Survey reveals Americans disagree with Bush's abstinence-only sex education programs

Nov 7 2006

A new survey in the United States has revealed that the majority of American adults, regardless of their political affiliation, support a more balanced approach to sex education in schools.

According to the results of the Annenberg National Health Communication Survey carried out between July 2005 and January 2006, Americans want their children taught both abstinence and other methods of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The researchers from Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, say the findings suggest there is not broad public support for the U.S. government's abstinence-only programs and they want comprehensive sex education for their children.

According to the researchers 25 percent of American youth have sex by age 15, 37.5 percent by age 16 and 46.9 percent by age 17.

Young adults age 15 to 24 account for one-fourth of all sexually active individuals and they acquire about half of the new sexually transmitted disease (STD) infections--a total of 9 million infections, at a cost of $6.5 billion annually.

The researchers say the data underscores the relevance of informative sex education in middle and high schools in order to promote safe behaviours and prevent additional infections and unintended pregnancies.

Amy Bleakley, Ph.D., M.P.H., and colleagues analyzed data from 1,096 adults surveyed who were asked about their support for three different types of sex education: abstinence-only, comprehensive and comprehensive that includes condom instruction.

Participants also provided their political ideology on a seven-point scale from "extremely liberal" to "extremely conservative" as well as information about how often they attended religious services.

Overall, 80.4 percent of participants said they believed comprehensive programs were an effective way to prevent unplanned pregnancies, compared with 39 percent who said they believed abstinence-only programs were effective.

Eighty-two percent of participants said they supported comprehensive sex education programs and 10 percent opposed them; 68.5 percent supported and 21 percent opposed condom instruction; and 36 percent supported and 50 percent opposed abstinence-only programs.

The researchers then broke down results by political affiliation and religious behaviour and found the following:

• 91.6 percent of liberals, 86.4 percent of moderates and 70 percent of conservatives supported comprehensive programs, while 19 percent of conservatives, 5.3 percent of moderates and 3.7 percent of liberals opposed them

• 47 percent of conservatives supported abstinence-only education, while 67 percent of liberals, 50.4 percent of moderates and 39.9 percent of conservatives opposed it

• 37.5 percent of conservatives, 13.4 percent of moderates and 9.1 percent of liberals opposed condom instruction, while 51.2 percent of conservatives supported it; among all respondents, 57 percent disagreed that condom instruction encourages teens to have sex

• 87.4 percent of those who never attend religious services support comprehensive programs

The researchers say the research review and study results show the federal government's support of abstinence-only education is in contrast to the broad public and scientific support for comprehensive sex education.

They say the discrepancy in the realm of sex education highlights a gap between science and policy and while sex education in schools is clearly a politically charged issue, public opinion in this instance offers an opportunity to diffuse some of the inherent tension between science and policymaking.

They also say the high support for comprehensive sex education among the public from liberals, conservatives and moderates alike, should encourage political leaders to enact public policy that is supported by both sound scientific evidence as well as public opinion.

The results are published in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.