Sexuality education: our current status, and an agenda for 2010.

Abstract

Three articles are presented that record changes in American public schools sexuality education during the last decade of the 20th century. These articles include "Adolescent Views," which reports major shifts in the prevalence and content of school-based reproductive health education over 1988-95. Instruction is focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, contraceptive education, how to say no to sex, and condoms. In "Changing Emphases," teachers of grades 7-12 testify to a marked shift from a more balanced treatment of abstinence and protection in 1988 to a heavier reliance on abstinence in 1999. The last article, "Grades 5-6," shows that sexuality education is much less common at these grade levels than in grades 7-12. Where programs exist, they mainly cover such topics as puberty, HIV/AIDS, sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual abuse, and abstinence, while the discussion of contraceptive methods is relatively rare. Views presented in these articles will help formulate research and advocacy agendas for 2010.