Original article
Parent Opinion of Sexuality Education in a State with Mandated Abstinence Education: Does Policy Match Parental Preference?

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Abstract

Purpose

Despite public debate about the content of sexuality education in schools, state and federal policy has increasingly financed and legislated abstinence-only education over the past decade. Although public schools strive to meet the needs of parents who, as taxpayers, fund the educational system, little is known about parental desires regarding sexuality education in states with mandated abstinence education. The objective of this study was to assess parental opinion about sexuality education in public schools in North Carolina, a state with mandated abstinence education.

Methods

Computer-assisted, anonymous, cross-sectional telephone surveys were conducted among 1306 parents of North Carolina public school students in grades K–12. Parental support for sexuality education in public schools and 20 sexuality education topics was measured. We defined comprehensive sexuality education as education that includes a discussion of how to use and talk about contraception with partners.

Results

Parents in North Carolina overwhelmingly support sexuality education in public schools (91%). Of these respondents, the majority (89%) support comprehensive sexuality education. Less than a quarter of parents oppose teaching any specific topic, including those typically viewed as more controversial, such as discussions about sexual orientation, oral sex, and anal sex. Parents’ level of education was inversely related to support for specific sexuality education topics and comprehensive education, although these differences were small in magnitude. More than 90% of respondents felt that parents and public health professionals should determine sexuality education content and opposed the involvement of politicians.

Conclusions

Current state-mandated abstinence sexuality education does not match parental preference for comprehensive sexuality education in North Carolina public schools.

Section snippets

Sample

A listed household frame with a targeted sample known to have parents of school-age children was purchased from GENESYS Sampling Systems (Fort Washington, PA). We conducted an anonymous telephone survey in October 2003 using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey data collection protocol [20]. Although we used BRFSS protocol, the study was conducted separately from the North Carolina BRFSS. Four thousand telephone numbers were called. Contacted individuals were eligible

Respondent characteristics

We completed 1306 interviews (60% response rate using the BRFSS CASRO response rate calculation) [21]. Of the 4000 telephone numbers, 1437 were ineligible (no eligible respondent, nonprivate residence, nonworking number, or fax/modem line), 873 had unknown eligibility (no answer, busy, hung up before determining eligibility, telephone answering device, changed phone number, or inability to communicate), 384 were eligible but did not complete the interview (refused, hung up after determining

Discussion

Parents of public school children in North Carolina overwhelmingly support sexuality education in public schools and feel it should start in elementary or middle school with a significant amount of classroom time devoted to its teaching. The majority of parents support comprehensive education, defined as including a discussion of how to use and discuss contraception with partners. The majority also support topics traditionally viewed as more controversial, including discussions of sexual

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (Grant #T32 HP14001-18), the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program (Grant #047948), and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Branch. We would like to thank the Department of Public Instruction for their contribution to study implementation, Mark Holmes, Ph.D., for his statistical and sampling consultation, and Thomas R. Konrad, Ph.D., and Joanne M.

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    Copyright © 2006 Society for Adolescent Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.