The Psychological and Social Effects of Sexual Education on Adolescents Essays

The Psychological and Social Effects of Sexual Education on Adolescents Essays The Psychological and Social Effects of Sexual Education on Adolescents Essay The Psychological and Social Effects of Sexual Education on Adolescents Essay The Psychological and Social Effects of Sexual Education on Adolescents Two drastic Emergency Room cases were handled in 1998 at Mary Washington Hospital. Concerned mothers brought their 12 year old daughters into the hospital thinking they were suffering from severe stomach pain or even appendicitis†¦both girls were actually in labor (Abstinence, 2002). The United States has the highest teen pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates in the Western world (Planned Parenthood, 2003). Are teens getting enough knowledge on sex and how to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies? Another heartbreaking statistic is that teenagers have the highest rate of STDs of any age group, with one in four young people contracting an STD by the age of 21 (Sex-Ed Work, 2003). Is sex education really working in school? Or do we need to change the type of curricula that is taught? There is no question that sex education should be taught in schools, but the question is how? The Importance of Sex Education Children and young adults today distinguish right from wrong based on their previous knowledge. The education they receive plays a major role in the way they make decisions. Sex is a controversial topic brought up frequently throughout a childs life. Based on the way it is taught, the child makes decisions that may forever change his or her life. (Sex Education That 3) Although it is often opposed, the two most essential ways children learn about sex today is the education they receive at home and at school. The relationship and behavior between children and their parents is crucial to the ways these children shape their own sexual ideas and values A child who perceives his relationship to his parents as supportive and close, is more likely to sexually behave in a way approved by his or her parents than a child brought up in an unhealthy environment. The state of teenage sexuality in America right now is a dismal thought. Young people lack the most basic information, like how to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Sex education in public schools has been a controversial issue in the United States for over a decade. With the HIV and teen pregnancy crises growing, sex education is needed. What do the American people as a whole want their youth to be taught about sex? That is the ongoing question that not only state and federal governments are asking, but also local school districts, churches, and parents of all aged children. In the early twentieth century, disputes focused on whether or not to teach sexuality education at all; while currently it has shifted to which method is more successful in the school curriculum. Sexuality education does not just solely include the education of the sexual act itself and the diseases associated with it, but also the way us as humans feel we are as people; how we dress, talk, move, and the way we feel towards others (Families). Sex education and sexuality education are two separate things. Sex education is a learning opportunity that helps individuals understand and prepare for intimacy in their adult lives (Baer). Whereas, sexuality education is the field of study that examines the relationship skills and knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, and the values that promote healthy relations. We live in a time of heightened sexual activity. The United States has suffered a great increase in sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy. One out of every ten teenage girls in the United States between the ages of 15-19 become pregnant. As a result, five of every six pregnancies are unintended. Ninety-two percent of all these â€Å"unintended† pregnancies are conceived premarital. There is such a high rate of teenage pregnancy because of two main things: one, teenagers believe that conception is rare and two, they never anticipated intercourse to occur, therefore they never use any type of contraceptives. Research has shown that only one in every three teenagers use contraceptives. These are only a few examples that support the need for sexual education to be taught to young people as early as elementary school through high school. While we have learned a good deal about effective sexuality and HIV education, we can do much better. Several areas of research suggest that it is time to develop and test a â€Å"social studies† approach to sex and HIV education one that starts earlier and fosters critical thinking skills, gender equality, and human rights. Such an effort may have important lessons for improved sexual and reproductive health outcomes and contribute to other aspects of young people’s preparation for active, informed participation in civil society. As with other complex issues, many parents may need support, resources, and expertise from schools and other organizations. It is important that young people receive age-appropriate sexual health information and develop practical skills for keeping healthy. Educators can help families by providing culturally meaningful learning opportunities in safe and nonjudgmental environments so that young people can learn about sexuality in a healthy and positive context. We are all sexual. Sexuality is an integral part of each person’s identity. Learning about our sexuality and achieving sexual health and well-being are lifelong processes that begin at birth and continue throughout our lives. Although parents and guardians are the primary sexuality educators of their children, children also receive messages about sexuality from many other sources. Some of them may have more negative than positive impact. Schools and other community-based organizations can be important partners with parents to provide young people accurate and developmentally appropriate sexuality education. The goals of comprehensive sexuality education are to help young people gain a positive view of sexuality and to provide them with developmentally appropriate knowledge and skills so that they can make healthy decisions about their sex lives now and in the future. Medically accurate sexuality education is an investment in our children’s future - their well-being. Our â€Å"return on investment† could be a generation