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Sexual health policies explicitly aim to encourage young people to take responsibility for their sexuality to prevent adverse outcomes such as unintended pregnancies, STIs and sexual assault. In Europe and North America, ‘choice’ has become a central concept in sexual and reproductive health policy making. However, the concept of choice is not unproblematic, not least because the cultural emphasis on individual responsibility obscures structural limitations and inequalities, and mutual responsibility between partners. …
Most states today have a policy requiring HIV education, usually in conjunction with broader sex education. Meanwhile, as debate over the relative merits of abstinence-only-until marriage versus more comprehensive approaches has intensified, states have enacted a number of specific content requirements. This brief summarizes state-level sex and HIV education policies, as well as specific content requirements, based on a review of state laws, regulations and other legally binding policies.
What programs delay sexual initiation, improve contraceptive use among sexually active teens, and/or prevent teen pregnancy? Over the years, The National Campaign has produced and disseminated a number of detailed reports and publications designed to answer this question. Here, in shorthand form, is an overview of what is known about carefully evaluated interventions that help delay sex, improve contraceptive use, and/or prevent teen pregnancy.
Scientific research has made major contributions to adolescent health by providing insights into factors that influence it and by defining ways to improve it. However, US adolescent sexual and reproductive health policies-particularly sexuality health education policies and programs-have not benefited from the full scope of scientific understanding. From 1998 to 2009, federal funding for sexuality education focused almost exclusively on ineffective and scientifically inaccurate abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) programs. …
Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of an abstinence-only intervention in preventing sexual involvement in young adolescents. Design:Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Urban public schools. Participants:A total of 662 African American students in grades 6 and 7. …
Best practices for adolescent sex education recommend science-based approaches. However, little is known about the capacity and needs of organizations who implement sex education programs on the local level. The purpose of this research was to describe successes and challenges of community organizations in implementing science-based sex education. Using qualitative methods, we interviewed program directors and educators in 17 state funded adolescent pregnancy prevention/sex education programs as part of a larger mixed methods evaluation. …
Abstinence-only-until-marriage education is a key component of social conservatives' global moral and religious agenda, and the cornerstone of the Bush administration's approach to reducing U.S. teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates. …
There is no vaccine to prevent HIV/AIDS, and the best treatment does not constitute a cure. U.S. government institutions responsible for setting public health standards have therefore repeatedly and strongly urged that providing complete and accurate information to adolescents about HIV/AIDS prevention, including the proper use of condoms as a means to reduce the risk of HIV transmission, be an important part of the government's prevention efforts. …
This article discusses the controversy and challenges that surrounded providing sex education in the U.S., including the Franklin Country (North Carolina) school board ordering the removal of textbook chapters dealing with sexual behavior, contraception, HIV/AIDs, and STIs from 9th graders health textbooks, and the state requirement to promote abstinence until marriage. It discusses the abstinence only movement and reviews efforts to undermine sexuality education dating back to the 1960s, while also providing the teachers' perspectives and difficulties faced. …
This study analyzed data from a nationally representative survey of 3,754 7th-12th grade teachers of the subjects most often responsible for sexuality education. These results are compared to the subset of 1,767 teachers who actually taught sexuality education and another comparable survey from 1988. By 1999, 93% of respondents indicated that sexuality education was being taught in ther schools. This education covered STIs, abstinence, birth control, abortion and sexual orientation. …
This study was conducted in 1999 using data from a nationally representative survey of 5th and 6th grader teachers (n=1789) in 5,543 public schools. Analyses were conducted of topics and skills taught relating to sexuality education, grades to which they were taught, teaching approaches, pressures experienced, support received and their needs. Seventy-two percent of the teachers reported that sexuality education is taught in their schools in at least one grade. …
This article presents three articles in this issue of Family Planning Perspectives. They are on changing foci within secondary school sexuality education (Changing Emphases), sexuality education for Grades 5-6 (Grades 5-6) and adolescents perceptions of reproductive health education (Adolescent Views). "Changing Emphases" discusses teachers' perceptions of a marked change from balanced treatment of abstinence and safer sexual practices in 1988 to a greater emphasis on abstinence (and abstinence only) in 1999. …
In the majority of states, sex education is mandatory or strongly recommended in public schools. Forty-eight states and most of the large school districts across the country support sex education, including about STIs and abstinence. Fewer districts and states make education on pregnancy prevention mandatory. Larger school districts cover a broader range of sex-related topics, especially related to preventing pregnancy, than state curricula. Such districts also provide greater support to instructors through curricula provision, training and other activities, than do states. …
A study in four districts of Rhode Island (USA) of 1,379 junior high school students (average age 13.2 years) found that sexually active boys were less knowledgeable about HIV, less tolerant of people living with AIDS, less fearful of contraction of HIV and more likely to undertake risky behavior, than those who were not sexually active. The same pattern, although less extreme, is found among girls in the sample. …
Although the primary goal of Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART) is to decrease HIV infection among African-American adolescents ages 14 to 18, the curriculum also includes topics and activities relevant to teen pregnancy prevention. Teens learn to clarify their own values about sexual decisions and pressures, as well as practice skills to reduce sexual risk taking. These skills include correct condom use, assertive communication, refusal techniques, self-management and problem solving. Abstinence is woven throughout the curriculum and is discussed as the best way to prevent HIV and pregnancy. …
