FAMILY PLANNING PERSPECTIVES/ Volume 32, No. 5, September/October 2000

TABLES

Sexuality Education in Fifth and Sixth Grades
In U.S. Public Schools, 1999

Table 1. Percentage of all public school fifth- and sixth-grade sexuality education teachers who cover specific topics, by grade; and percentage of public school fifth- and sixth-grade sexuality education teachers who think specific topics should be taught by grade five or earlier or by grade six or earlier, 1999
Topic % who cover topic % who say topic should be taught in specified grades
Grades 5/6 Grade 5 Grade 6 <=grade 5 <=grade 6
(N=617) (N=420) (N=296) (N=617) (N=617)
Puberty 92.9 88.9 80.7* 96.5 99.6**
How HIV is transmitted 76.8 65.4 79.8** 70.7 90.5***
STDs 65.6 51.2 73.0*** 56.1 83.8***
Sexual abuse 62.4 53.0 63.0 88.2 95.0**
Abstinence from intercourse 57.3 41.2 67.9*** 47.8 75.4***
How to resist peer pressure to have intercourse 48.7 30.0 63.1*** 42.2 73.4***
Implications of teenage parenthood 45.3 30.1 56.1*** 37.0 67.0***
Dating 45.1 26.7 58.3*** 39.6 74.2***
Nonsexual ways to show affection 41.3 26.4 54.3*** 54.0 77.5***
Birth control methods 12.7 7.1 17.7** 12.5 30.8***
Abortion--factual information 11.5 6.7 16.4** 10.3 29.1***
Sexual orientation/homosexuality 11.2 6.9 14.3* 11.7 30.8***
Abortion--ethical issues 8.3 2.7 14.3*** 8.3 25.9***
Where to go for birth control 3.3 0.7 5.8* 5.2 20.2***
Correct way to use a condom 1.8 0.5 2.9 4.6 19.2***
*p<.05. ** p<.01. ***p<.001. Notes: All Ns are unweighted. For proportions of sexuality education teachers who teach various topics, comparisons are between grade five and grade six. Data for teachers who teach both grades five and six are included in the values for teachers who teach grade five and in the values for teachers who teach grade six. Teachers were asked about their teaching of each topic at each grade. It was therefore possible to identify precisely the grade in which topics were taught.

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Table 2. Percentage of fifth- and sixth-grade sexuality education teachers who cover specific skills and topics, by grade, 1999
Skills and topics Total Teaches grade 5 Teaches grade 6 Teaches both grades
(N=617) (N=305) (N=153) (N=159)
Skills and relationships
How alcohol and drugs affect behavior 76.0 73.0 83.0 72.5
How to stick with a decision, even under pressure 75.1 69.8 82.2 77.8
How to resist peer pressure to have sexual intercourse 48.9 30.6 68.3 67.4
How to recognize and resist media pressure regarding sexual behavior 33.3 21.5 44.3 47.8
How to say no to a boyfriend/girlfriend who wants to have sexual intercourse 30.0 16.8 41.0 49.3
Specific ways to avoid sex 23.8 10.6 36.6 41.0
The importance of both partners agreeing to any sexual behavior 21.9 10.3 34.9 32.7
How to negotiate sexual limits 0.6 0.3 0.2 2.2
Sexuality
Sexuality is a natural and healthy part of life 66.2 59.9 74.2 70.4
Negative consequences of sexual intercourse
for teenagers 46.0 30.1 66.7 55.4
Difference between consensual and forced sexual contact 24.6 12.9 38.1 34.8
STD/HIV
Sexual abstinence as a form of prevention 58.0 40.9 77.7 75.2
Symptoms of STDs/HIV are sometimes hidden, absent or unnoticed 50.6 36.3 66.5 65.7
There are many types of STDs 48.4 31.9 70.7 57.4
Only some STDs are curable 44.2 27.5 66.5 53.8
Signs and symptoms of STDs/HIV 40.6 27.7 56.6 51.0
Sexual monogamy as a form of prevention 29.8 13.8 48.6 44.4
Use of condoms as a form of prevention 27.2 17.7 38.8 34.7
STDs/HIV can be contracted during oral or anal intercourse 15.7 8.0 22.1 27.1
Birth control
Pregnancies should be planned 19.1 10.1 29.4 28.2
The importance of using both a condom and a more effective birth control method to avoid both pregnancy and STDs/HIV 8.5 5.6 11.9 10.4
The importance of using a method correctly and consistently 7.6 3.9 10.7 13.0
How individual birth control methods work 6.4 3.6 8.7 10.0
Notes: All Ns are unweighted. Teachers were asked whether they taught topics and skills, but not whether they taught a given topic or skill in each grade. Presented here are the proportions of teachers teaching these topics and skills according to the grade level they taught (fifth grade, sixth grade or both fifth and sixth grade). Teachers classified as teaching both fifth and sixth grade may actually cover some topics only in fifth grade or only in sixth grade.