of young people who have heard more helpful messages about sexuality than the provocative media images and/or silences they currently witness. It could be a generation of women and men comfortable in their own skin; able to make well-informed, responsible decisions; form healthy relationships; and take care of their bodies. Research has identified highly effective sex education nd HIV prevention programs that affect multiple behaviors and/or achieve positive health impacts. Behavioral outcomes have included delaying the initiation of sex as well as reducing the frequency of sex, the number of new partners, and the incidence of unprotected sex, and/or increasing the use of condoms and contraception among sexually active participants. Experts have identified critical characteristics of highly effective sex education an d HIV/STI prevention education programs. Such programs: offer age- and culturally appropriate sexual health information in a safe environment for participants; Are developed in cooperation with members of the target community, especially young people; Assist youth to clarify their individual, family, and community values; assist youth to develop skills in communication, refusal, and negotiation; provide medically accurate information about both abstinence and also contraception, including condoms; have clear goals for preventing HIV, other STIs, and/or teen pregnancy; focus on specific health behaviors related to the goals, with clear messages about these behaviors; address psychosocial risk and protective factors with activities to change each targeted risk and to promote each protective factor. The finding suggests that adults should give teens guidance in coping with both the negative outcomes of engaging in sexual behaviors, and the negative experiences of refraining from them, the researchers say. The study, reported i n the January 2008 issue of the â€Å"American Journal of Public Health,† studied teens from the fall of their ninth-grade year through the spring of their tenth-grade year. Among teens who remained sexually inexperienced during the study, the percentage reporting only positive experiences from refraining from sex fell from 46 percent to 24 percent. Among teens who were sexually experienced at the outset of the study, the percentage reporting only positive experiences from refraining fell from 37 percent to 8 percent. The greatest change in attitudes was among teens who became sexually experienced during the study period. For those teens, the percentage who said that not having sex resulted in only positive experiences dropped from 40 percent to 6 percent. A comparison between the groups was also illuminating. Those adolescents who were sexually experienced from the outset were more likely than those who remained sexually inexperienced to value refraining from sex (odds ratio 3. 1 to 1. 6). When we encourage teens to abstain from sex or delay becoming sexually active, we frequently over-focus on the health risks, such as unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections,† said senior study author Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, PhD, a professor of pediatrics in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at UCSF. â€Å"Young teens are aware of the health risks, but this study shows that teens are assessing how they feel about refraining from sexual behaviors based upon how having sex makes them feel – and those feelings become increasingly influential over time,† Halpern-Felsher said. While research has examined how teens feel about becoming sexually active, the current study is the first to examine how teens feel when they don’t have sex, according to Sonya Brady, PhD, lead study author and a former UCSF post-doctoral fellow. The study examined the attitudes of approximately 600 Northern California high school students. Study participants were divided into three categories: those who were sexually experienced at the outset of the study, in the fall quarter of the ninth grade; those who had become sexually experienced by the end of the spring quarter of the tenth grade; and those who remained sexually inexperienced throughout the ninth and tenth grades. The study data was collected between 2002 and 2004 from a racially and ethnically diverse group of high schoolers who were mostly 14 years old at the start of the study. Fifty eight percent of the teens were female. Forty percent were Caucasian, 22 percent were Asian and 17 percent were Hispanic, with the remainder being of other racial groups. In the study, researchers asked participants to fill out survey questionnaires that asked about the positive and negative consequences of refraining from sexual activity. Sexual activity was defined as having either oral or vaginal sexual relations. Positive consequences of not having sex included ‘having a good reputation,’ ‘friends were proud,’ and ‘felt responsible. ’ Negative consequences included ‘partner became angry,’ ‘felt regret,’ ‘felt left out’ and ‘felt like you let your partner down’. The participants were surveyed every six months. Those who were sexually experienced were more likely that the other groups to value refraining from sex. By the spring of the tenth grade, these teens were twice as likely to report a positive outcome from not having sex, when compared with adolescents who became sexually experienced during the course of the study. Although more research is needed to understand why that might be the case, say Brady and Halpern-Felsher, they say that sexually experienced teens may reflect upon their past experiences and come to value selectivity about sexual partners or appropriate occasions for engaging in sex. â€Å"Refraining from sexual behavior should feel rewarding, and engaging in sexual behavior should be based on maturity and readiness,† Brady said. We often focus on abstinence in sex education programs. It may be that, when we do this exclusively, we’re not meeting the needs of those adolescents who choose to be sexually active, and may be failing to give them the tools to sele ct the most caring partners for them, the right occasions for engaging in sex, and the best strategies for engaging in safer sexual behavior,† she said. The study was conducted by the Halpern-Felsher Lab in the Division of Adolescent Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at UCSF Children’s Hospital, when Brady was a post-doctoral fellow. She is now an assistant professor of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.