Article

Preferences Regarding School Sexuality Education Among Elementary Schoolchildren's Parents

Taylor & Francis on behalf of SHAPE America
American Journal of Health Education
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Abstract

A comprehensive review of the literature failed to find any studies to assess elementary school parents' preferred philosophical approach to teaching sexuality education and sexuality education topics discussed by parents. All previous research reported parent data for grades K-12 or grades 9-12 only. Methods A random sample of 2400 parents of children ages 6 to 11 across 3 counties of a Midwestern state were surveyed using a 3-wave mailing, which resulted in a final response rate of 43% from eligible parents. Results When asked to identify which of 3 sexuality education topics should be taught at specific grade levels, a plurality (36%) thought that the reproductive system should be taught in grades 3-5. Most parents (51%) supported teaching abstinence and refusal skills in grades 6-8 and supported teaching birth control and condom use (55%) in the middle school grades or earlier. Discussion Multiple factors come into play when schools decide what sexuality education topics to include in the curriculum, including politics, moral philosophy of adults, resources, and research evidence. The results of this study support comprehensive sexuality education. Translation to Health Education Practice Health education teachers should advocate for quality sexuality education in the middle school grades or earlier.

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... The parental questionnaire was developed based on a series of published studies (Chen and Chen, 2005;Dake et al., 2014;Morawska et al., 2015;Depauli and Plaute, 2018;Rudolph and Zimmer-Gembeck, 2018;UNESCO, 2018;Shin et al., 2019) and included 15 items on knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding sexuality education of children. ...
... Almost 70% of parents reported using television and Internet resources to provide sexuality education to their children. The percentage is higher than the previous studies in Australia (Morawska et al., 2015), the United States (Dake et al., 2014), and Korea (Shin et al., 2019). In addition, more than 60% of the parents reported reading books with their children about sexuality, which is a substantial rise from the Australian study which found that <50% of parents had read books with their children about sexuality (Morawska et al., 2015). ...
... Chinese parents rarely used correct terminology for genitalia (30%), which is lower than the previous studies with parents of primary school students in Australia (∼80% in Morawska et al., 2015) and the United States (∼40% in Dake et al., 2014) but much higher than the recent Muslim research in Pakistan (∼6% in Nadeem et al., 2021) and the Korean research (∼6% in Shin et al., 2019). Parents commonly feel embarrassed or uncomfortable talking to their children about sexuality (Turnbulla et al., 2008). ...
Article
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This cross-sectional study provides insight into the perceptions of Chinese parents of primary school children with respect to sexuality education. A sample of 19,745 parents was surveyed using an online questionnaire in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, China. SPSS version 23.0 was used for data analysis. In this study, nearly 90% of parents had positive attitudes toward the sexuality education of children in primary schools. However, Chinese parents had limited knowledge of sexuality education. More than 60% of parents were unaware of the sexuality questions that children may encounter at different ages and did not have any accurate information on child sexual abuse prevention education. Although ~ 70% of parents (both fathers and mothers) reported that they had used television and Internet resources to talk with their children about sexuality and 63% reported that they had read books with their children about sexuality, < 30% reported using appropriate terminology with their children on sexuality education and only 40% reported talking to their children about sexuality comfortably. The multivariate linear regression equation showed some factors associated with the practices of parents in sexuality education, including parental knowledge, attitudes, their experience in receiving sex education in childhood, and their educational level. The findings from this study suggest that it is important to develop culturally relevant training programs for parents of primary schools in Chinese society. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.
... Based on the review of twenty-nine studies, the findings showed that parents' preferences towards the timing to begin SE is varied. There are fourteen studies examined parents' opinions on the appropriate grade level to teach SE, 8 of the studies indicated that parents prefered the inclusion of SE in the school curriculum since elementary schools [14,17,22,25,26,28,31,36,38] and parents in 2 studies stated that SE should begin as young as in preschool education and kindergarten [21,24]. Two studies pointed out that parents thought secondary school is more appropriate to introduce SE among the students [18,20]. ...
