What People are Learning

This study looks at what young people are learning in the classroom and how this has changed over the years.

Changes in Formal Sex Education: 1995–2002

Source: L. D. Lindberg, et. al., LD, “Changes in formal sex education: 1995–2002,” Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 38(4) (2006): 182-189.

Description: The researchers used data from the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males, the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), and the 2002 NSFG, to examine changes in male and female adolescents’ reports of the sex education they have received from formal sources.

Key Findings:

The researchers found that nationally, in 2002 a lower proportion of teenagers received formal education about birth control methods than in 1995 (for males, the proportion declined from 81% to 66%; for females, the proportion declined from 87% to 70%).
They concluded that the “shift away from teaching teenagers about birth control methods as part of their formal instruction has occurred without firm evidence documenting the positive effects of abstinence only instruction.”

To View this Resource: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3818206.html