Evangelical Christian parents’ attitudes towards abstinence-based sex education: ‘I want my kids to have great sex!’

Catholic parents' perceptions of young people's learning about sex and relationships

“…For instance, they did not want priests to teach SRE and wanted young people to be taught about controversial topics which the Church opposes, for example, contraception use. This contrasts with other studies that found that although religious parents wanted their children to be taught positive sex education, they embraced such teachings within the ethos of their religion (Dent andMaloney 2017, Sanjakdar 2014) and wanted the religious elders to be involved in the provision so parents could be guided on how to provide accurate and religiously sensitive information (Farringdon et al 2014). It could be argued, however, that most of my participants were not 'staunch' Catholics, although they each had a varied degree of affiliation in the aim that many perspectives of Catholic parents could be explored.…”

“…Gayle Rubin's (1984) 'Charmed Circle' has been used to illustrate the limited view of which sexual identities and behaviours are permitted by Catholicism, whilst Lees' (1993) and Kidger's (2006) frameworks have been used to identify the discourses which align SRE with traditional Catholic teachings. My study adds the perspectives of Catholic parents to the existing research on parental views on SRE; a literature that has largely been limited to the views of non-religious parents (Dent and Maloney 2017). This research offers insights into the meanings that learning about sex and relationships hold for parents who have been affiliated with a religion, and…”

“…Furthermore, young people are encouraged to keep asking their parents questions, and for some, everyday tasks are embraced as ways of initiating communication about sexual matters (Dent and Maloney 2017). Within the literature, however, there is a recurring notion that adult conceived notions of effectiveness are inconsistent with young people's ideas (Allen 2005).…”

“…However, as the above example shows, this could be potentially negative as wrong information could be left unchallenged if the child stopped asking further questions. These examples show that the participants were taking advantage of the 'teachable moments' mentioned previously (Dent and Maloney 2017). This impromptu style of learning and opportunistic way of providing information about sex meant that, in some instances, the young people were not aware they were receiving sex education from their parent.…”

“…It has been suggested that the primary sex educators for children could be parents (Goldman andBradley 2001, Krafchick andBiringe 2002). However, there was a sense of confusion around who the participants thought was best placed to provide their children with SRE which echoes the contradictory nature of the findings of research in this area (Dyson and Smith 2010, Berne et al 2000, Jerves et al 2014, Dent and Maloney 2017, Morawska 2015 Arguably, it is important that parents are included in the sex education their children receive (Walker 2001, Berne et al 2000, though this throws up questions about parent's reported lack of knowledge, confidence and skills in providing SRE (see Walker 2001, Stone et al 2017. Walker (2004) explains that involving parents in talking about sexual health with their children is important and it influences the sexual health of future generations.…”