Sex education and knowledge of pregnancy risk among U.S. teenage women
Zelnik, M.
Family Planning Perspectives 11(6): 355-357
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0014-7354 PMID: 401081 DOI: 10.2307/2134219Document Number: 444127
Some information on sex education that is based on data from the 1976 National Survey of Young women is presented. Each survey respondent was questioned as to whether she had ever had formal school instruction in sex education. If the respondent answered negatively, she was asked if she had taken such a course elsewhere. 7 in 10 never-married U.S. women aged 15-19 have had a sex education course, almost all of them in school. Young black women are slightly more likely than whites to have had such instruction. About 1/2 of all never-married teen-agers have had courses which included some teaching about modern contraceptive methods; 6 in 10 have had some formal instruction about venereal disease; 7 in 10 have had courses that included detailed instruction about the monthly menstrual cycle. Although 6 in 10 of those who have had a course with information on the menstrual cycle claim to know the period of greatest pregnancy risk, only 1/3 of those who have had a course can correctly identify the time when the risk of pregnancy is highest. Young white women are nearly twice as likely than blacks to identify the period of risk correctly. Among those claiming to know the period of greatest risk, a sex education course is the most common source of information for both blacks and whites with home a distant 2nd. Medical personnel and facilities are the 1st source of information for only a fraction of teen-agers. Whites who 1st learn about pregnancy risk at home, or in a sex education course after initially getting the information elsewhere, are more consistently able to identify the period of risk than teen-agers who 1st learn about it in a classroom. A sex education course is the most effective source of accurate information for the black teen-ager.