... Two studies pointed out that parents thought secondary school is more appropriate to introduce SE among the students [18,20]. Nevertheless, The parents also mentioned that SE should be age-appropriate [17,21,36] and implemented based on the mental maturity of the students. They suggested that the SE should start from introduction of biological content among younger students and progress towards a more comprehensive content as age grows. ...
... This review also attempted to reveal parents' preferences towards the types of SE implemented in schools. Most of the parents from the studies reviewed shows favourable attitude towards CSE [14,[22][23][24][25][26]31] and indicated that the topics should be appropriate to the age of the students [17,21]. In some conservative countries such as Malaysia and Bangladesh, the parents prefered CSE which is aligned with religious teaching, values and their cultural context [15,38]. ...
Article
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Parents play a unique role in providing and facilitating their children in acquirement of sexual and reproductive health knowledge. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of parents’ attitude, preferences towards sexuality education (SE) and factors that contributed to their attitudes and perceptions based on review of relevant literature. The articles were retrieved via electronic databases, and manually examined to identify the studies that addressed the research questions. There were 29 studies with a total of 22,213 parents involved which published in peer-reviewed journals between the year 2000 and 2018 were selected and reviewed systematically. The findings emerged from the review were categorized into three main themes which included parental attitudes, parental preferences towards the implementation of SE and the factors contributed to their attitudes and perceptions. Most studies revealed that parents showed positive attitudes and support the inclusion of SE in school. They preferred age-appropriated SE to be introduced in elementary schools and secondary schools. Some parents supported SE which is aligned with religious teaching and cultural. Demographic factors, parents’ sexuality knowledge, religious and cultural factors could affect parental attitudes and perceptions towards SE. This understanding could be useful for policymakers and educators to encourage collaboration with parents to strengthen the effectiveness of the program and scale up SE to benefit the young generation.
... Eight of these studies were conducted with parents who had children in middle and high school (7th-12th grade) or a child under the age of 18 (K-12th grade). One study examined parents of elementary-aged children (ages 6-11); however, that study was conducted in three counties in a single state (Dake, Price, Baksovich, & Wielinski, 2014). A majority (79-93%) of the parents in these studies were supportive of sexuality education being taught in the public schools (Barr, Moore, Johnson, Forrest, & Jordan, 2014;Bleakley, Hennessy, & Fishbein, 2010;Constantine, Jerman, & Huang, 2007;Dake et al., 2014;Eisenberg, Bernat, Bearinger, & Resnick, 2008;Ito et al., 2006;Kaiser Family Foundation, 2000;Tortolero, Johnson, Peskin, Cuccaro, & Markham, 2011). ...
... One study examined parents of elementary-aged children (ages 6-11); however, that study was conducted in three counties in a single state (Dake, Price, Baksovich, & Wielinski, 2014). A majority (79-93%) of the parents in these studies were supportive of sexuality education being taught in the public schools (Barr, Moore, Johnson, Forrest, & Jordan, 2014;Bleakley, Hennessy, & Fishbein, 2010;Constantine, Jerman, & Huang, 2007;Dake et al., 2014;Eisenberg, Bernat, Bearinger, & Resnick, 2008;Ito et al., 2006;Kaiser Family Foundation, 2000;Tortolero, Johnson, Peskin, Cuccaro, & Markham, 2011). Several (66%) of these studies has a specific item that asked parents when sexuality education should begin being taught in schools. ...
... Several (66%) of these studies has a specific item that asked parents when sexuality education should begin being taught in schools. In all of those studies parents indicated that the sexuality education topics should be taught in middle school or earlier (Barr et al., 2014;Dake et al., 2014;Eisenberg et al., 2008;Ito et al., 2006;Jordan, Price, & Fitzgerald, 2000;Tortolero et al., 2011). ...
