Parental opinion of school sexuality education in a diverse population

The purpose of this study was to expand upon previous research related to parental opinion of school sexuality education by using a diverse population that has been underrepresented in the literature. One hundred and ninety-one parents attending an urban, community college were surveyed about what topics schools should teach their children about sexuality education. The majority of sex education topics were supported by 80% of parents. There was a significant negative correlation between attendance at religious services and support for school sex education (r = -.20). There was no correlation between support for school sex education and race/ethnicity, country of origin, or religion. Interestingly, the items related to contraceptive use were not statistically different in terms of parental support. In addition, the majority of respondents felt that the main message of school sex education should be “teaching that young people should wait to have sex, but if they don't, they should use birth control and practice safe sex” (86.4%), rather than “teaching abstinence until marriage” (12%). These findings were counter-intuitive because the sample population was of diverse ethnicity, and the majority had emigrated from countries considered socially conservative. Thus, the sample population was more supportive of comprehensive sexuality education than hypothesized, the results being unexpectedly consistent with national and state-wide surveys.