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Table 3. Percentage of fifth- and sixth-grade sexuality education teachers who teach personal skills and, among those who do so, percentage who often or sometimes used various teaching approaches, by skill
Skill % who teach skill Class discussion Lecture Audio-visual materials Small-group discussion Role-play/simulation Outside speakers
Total na 95.6 90.5 90.6 48.2 36.0 39.2
How alcohol and drugs affect behavior 76.0 97.3 91.5 88.5 51.8 41.5 42.3
How to stick with a decision, even under pressure 75.1 96.4 92.1 89.0 52.1 42.2 41.9
How to resist peer pressure to have sexual intercourse 48.9 97.5 94.0 92.7 52.9 43.5 38.6
How to recognize and resist media pressure regarding sexual behavior 33.3 99.0 93.3 88.5 56.5 49.3 37.5
How to say no to a boyfriend/girlfriend who wants to have sexual intercourse 30.0 97.1 94.0 94.8 54.0 52.2 39.1
Specific ways to avoid sex 23.8 92.1 96.9 95.0 56.8 51.7 42.9
Notes: We did not ask teachers about their use of teaching approaches for specific skills, but for teaching in sexuality education classes in general. na=not applicable.

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Table 4. Percentage distribution of sexuality education teachers, by level of agreement with statement about support received from school administration, parents and community, according to statement
Statement Agree Neutral Disagree Total
My school administration supports my efforts to meet sexuality education needs of my students. 62.0 27.4 10.6 100.0
Parental attitudes support my efforts to meet sexuality education needs of my students. 46.2 36.6 17.1 100.0
Community attitudes support my efforts to meet sexuality education needs of my students. 38.8 40.3 20.8 100.0
My school administration is nervous about possible adverse community reaction to sexuality education. 25.1 25.9 49.0 100.0
Restrictions imposed on sexuality education prevent me from meeting the needs of my students. 21.0 20.4 58.6 100.0
I have to be careful about what I teach because of possible adverse community reaction. 38.4 29.2 32.4 100.0
Notes: We asked respondents to indicate the degree to which a statement reflected their situation, on a scale from 1-5, where 1="not at all" and 5="a great deal." Answers were grouped as follows: 1-2=disagree; 3=neutral; and 4-5=agree. Unweighted number of respondents ranged from 541 to 548, depending on response to statement.

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Table 5. Percentage of fifth- and sixth-grade sexuality education teachers who report needing assistance in teaching specified topics, by type of assistance needed, according to topic; and percentage and number of sexuality education teachers who answered question
Topic Assistance needed % who answered question N
Any Factual information Teaching materials Teaching strategies
STDs 53.2 30.8 37.8 20.3 65.6 319
HIV/AIDS 52.4 30.4 39.4 22.1 68.3 408
Sexual orientation/homosexuality 50.4 19.8 33.7 32.5 22.3 158
Abortion--ethical issues 49.1 28.9 40.1 30.3 16.2 126
Sexual abuse 48.9 26.1 36.7 29.0 54.9 335
Abortion--factual information 48.0 34.9 32.6 21.9 18.7 138
Skills to resist peer pressure 45.3 15.3 37.1 27.5 65.5 385
Birth control methods 43.5 24.9 31.2 25.7 21.8 161
Sexual abstinence 39.9 19.0 28.6 21.6 48.8 324
Note: Ns are unweighted.

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Table 6. Percentage of fifth- and sixth-grade sexuality education teachers who reported experiencing difficulties in teaching sexuality education topics, by type of difficulty, according to topic; and percentage and number of sexuality education teachers who answered question
Topic Difficulty experienced % who answered question N
Any Insufficient information Personal reasons Pressure (actual/potential)
How to use condoms 64.4 9.0 19.9 40.8 20.0 145
Abortion as one of several options for pregnant teenagers 62.3 13.8 20.8 35.5 19.0 134
Sexual orientation/homosexuality 48.5 10.4 12.1 31.7 25.9 173
Birth control methods 44.1 7.5 8.0 31.1 28.5 192
STDs 20.0 12.7 8.4 8.2 54.9 345
Sexual decision-making 18.7 5.7 2.6 11.1 48.0 303
Sexual abuse 14.7 6.7 1.8 6.6 57.1 330
Abstinence from intercourse 12.9 3.6 0.9 8.4 54.9 348
Note: Ns are unweighted.

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