Abstract
The purpose of this research is to examine the attitudes of undergraduate students at a California State University regarding their experiences with sex education in the K-12 school setting. Parents and school administrators are polled regularly to find out what they think should be in sex education curriculum (Constantine, Jerman, & Huang, 2007; Eisenberg, Madsen, Oliphant, & Resnick, 2012; Greenblatt, 2008; Kantor & Levitz, 2017; McKee, Ragsdale, & Southward, 2014; Turnbull, van Schaik, & van Wersch, 2010), but adolescents and young adults are rarely asked what they want from their sex education (Forrest et al., 2004). There is a significant gap in academic literature that asks young adults to first reflect on their experience of receiving sex education, but even fewer studies have then asked those same young adults what they think should be taught (Walcott, Chenneville, & Tarquini, 2011). In addition to this, virtually no research exists that views those answers through the lens of gender to find out if there is a disproportion in the topics taught to, or preferred by, males or females. This research could potentially add to the ongoing conversation about how instructors teach sex education, and what is included in that instruction. It is the hope of the researcher that the outcome of this research will positively impact the breadth of knowledge that young people receive in their sex education curriculum. The research study was designed using a quantitative approach by gathering data through online surveys. The survey questions examined students’ previous experiences of their own sex education, their attitudes about those experiences, and their current attitudes about sex education. Because the research questions ask students to explore their current attitudes about sex education curriculum, this cross-sectional survey design enabled the researcher to measure the current beliefs and attitudes of the students surveyed (Creswell, 2012). Surveys were sent to students enrolled in specific classes within the College of Education at a California State University. Survey topics included basic demographic information, when/if participants were taught sex education, what topics they received instruction on, and what topics they would recommend be included in future curriculums. Through frequencies and crosstabulations, the researcher was able to compare specific data sets and responses based on participants’ gender and experience with sex education curriculum. Conclusions Reached Overall results of this study revealed that there is very little relationship between the type of sex education students received when they were an adolescent, and what kind of instruction they support and recommend as adults. The ratio of participants that received abstinence curricula and recommend it was not positively consistent, nor was the relationship between learning and recommending comprehensive sex education, since most participants recommended comprehensive education regardless of what they received growing up.