education. Independent variables, including country of origin, religion and religiosity, were explored to determine if support for school sexuality education was similar or different in this population compared to previous national and state survey data. The majority of sex education topics were supported by 80% of the parents. There was a significant negative correlation between attendance at religious services and support for school sex education. The hypothesis that there would be less support for comprehensive sexuality education in the sample population than in national and statewide surveys was not supported.     

“Why Can't We Just Have Sex?”: An Analysis of Anonymous Questions About Sex Asked by Ninth Graders

During the high school years, most young people in the United States receive school-based sexuality education, but there is little research on what they want to know about sex and sexuality but may be afraid to ask. This study is a content analysis of anonymous questions about sex (N = 645) asked by ninth-grade students from the greater Los Angeles area. A sample of predominantly lower-income and Latino/a students submitted anonymous questions before participating in sexuality education. Results show that young people are eager to understand how to use birth control and prevent pregnancy, have misinformation about sex and sexuality, and are misinformed on many topics. Results are discussed in light of what educators and others can do to help young people develop a safe, healthy sex life.     

Students teach sex education: introducing alternative conceptions of sexuality

In this paper, we describe an exercise that challenges hetero-normative and sexist notions of sexuality, allowing students to envision alternative models. Research shows how active learning eases student anxiety over challenging or threatening material. After reading Jessica Fields' Risky Lessons and Waskul, Vannini, and Weisen's article entitled ‘Women and Their Clitoris’, students designed a sex education curriculum that challenges conventional methods. Beyond critiquing existing sex education models, this exercise provides a space for students to reflect on their own sex education experiences, develop their own ideas for teaching about sex and become comfortable discussing sex and sexuality with their peers. All but one of the students reported finding the activity enjoyable or interesting. More than half of students reported change in their views about sex and sex education as a result of the activity.     

Understanding parental views of adolescent sexuality and sex education in Ecuador: a qualitative study

Parents' contribution to sex education is increasingly receiving research attention. This growing interest stems from recognition of the influence that parental attitudes may have both on young people's sexual attitudes and behaviour, and on school-based sex education. Studies regarding parental attitudes towards sexuality are, however, still rare. The two main objectives of this study were to explore parental views about sexuality and to understand parental attitudes towards sex education. Four focus group discussions were conducted with parents from high schools in Cuenca, Ecuador. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study revealed that parents held a restricted view about sex education, grounded in traditional religious ideas about sexuality, which led parents to understand it as a morally and physically dangerous activity. Although parents expressed a willingness to make good quality sex education available to their children, they reported having insufficient personal resources to fulfil that objective. The results of this study provide important information about the need to develop and adapt sex education to each specific cultural context, thereby confirming the importance of knowing about the cultural traditions and religious beliefs that may form obstacles to effective sex education for young people in Ecuador.