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Article Contents

Introduction, purpose of the study, literature search and selection criteria, coding of the studies for exploration of moderators, decisions related to the computation of effect sizes.

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The effectiveness of school-based sex education programs in the promotion of abstinent behavior: a meta-analysis

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Mónica Silva, The effectiveness of school-based sex education programs in the promotion of abstinent behavior: a meta-analysis, Health Education Research , Volume 17, Issue 4, August 2002, Pages 471–481, https://doi.org/10.1093/her/17.4.471

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This review presents the findings from controlled school-based sex education interventions published in the last 15 years in the US. The effects of the interventions in promoting abstinent behavior reported in 12 controlled studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results of the analysis indicated a very small overall effect of the interventions in abstinent behavior. Moderator analysis could only be pursued partially because of limited information in primary research studies. Parental participation in the program, age of the participants, virgin-status of the sample, grade level, percentage of females, scope of the implementation and year of publication of the study were associated with variations in effect sizes for abstinent behavior in univariate tests. However, only parental participation and percentage of females were significant in the weighted least-squares regression analysis. The richness of a meta-analytic approach appears limited by the quality of the primary research. Unfortunately, most of the research does not employ designs to provide conclusive evidence of program effects. Suggestions to address this limitation are provided.

Sexually active teenagers are a matter of serious concern. In the past decades many school-based programs have been designed for the sole purpose of delaying the initiation of sexual activity. There seems to be a growing consensus that schools can play an important role in providing youth with a knowledge base which may allow them to make informed decisions and help them shape a healthy lifestyle ( St Leger, 1999 ). The school is the only institution in regular contact with a sizable proportion of the teenage population ( Zabin and Hirsch, 1988 ), with virtually all youth attending it before they initiate sexual risk-taking behavior ( Kirby and Coyle, 1997 ).

Programs that promote abstinence have become particularly popular with school systems in the US ( Gilbert and Sawyer, 1994 ) and even with the federal government ( Sexual abstinence program has a $250 million price tag, 1997 ). These are referred to in the literature as abstinence-only or value-based programs ( Repucci and Herman, 1991 ). Other programs—designated in the literature as safer-sex, comprehensive, secular or abstinence-plus programs—additionally espouse the goal of increasing usage of effective contraception. Although abstinence-only and safer-sex programs differ in their underlying values and assumptions regarding the aims of sex education, both types of programs strive to foster decision-making and problem-solving skills in the belief that through adequate instruction adolescents will be better equipped to act responsibly in the heat of the moment ( Repucci and Herman, 1991 ). Nowadays most safer-sex programs encourage abstinence as a healthy lifestyle and many abstinence only programs have evolved into `abstinence-oriented' curricula that also include some information on contraception. For most programs currently implemented in the US, a delay in the initiation of sexual activity constitutes a positive and desirable outcome, since the likelihood of responsible sexual behavior increases with age ( Howard and Mitchell, 1993 ).

Even though abstinence is a valued outcome of school-based sex education programs, the effectiveness of such interventions in promoting abstinent behavior is still far from settled. Most of the articles published on the effectiveness of sex education programs follow the literary format of traditional narrative reviews ( Quinn, 1986 ; Kirby, 1989 , 1992 ; Visser and van Bilsen, 1994 ; Jacobs and Wolf, 1995 ; Kirby and Coyle, 1997 ). Two exceptions are the quantitative overviews by Frost and Forrest ( Frost and Forrest, 1995 ) and Franklin et al . ( Franklin et al ., 1997 ).

In the first review ( Frost and Forrest, 1995 ), the authors selected only five rigorously evaluated sex education programs and estimated their impact on delaying sexual initiation. They used non-standardized measures of effect sizes, calculated descriptive statistics to represent the overall effect of these programs and concluded that those selected programs delayed the initiation of sexual activity. In the second review, Franklin et al . conducted a meta-analysis of the published research of community-based and school-based adolescent pregnancy prevention programs and contrary to the conclusions forwarded by Frost and Forrest, these authors reported a non-significant effect of the programs on sexual activity ( Franklin et al ., 1997 ).