Article
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This study examined the preferences of parents of elementary school-aged children regarding when sexuality topics should be discussed in school and at home. The survey was mailed to a national random sample of parents of elementary school age children. Overall, 92% of parents believed that sexuality education should be taught in schools. Independent t-tests showed statistically significant differences between mothers and fathers regarding when sexuality education topics should be taught in elementary school as well as when they planned to discuss sexuality topics at home with their child. This study provides valuable information regarding parents’ perceptions about sexuality education.
... Although other studies in the previous decade have examined parental attitudes towards CSE, despite collecting data about the (Wood et al., 2021;Dake et al., 2014;Fisher et al., 2015;Kantor and Levitz, 2017;McKay et al., 2014). An exception has been the recent work of Hurst et al. (2024) who reported, based on a national sample of parents across the United States of America, that there was strong support for students to receive CSE focused on three content areas: factual knowledge, practical skills, and pleasure and identity. ...
Article
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Purpose To empirically examine associations between parental opposition towards comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and religiosity. Methods A nationally representative survey of Australian parents (N = 2,418) examined opposition towards 40 CSE topics, by parental religiosity and secular/religious school sector. Results Whilst opposition to most CSE topics correlated positively with religiosity, even amongst very religious parents, disapproval was minimal (2.8–31.2%; or 9.0–20.2% netted against non-religious parents). Parents with children enrolled in a Catholic school were less likely than secular-school parents to oppose CSE. Those with children at other-faith-schools were more likely to oppose CSE, but again disapproval was minimal (1.2–21.9%; or 1.3–9.4% netted against secular-school parents). Discussion Only small minorities of very religious parents and parents with children in religious schools opposed the teaching of various CSE topics. Decision-makers should therefore be cautious about assuming that CSE delivery is not widely supported by particular families.
... As can be seen in Table 2, the included surveys spanned the entire interval from 2000 to 2016. There were 12 telephonebased surveys [10,12,14e22,24], one face-to-face household survey [11], one survey conducted via mail [23], and one survey conducted via the Internet using GfK's Knowledge Panel (formerly Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung) proprietary address and telephone-based recruitment methodology [25,30]. The GfK panel is the largest probability-based panel of adults in the US. ...
Article
Purpose Surveys suggest that the general public (i.e., adults or parents) supports sexual health education in schools. However, the number of schools providing sex education continues to decline in the United States. The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis of U.S.-based representative surveys to provide a pooled estimate of public support for sexual health education delivered in schools. Methods A systematic search of three databases (Medline, PsycInfo, and ERIC) was conducted to identify survey measuring adult and parent attitudes toward sexual health education in school between 2000 and 2016. Meta-analyses were conducted in OpenMetaAnalyst via the metaphor package in R using a DerSimonian-Laird random effect models to account for heterogeneity between surveys. Results A total of 23 citations met study inclusion and exclusion criteria, representing 15 unique probability surveys conducted with the public. Among the included surveys, 14 were nationwide and 11 included parents or an overrepresentation of parents. Across all survey findings, 88.7% (95% confidence interval = 86.2–91.2) of respondents supported sexual health education. Among surveys that only included parents or oversampled for parents, 90.0% (95% confidence interval = 86.5–93.4) supported sexual health education, and among nationally representative surveys, 87.7% (95% confidence interval = 85.1–90.6) of respondents supported sexual health education. Conclusion These findings demonstrate overwhelming support for sexual health education delivered in schools. Additional research is needed to determine individual differences in support for specific sexual health education topics and skills delivered through classroom-based instruction.
... Recent studies show clear parental support of sexuality education in elementary school, and yet, to our knowledge, the few sex positive sexuality education curricula that do exist for younger people in the U.S. are independent and receive no state or federal funding (Barr et al., 2014;Dake et al., 2014;Fisher et al., 2015;Shin et al., 2019). Given the current political divide, it is not surprising that there is a disconnect between parent/caretaker/child needs and governmental policy making. ...
