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Formal sex education declines significantly among US adolescents
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Receipt of formal sex education regarding pregnancy prevention and infectious diseases has declined nationwide, especially for girls, between 2006 and 2013, according to recent research in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
“This study documents recent declines in adolescents’ receipt of formal sex education about a range of topics,” Laura Duberstein Lindberg, PhD, of the Guttmacher Institute in New York, and colleagues wrote. “Parents do not fill these gaps. Further efforts to increase access to comprehensive reproductive health information are warranted.”
The researchers compared nationally representative data from the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth to the 2011-2013 version to estimate trends in sexual education. The cohorts consisted of 4,662 adolescents (girls, n = 2,284) aged 15 to 19 years from the 2006-2010 report, and 2,125 (girls, n = 1,037) from the 2011-2013 report. The surveys gathered information related to birth control, saying no to sex, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS and parental communication about sexual education.
Study results showed significant declines in receipt of formal education among girls between the survey periods. Formal instruction related to birth control declined from 70% to 60%, while instruction about saying no to sex fell from 89% to 82% (P < .05). STD-related education also declined among girls from 94% to 90%, with instruction on HIV/AIDS falling from 89% to 86% (P < .05). Formal education for boys about birth control methods dipped to 55% from 61% (P < .05).
The researchers wrote that declines in infectious disease-related instruction reported among boys were slight and not statistically significant over time. Formal instruction for boys related to STIs declined from 92% to 91%, while specific HIV/AIDS instruction declined from 88% to 86%.
“Within overall health education, sexual health topics may be of reduced priority compared to other topics,” Duberstein Lindberg and colleagues wrote “Declines in the share of school districts with policies about teaching HIV or other STD prevention were paralleled by increases in districts requiring instruction about other health topics of increasing public health concern, such as suicide and violence. Research is needed to understand how different subjects may compete for inclusion in the curriculum or classroom, given limited time and other resources.” – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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