The discrepancy between these two quantitative reviews may result from the decision by Franklin et al . to include weak designs, which do not allow for reasonable causal inferences. However, given that recent evidence indicates that weaker designs yield higher estimates of intervention effects ( Guyatt et al ., 2000 ), the inclusion of weak designs should have translated into higher effects for the Franklin et al . review and not smaller. Given the discrepant results forwarded in these two recent quantitative reviews, there is a need to clarify the extent of the impact of school-based sex education in abstinent behavior and explore the specific features of the interventions that are associated to variability in effect sizes.

The present study consisted of a meta-analytic review of the research literature on the effectiveness of school-based sex education programs in the promotion of abstinent behavior implemented in the past 15 years in the US in the wake of the AIDS epidemic. The goals were to: (1) synthesize the effects of controlled school-based sex education interventions on abstinent behavior, (2) examine the variability in effects among studies and (3) explain the variability in effects between studies in terms of selected moderator variables.

The first step was to locate as many studies conducted in the US as possible that dealt with the evaluation of sex education programs and which measured abstinent behavior subsequent to an intervention.

The primary sources for locating studies were four reference database systems: ERIC, PsychLIT, MEDLINE and the Social Science Citation Index. Branching from the bibliographies and reference lists in articles located through the original search provided another source for locating studies.

The process for the selection of studies was guided by four criteria, some of which have been employed by other authors as a way to orient and confine the search to the relevant literature ( Kirby et al ., 1994 ). The criteria to define eligibility of studies were the following.

Interventions had to be geared to normal adolescent populations attending public or private schools in the US and report on some measure of abstinent behavior: delay in the onset of intercourse, reduction in the frequency of intercourse or reduction in the number of sexual partners. Studies that reported on interventions designed for cognitively handicapped, delinquent, school dropouts, emotionally disturbed or institutionalized adolescents were excluded from the present review since they address a different population with different needs and characteristics. Community interventions which recruited participants from clinical or out-of-school populations were also eliminated for the same reasons.

Studies had to be either experimental or quasi-experimental in nature, excluding three designs that do not permit strong tests of causal hypothesis: the one group post-test-only design, the post-test-only design with non-equivalent groups and the one group pre-test–post-test design ( Cook and Campbell, 1979 ). The presence of an independent and comparable `no intervention' control group—in demographic variables and measures of sexual activity in the baseline—was required for a study to be included in this review.

Studies had to be published between January 1985 and July 2000. A time period restriction was imposed because of cultural changes that occur in society—such as the AIDS epidemic—which might significantly impact the adolescent cohort and alter patterns of behavior and consequently the effects of sex education interventions.

Five pairs of publications were detected which may have used the same database (or two databases which were likely to contain non-independent cases) ( Levy et al ., 1995 / Weeks et al ., 1995 ; Barth et al ., 1992 / Kirby et al ., 1991 /Christoper and Roosa, 1990/ Roosa and Christopher, 1990 and Jorgensen, 1991 / Jorgensen et al ., 1993 ). Only one effect size from each pair of articles was included to avoid the possibility of data dependence.

The exploration of study characteristics or features that may be related to variations in the magnitude of effect sizes across studies is referred to as moderator analysis. A moderator variable is one that informs about the circumstances under which the magnitude of effect sizes vary ( Miller and Pollock, 1994 ). The information retrieved from the articles for its potential inclusion as moderators in the data analysis was categorized in two domains: demographic characteristics of the participants in the sex education interventions and characteristics of the program.

Demographic characteristics included the following variables: the percentages of females, the percentage of whites, the virginity status of participants, mean (or median) age and a categorization of the predominant socioeconomic status of participating subjects (low or middle class) as reported by the authors of the primary study.

In terms of the characteristics of the programs, the features coded were: the type of program (whether the intervention was comprehensive/safer-sex or abstinence-oriented), the type of monitor who delivered the intervention (teacher/adult monitor or peer), the length of the program in hours, the scope of the implementation (large-scale versus small-scale trial), the time elapsed between the intervention and the post-intervention outcome measure (expressed as number of days), and whether parental participation (beyond consent) was a component of the intervention.

The type of sex education intervention was defined as abstinence-oriented if the explicit aim was to encourage abstinence as the primary method of protection against sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, either totally excluding units on contraceptive methods or, if including contraception, portraying it as a less effective method than abstinence. An intervention was defined as comprehensive or safer-sex if it included a strong component on the benefits of use of contraceptives as a legitimate alternative method to abstinence for avoiding pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

A study was considered to be a large-scale trial if the intervention group consisted of more than 500 students.

