187570 School-Based Condom Education and Its Relations to Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Diagnoses

Tuesday, October 28, 2008: 10:50 AM

Brian Dodge, PhD , Center for Sexual Health Promotion, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Michael Reece, PhD, MPH , Center for Sexual Health Promotion, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Debby Herbenick, PhD, MPH , Center for Sexual Health Promotion, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Introduction: School-based sexuality education remains a major issue as levels of STI and unintended pregnancies continue to rise in the United States. Comprehensive sexuality education approaches seek to provide scientifically and medically accurate information on numerous sexual health issues, including condom use. Opponents of such approaches have often claimed that discussing condom use with adolescents will increase sexual activity and risk.

Methods: A total of 1,663 adult men from 50 states answered survey measures related to demographics, history of condom education in secondary schools, and history of STI/HIV diagnoses. Bivariate analyses were used to determine associations.

Results: Participants who did not receive school-based condom education earlier in life were significantly more likely to have been diagnosed with a STI than those who received such education (p < .001). Participants who did not receive school-based condom education were more likely to have been diagnosed with gonorrhea (p < .01), genital herpes (p < .05), and HPV (p < .05) than their counterparts. These individuals were also marginally more likely to have been diagnosed with HIV (p < .10). Last, participants who did not receive school-based condom education were less likely to ever have been tested for STI (p < .001) and HIV (p < .001) than other participants.

Conclusions: Given the strength of relations between school-based condom education and decreased negative sexual health outcomes among adult men, our results stress the importance of condom education during adolescence and provide evidence for policy changes to ensure condom education is provided in schools.

Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of this session, participants will: 1. identify the goals of comprehensive sexuality education programs in terms of promoting sexual health, including condom use, 2. review barriers to providing comprehensive sexuality education by those who claim it increases sexual activity and risk among adolescents, 3. learn that school-based condom education was strongly associated with a lower likelihood of ever having been diagnosed with a STI, including HIV, 4. discuss the role of public health professionals in advocating for condom education programs in schools.

Keywords: Education, Condom Use

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am conducted the analyses and wrote the subsequent publication from this study.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Innovative Research on Condoms and Sexual Health
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