Comprehensive Sexuality Education as a Primary Prevention Strategy for Sexual Violence Perpetration

Abstract

Sexual violence (SV) represents a serious public health problem with high rates and numerous health consequences. Current primary prevention strategies to reduce SV perpetration have been shown to be largely ineffective-not surprisingly, since as others have pointed out current prevention largely fails to draw on existing knowledge about the characteristics of effective prevention. In this article, we examine the potential of K-12 comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), guided by the National Sexuality Education Standards (NSES), to be an effective strategy. Our discussion uses socioecological and feminist theories as a guide, examines the extent to which NSES-guided CSE could both meet the qualities of effective prevention programs and mitigate the risk factors that are most implicated in perpetration behavior, and considers the potential limitations of this approach. We suggest that sequential, K-12 program has potential to prevent the emergence of risk factors associated with SV perpetration by starting prevention early on in the life course. CSE has not yet been evaluated with SV perpetration behavior as an outcome, and this article synthesizes what is known about drivers of SV perpetration and the potential impacts of CSE to argue for the importance of future research in this area. The primary recommendation is for longitudinal research to examine the impact of CSE on SV perpetration as well as on other sexual and reproductive health outcomes.

Does sex education before college protect students from sexual assault in college?

“…[ 21 – 23 ] A recent review suggests that K-12 comprehensive sex ed has the qualities of effective prevention programs and has the potential to mitigate the risk factors associated with sexual violence perpetration—by starting prevention early in the lifecourse. [ 38 ]…”

Online Sexual Experiences Predict Subsequent Sexual Health and Victimization Outcomes Among Female Adolescents: A Latent Class Analysis

“…Although the fields of gender-based violence and sexual health often operate as separate entities, more scholars are calling for their integration due to several shared risk and protective factors (Schneider & Hirsch, 2018). In accordance with this call for integration and given the nuance of the latent class structure of female adolescent online sexual experiences (Maas, Bray, & Noll, 2018), the aim of the current analysis was to identify which online sexual experience profiles would differentially predict HIV risk, sexual assault, and relationship violence.…”

Innovation and Integration of Sexuality in Family Life Education

“…Consideration for survivors of sexual trauma has long been excluded from sexuality education (Fine, 1988; Sales et al, 2016; Santelli et al, 2018; Schneider & Hirsch, 2018). Abstinence‐based sexuality education upholds sex in marriage as the expected standard, which by default omits relevant information for and the experiences of survivors of sexual assault.…”

“…Sexual and relationship education offers a route toward mitigating and potentially preventing sexual violence. At the youngest ages, this involves teaching children the correct names of their body parts, boundaries around touching, and identifying trusted adults with whom to talk if their boundaries are violated (FoSE, 2012; Schneider & Hirsch, 2018). A recent review of sexual violence interventions demonstrated that the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SEICUS) standards for comprehensive sexuality education and common prevention science strategies are highly aligned and show promise for helping to mitigate sexual violence (Schneider & Hirsch, 2018).…”

“…At the youngest ages, this involves teaching children the correct names of their body parts, boundaries around touching, and identifying trusted adults with whom to talk if their boundaries are violated (FoSE, 2012; Schneider & Hirsch, 2018). A recent review of sexual violence interventions demonstrated that the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SEICUS) standards for comprehensive sexuality education and common prevention science strategies are highly aligned and show promise for helping to mitigate sexual violence (Schneider & Hirsch, 2018). In one of the only studies to test the association between sexuality education and reports of sexual violence, after adjustment for known risk factors for penetrative sexual assault, learning how to say no to sex was associated with lower odds of penetrative sexual assault for women (Santelli et al, 2018).…”