Finally, year of publication was also analyzed to assess whether changes in the effectiveness of programs across time had occurred.

The decision to record information on all the above-mentioned variables for their potential role as moderators of effect sizes was based in part on theoretical considerations and in part on the empirical evidence of the relevance of such variables in explaining the effectiveness of educational interventions. A limitation to the coding of these and of other potentially relevant and interesting moderator variables was the scantiness of information provided by the authors of primary research. Not all studies described the features of interest for this meta-analysis. For parental participation, no missing values were present because a decision was made to code all interventions which did not specifically report that parents had participated—either through parent–youth sessions or homework assignments—as non-participation. However, for the rest of the variables, no similar assumptions seemed appropriate, and therefore if no pertinent data were reported for a given variable, it was coded as missing (see Table I ).

Once the pool of studies which met the inclusion criteria was located, studies were examined in an attempt to retrieve the size of the effect associated with each intervention. Since most of the studies did not report any effect size, it had to be estimated based on the significance level and inferential statistics with formulae provided by Rosenthal ( Rosenthal, 1991 ) and Holmes ( Holmes; 1984 ). When provided, the exact value for the test statistic or the exact probability was used in the calculation of the effect size.

Alternative methods to deal with non-independent effect sizes were not employed since these are more complex and require estimates of the covariance structure among the correlated effect sizes. According to Matt and Cook such estimates may be difficult—if not impossible—to obtain due to missing information in primary studies ( Matt and Cook, 1994 ).

Analyses of the effect sizes were conducted utilizing the D-STAT software ( Johnson, 1989 ). The sample sizes used for the overall effect size analysis corresponded to the actual number used to estimate the effects of interest, which was often less than the total sample of the study. Occasionally the actual sample sizes were not provided by the authors of primary research, but could be estimated from the degrees of freedom reported for the statistical tests.

The effect sizes were calculated from means and pooled standard deviations, t -tests, χ 2 , significance levels or from proportions, depending on the nature of the information reported by the authors of primary research. As recommended by Rosenthal, if results were reported simply as being `non-significant' a conservative estimate of the effect size was included, assuming P = 0.50, which corresponds to an effect size of zero ( Rosenthal, 1991 ). The overall measure of effect size reported was the corrected d statistic ( Hedges and Olkin, 1985 ). These authors recommend this measure since it does not overestimate the population effect size, especially in the case when sample sizes are small.

The homogeneity of effect sizes was examined to determine whether the studies shared a common effect size. Testing for homogeneity required the calculation of a homogeneity statistic, Q . If all studies share the same population effect size, Q follows an asymptotic χ 2 distribution with k – 1 degrees of freedom, where k is the number of effect sizes. For the purposes of this review the probability level chosen for significance testing was 0.10, due to the fact that the relatively small number of effect sizes available for the analysis limits the power to detect actual departures from homogeneity. Rejection of the hypothesis of homogeneity signals that the group of effect sizes is more variable than one would expect based on sampling variation and that one or more moderator variables may be present ( Hall et al ., 1994 ).

To examine the relationship between the study characteristics included as potential moderators and the magnitude of effect sizes, both categorical and continuous univariate tests were run. Categorical tests assess differences in effect sizes between subgroups established by dividing studies into classes based on study characteristics. Hedges and Olkin presented an extension of the Q statistic to test for homogeneity of effect sizes between classes ( Q B ) and within classes ( Q W ) ( Hedges and Olkin, 1985 ). The relationship between the effect sizes and continuous predictors was assessed using a procedure described by Rosenthal and Rubin which tests for linearity between effect sizes and predictors ( Rosenthal and Rubin, 1982 ).

Q E provides the test for model specification, when the number of studies is larger than the number of predictors. Under those conditions, Q E follows an approximate χ 2 distribution with k – p – 1 degrees of freedom, where k is the number of effect sizes and p is the number of regressors ( Hedges and Olkin, 1985 ).

The search for school-based sex education interventions resulted in 12 research studies that complied with the criteria to be included in the review and for which effect sizes could be estimated.

The overall effect size ( d +) estimated from these studies was 0.05 and the 95% confidence interval about the mean included a lower bound of 0.01 to a high bound of 0.09, indicating a very minimal overall effect size. Table II presents the effect size of each study ( d i ) along with its 95% confidence interval and the overall estimate of the effect size. Homogeneity testing indicated the presence of variability among effect sizes ( Q (11) = 35.56; P = 0.000).

