Abstinence Promotion and the Provision of Information About Contraception in Public School District Sexuality Education Policies

Abstract

While a growing number of U.S. public school districts have made abstinence education a part of their curriculum, two-thirds of districts allow at least some positive discussion of contraception to occur. Nevertheless, one school district in three forbids dissemination of any positive information about contraception, regardless of whether their students are sexually active or at risk of pregnancy or disease.

Perceptions of Adolescents’ Sexual Behavior Among Mothers Living With and Without HIV: Does Dyadic Sex Communication Matter?

“…Additionally, these mothers may benefit from skill-building as well as information about national norms for sexual debut, which suggest that the majority of adolescents will become sexually active in the second decade of their lives (CDC, 2006;Upchurch et al, 1998Upchurch et al, , 2002, and a sizable proportion of Hispanic and African-American youth (40-55%) will become sexually active by the ninth grade, roughly around age 14 years (CDC, 2006). Particularly at this time, when many U.S. schools are providing limited sex education to children and adolescents (Kempner, 2000;Landry et al, 1999;Santelli et al, 2006), and urban minority youth continue to be at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases (CDC, 2005) including HIV (Rangel, Gavin, Reed, Fowler, & Lee, 2006), mothers may have a critical role in providing sex education to their children, and may need assistance to do so.…”

The impact of schools and school programs upon adolescent sexual behavior

“…According to a large national study of school district policies, of the 69% of school districts that have policies on sex education, 35% teach abstinence as the only option outside of marriage, and either prohibit instruction on condoms or contraceptives or focus upon their shortcomings (Landry, Kaeser, & Richards, 1999).…”

A Historical Analysis of Public School Sex Education in America Since 1900

“…Abstinence proponents sought to equip teens with the skills to avoid any of the potential risks of sex, both physical and emotional (Rector & Kim, 2007 (Donovan,1989). Landry (1999) reported results of a national survey indicating most sex education courses taught about puberty, STDs, and pregnancy prevention, with at least a mention of abstinence. Birth control methods, abortion, and homosexuality were topics that were more scattered in their coverage by most public schools.…”

“…Contraceptive-based sex education proponents regrouped their efforts after discerning the support for abstinence education across the country. They rebranded contraceptivecentered education as "abstinence-plus" (Landry, 1999), in part, to assuage nervous schools boards and anxious parents that students were receiving the same abstinence until marriage message that was taught before 1960, when in fact, they were not.…”