31st Annual Student Research Conference
Sexual Health Education and Perception of Self, Society, and Sex
Alex L. Frogge* and Patricia N. Flanagan
Dr. Yuna L. Ferguson, Faculty Mentor
This project explores associations between type of sexual health education received and participants’ views on self, society, and sex. 150 Truman State University students (72% female, 19% male, 9% did not report) completed a survey containing questions measuring what they learned in their sexual health education and the activities involved in their sexual health education in order to categorize them into "abstinence-focused" or "non-abstinence-focused". The survey also included the Sexual Consent Scale (Humphreys & Brousseau, 2010), the Heteronormative Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (Habarth, 2015), the Multidimensional Measure of Comfort with Sexuality (Tromovitch, 2013), the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (Glick and Fiske, 1996), the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1989), and questions about participants’ attitude toward their genitals. Data analysis, including ANCOVA to examine differences between abstinence-focused and non-abstinence-focused sex education, is in its initial stages. This research can inform educators’ and governmental officials’ efforts to improve sex education.
Keywords: Sexual Health Education, Sex ed, Abstinence, Consent, Sexual Health, Psychology, Sexuality, Education
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 7-6
Location: GEO - SUB
Time: 3:30