An assessment of interaction effects among significant moderators could not be explored since it would have required partitioning of the studies according to a first variable and testing of the second within the partitioned categories. The limited number of effect sizes precluded such analysis.

Parental participation appeared to moderate the effects of sex education on abstinence as indicated by the significant Q test between groups ( Q B(1) = 5.06; P = 0.025), as shown in Table III . Although small in magnitude ( d = 0.24), the point estimate for the mean weighted effect size associated with programs with parental participation appears substantially larger than the mean associated with those where parents did not participate ( d = 0.04). The confidence interval for parent participation does not include zero, thus indicating a small but positive effect. Controlling for parental participation appears to translate into homogeneous classes of effect sizes for programs that include parents, but not for those where parents did not participate ( Q W(9) = 28.94; P = 0.001) meaning that the effect sizes were not homogeneous within this class.

Virginity status of the sample was also a significant predictor of the variability among effect sizes ( Q B(1) = 3.47 ; P = 0.06). The average effect size calculated for virgins-only was larger than the one calculated for virgins and non-virgins ( d = 0.09 and d = 0.01, respectively). Controlling for virginity status translated into homogeneous classes for virgins and non-virgins although not for the virgins-only class ( Q W(5) = 27.09; P = 0.000).

The scope of the implementation also appeared to moderate the effects of the interventions on abstinent behavior. The average effect size calculated for small-scale intervention was significantly higher than that for large-scale interventions ( d = 0.26 and d = 0.01, respectively). The effects corresponding to the large-scale category were homogeneous but this was not the case for the small-scale class, where heterogeneity was detected ( Q W(4) = 14.71; P = 0.01)

For all three significant categorical predictors, deletion of one outlier ( Howard and McCabe, 1990 ) resulted in homogeneity among the effect sizes within classes.

Univariate tests of continuous predictors showed significant results in the case of percentage of females in the sample ( z = 2.11; P = 0.04), age of participants ( z = –1.67; P = 0.09), grade ( z = –1.80; P = 0.07) and year of publication ( z = –2.76; P = 0.006).

All significant predictors in the univariate analysis—with the exception of grade which had a very high correlation with age ( r = 0.97; P = 0.000)—were entered into a weighted least-squares regression analysis. In general, the remaining set of predictors had a moderate degree of intercorrelation, although none of the coefficients were statistically significant.

In the weighted least-squares regression analysis, only parental participation and the percentage of females in the study were significant. The two-predictor model explained 28% of the variance in effect sizes. The test of model specification yielded a significant Q E statistic suggesting that the two-predictor model cannot be regarded as correctly specified (see Table IV ).

This review synthesized the findings from controlled sex education interventions reporting on abstinent behavior. The overall mean effect size for abstinent behavior was very small, close to zero. No significant effect was associated to the type of intervention: whether the program was abstinence-oriented or comprehensive—the source of a major controversy in sex education—was not found to be associated to abstinent behavior. Only two moderators—parental participation and percentage of females—appeared to be significant in both univariate tests and the multivariable model.

Although parental participation in interventions appeared to be associated with higher effect sizes in abstinent behavior, the link should be explored further since it is based on a very small number of studies. To date, too few studies have reported success in involving parents in sex education programs. Furthermore, the primary articles reported very limited information about the characteristics of the parents who took part in the programs. Parents who were willing to participate might differ in important demographic or lifestyle characteristics from those who did not participate. For instance, it is possible that the studies that reported success in achieving parental involvement may have been dealing with a larger percentage of intact families or with parents that espoused conservative sexual values. Therefore, at this point it is not possible to affirm that parental participation per se exerts a direct influence in the outcomes of sex education programs, although clearly this is a variable that merits further study.

Interventions appeared to be more effective when geared to groups composed of younger students, predominantly females and those who had not yet initiated sexual activity. The association between gender and effect sizes—which appeared significant both in the univariate and multivariable analyses—should be explored to understand why females seem to be more receptive to the abstinence messages of sex education interventions.

Smaller-scale interventions appeared to be more effective than large-scale programs. The larger effects associated to small-scale trials seems worth exploring. It may be the case that in large-scale studies it becomes harder to control for confounding variables that may have an adverse impact on the outcomes. For example, large-scale studies often require external agencies or contractors to deliver the program and the quality of the delivery of the contents may turn out to be less than optimal ( Cagampang et al ., 1997 ).