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Controversy about school-based sexuality education in public schools has continued over the past decade, despite mounting evidence that comprehensive sexuality education effectively promotes sexual health and that parents support these programs in public schools. The present study replicates and expands upon previous findings regarding public views on school-based sexuality education. One thousand six hundred five parents of school-age children in Minnesota responded to telephone surveys in 2006-2007 (63% participation rate), including items regarding general sexuality education, 12 specific topics, the grade level at which each should be taught, and attitudes toward sexuality education. The large majority of parents supported teaching about both abstinence and contraception (comprehensive sexuality education [CSE]; 89.3%), and support was high across all demographic categories of parents. All specific sexuality education topics received majority support (63.4%-98.6%), even those often viewed as controversial. Parents believed most topics should first be taught during the middle school years. Parents held slightly more favorable views on the effectiveness of CSE compared to abstinence-only education, and these views were strongly associated with support for CSE (odds ratio [OR](CSE) = 14.3; OR(abstinence) = 0.11). This study highlights a mismatch between parents' expressed opinions and preferences, and actual sexuality education content as currently taught in the majority of public schools. In light of broad parental support for education that emphasizes multiple strategies for prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (including abstinence), parents should be encouraged to express their opinions on sexuality education to teachers, administrators, and school boards regarding the importance of including a variety of topics and beginning instruction during middle school years or earlier.
Article
The role that sex education plays in the initiation of sexual activity and risk of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) is controversial in the United States. Despite several systematic reviews, few epidemiologic evaluations of the effectiveness of these programs on a population level have been conducted. Among never-married heterosexual adolescents, aged 15-19 years, who participated in Cycle 6 (2002) of the National Survey of Family Growth and reported on formal sex education received before their first sexual intercourse (n = 1719), we compared the sexual health risks of adolescents who received abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education to those of adolescents who received no formal sex education. Weighted multivariate logistic regression generated population-based estimates. Adolescents who received comprehensive sex education were significantly less likely to report teen pregnancy (OR(adj) = .4, 95% CI = .22- .69, p = .001) than those who received no formal sex education, whereas there was no significant effect of abstinence-only education (OR(adj) = .7, 95% CI = .38-1.45, p = .38). Abstinence-only education did not reduce the likelihood of engaging in vaginal intercourse (OR(adj) = .8, 95% CI = .51-1.31, p = .40), but comprehensive sex education was marginally associated with a lower likelihood of reporting having engaged in vaginal intercourse (OR(adj) = .7, 95% CI = .49-1.02, p = .06). Neither abstinence-only nor comprehensive sex education significantly reduced the likelihood of reported STD diagnoses (OR(adj) = 1.7, 95% CI = .57-34.76, p = .36 and OR(adj) = 1.8, 95% CI = .67-5.00, p = .24 respectively). Teaching about contraception was not associated with increased risk of adolescent sexual activity or STD. Adolescents who received comprehensive sex education had a lower risk of pregnancy than adolescents who received abstinence-only or no sex education.
Article
This paper examines the impacts of four abstinence-only education programs on adolescent sexual activity and risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Based on an experimental design, the impact analysis uses survey data collected in 2005 and early 2006 from more than 2,000 teens who had been randomly assigned to either a program group that was eligible to participate in one of the four programs or a control group that was not. The findings show no significant impact on teen sexual activity, no differences in rates of unprotected sex, and some impacts on knowledge of STDs and perceived effectiveness of condoms and birth control pills
Not Yet: Programs to Delay First Sex Among Teens National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
  • J Manlove
  • A Papillo
  • Ikramullah
Manlove J, Papillo A, Ikramullah E. Not Yet: Programs to Delay First Sex Among Teens. Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy;2004.
Sex Education in America: A Series of National Surveys of Students, Parents, Teachers, and Principals
  • Kaiser Family
Kaiser Family Foundation. Sex Education in America: A Series of National Surveys of Students, Parents, Teachers, and Principals. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation; 2000.
Mailing lists. https://www.american-clearinghouse.com/Mailing%20Lists.aspx
  • American Clearinghouse
American Clearinghouse Inc. Mailing lists. https://www.american-clearinghouse.com/Mailing%20Lists.aspx. Published 2010. Accessed January 21, 2011.