The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #68142

Joseph Donnelly, PhD, Montclair State University, 1 Normal Avenue, College Hall, Room 301, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043, 973-655-7119, donnellyj@mail.montclair.edu and Michael Young, PhD, University of Arkansas, 155 Stadium Drive, Fayetteville, AR 72701.

Controversy continues over the teaching of abstinence/sexuality education in the public schools. Most professionals agree that young people should be encouraged to postpone sexual involvement, but also agree that young people should have easy access to accurate information regarding contraceptive use. The Bush Administration, however, continues to promote an 8 part (a-h) restrictive definition of abstinence education. The purpose of this study was to identify student attitudes toward the definition and whether their attitudes differed by gender and previous sexual experience. Students in grades 7-12 (n = 333) at a rural public school were surveyed regarding their attitudes toward the eight components of abstinence education, attitudes toward other aspects of sexuality education and adolescent sexuality, as well as actual sexual behavior. Students responded to individual attitude items on a 5 point likert-type scale. Responses to the eight a-h items were summed to yield a total abstinence education attitude score. Data were analyzed using chi-square to examine individual attitude items by gender and previous sexual experience. Two way analysis of variance was used to examine total abstinence attitude by gender and previous sexual experience. Results of the analysis of variance indicated a gender x sexual experience interaction with virgin females indicating the most positive view of a-h and virgin males indicating the least positive view. Overall students indicated a positive view of all 8 elements of a-h, but also want more information than “abstinence only”. These results have implications for the content of school based abstinence/sexuality education programming.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to describe the A-H guidelines (as prescribed by the federal government) and how these relate to middle and high school students.
• Participants will be able to demonstrate effective use of the A-H guidelines within their respective settings (middle school, high school, or training consultant).
• Participants will understand diverging attitudes of males and females (virgin and non-virgin status) as it relates to their acceptance or non-acceptance of A-H guidelines.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Sexuality

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.