Sex 101: Parents' support of sexuality education in schools and churches

The debate continues about where sex education should take place. A statewide reproductive health survey in the Midwest interviewed 805 parents about sexuality education. Parents were asked whether they agreed that schools and churches should educate children about reproductive health, sexuality or birth control. The vast majority (91.7%) supported schools educating children about reproductive health, 80.3% supported schools educating children about sexuality and 81.5% supported schools educating children about birth control. A smaller majority of parents supported churches educating children about reproductive health (58.5%) and sexuality (59.5%), while only 50.1% supported churches educating children about birth control. When comparing parents' support of education in schools to education in churches, parental support for education in schools was significantly higher than their support of education in churches. Interestingly, when participants were asked about whether parents should discuss birth control with their children, 97.4% agreed, which is higher in comparison to parental support for birth control education in schools or churches. Higher income parents showed more support for schools and churches teaching about reproductive health and churches teaching about sexuality. More educated parents also expressed greater agreement with schools teaching reproductive health than less educated parents. While support for churches was high, it appears that when faced with a choice, parents prefer schools to provide sexuality education outside of the home. This provides further evidence that school-based sexuality education is acceptable to the vast majority of parents and indicates these programs should be evaluated for their content and effectiveness.