 |
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
|
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
David J. Landry, Jacqueline E. Darroch, PhD, Susheela Singh, PhD, and Jenny Higgins, MA. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 120 Wall Street, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10005, (212) 248-1111 x2281, dlandry@guttmacher.org
Objectives. This study analyzes regional patterns in public attitudes towards sex education and the content of what instructors teach in sexuality education classes.
Methodology. Findings from a number of opinion surveys are used to examine regional variation in public support for sexuality education. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a nationally representative survey of 15,349 in-school youth in grades 7-12 is examined to review regional differences in the sexual behavior of adolescents. To examine regional variation in the coverage of sexuality education, descriptive tabulations and logistic regression are performed on a 1999 nationally representative survey collected from 3,754 teachers in grades 7-12 in the five specialties most often responsible for sexuality education.
Results. The Southern region is disproportionately represented by secondary school sexuality education teachers who teach that abstinence is the only way of preventing pregnancy and STDs (28%) compared to the North (16%), the West (20%) or the Midwest (21%). Compared to the North, Southern teachers are also less likely to teach about birth control, abortion, and sexual orientation.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Health Education, School-Based Programs
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.