Interestingly there was a significant change in effect sizes across time, with effect sizes appearing to wane across the years. It is not likely that this represents a decline in the quality of sex education interventions. A possible explanation for this trend may be the expansion of mandatory sex education in the US which makes it increasingly difficult to find comparison groups that are relatively unexposed to sex education. Another possible line of explanation refers to changes in cultural mores regarding sexuality that may have occurred in the past decades—characterized by an increasing acceptance of premarital sexual intercourse, a proliferation of sexualized messages from the media and increasing opportunities for sexual contact in adolescence—which may be eroding the attainment of the goal of abstinence sought by educational interventions.

In terms of the design and implementation of sex education interventions, it is worth noting that the length of the programs was unrelated to the magnitude in effect sizes for the range of 4.5–30 h represented in these studies. Program length—which has been singled out as a potential explanation for the absence of significant behavioral effects in a large-scale evaluation of a sex education program ( Kirby et al ., 1997a )—does not appear to be consistently associated with abstinent behavior. The impact of lengthening currently existing programs should be evaluated in future studies.

As it has been stated, the exploration of moderator variables could be performed only partially due to lack of information on the primary research literature. This has been a problem too for other reviewers in the field ( Franklin et al ., 1997 ). The authors of primary research did not appear to control for nor report on the potentially confounding influence of numerous variables that have been indicated in the literature as influencing sexual decision making or being associated with the initiation of sexual activity in adolescence such as academic performance, career orientation, religious affiliation, romantic involvement, number of friends who are currently having sex, peer norms about sexual activity and drinking habits, among others ( Herold and Goodwin, 1981 ; Christopher and Cate, 1984 ; Billy and Udry, 1985 ; Roche, 1986 ; Coker et al ., 1994 ; Kinsman et al ., 1998 ; Holder et al ., 2000 ; Thomas et al ., 2000 ). Even though randomization should take care of differences in these and other potentially confounding variables, given that studies can rarely assign students to conditions and instead assign classrooms or schools to conditions, it is advisable that more information on baseline characteristics of the sample be utilized to establish and substantiate the equivalence between the intervention and control groups in relevant demographic and lifestyle characteristics.

In terms of the communication of research findings, the richness of a meta-analytic approach will always be limited by the quality of the primary research. Unfortunately, most of the research in the area of sex education do not employ experimental or quasi-experimental designs and thus fall short of providing conclusive evidence of program effects. The limitations in the quality of research in sex education have been highlighted by several authors in the past two decades ( Kirby and Baxter, 1981 ; Card and Reagan, 1989 ; Kirby, 1989 ; Peersman et al ., 1996 ). Due to these deficits in the quality of research—which resulted in a reduced number of studies that met the criteria for inclusion and the limitations that ensued for conducting a thorough analysis of moderators—the findings of the present synthesis have to be considered merely tentative. Substantial variability in effect sizes remained unexplained by the present synthesis, indicating the need to include more information on a variety of potential moderating conditions that might affect the outcomes of sex education interventions.

Finally, although it is rarely the case that a meta-analysis will constitute an endpoint or final step in the investigation of a research topic, by indicating the weaknesses as well as the strengths of the existing research a meta-analysis can be a helpful aid for channeling future primary research in a direction that might improve the quality of empirical evidence and expand the theoretical understanding in a given field ( Eagly and Wood, 1994 ). Research in sex education could be greatly improved if more efforts were directed to test interventions utilizing randomized controlled trials, measuring intervening variables and by a more careful and detailed reporting of the results. Unless efforts are made to improve on the quality of the research that is being conducted, decisions about future interventions will continue to be based on a common sense and intuitive approach as to `what might work' rather than on solid empirical evidence.

References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the meta-analysis.

Description of moderator variables

Effect sizes of studies

Tests of categorical moderators for abstinence

Weighted least-squares regression and test of model specification

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• least-squares analysis
• sex education

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The journey towards comprehensive sexuality education: global status report

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is central to children and young people’s  well-being, equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy  and responsible choices in their lives.

This report draws on multiple data sources to provide analysis of countries’ progress towards delivering good quality school-based CSE to all learners. 85 per cent of 155 countries surveyed have policies or laws relating to sexuality education, with considerably more countries reporting policies to mandate delivery at secondary education level than at primary level. However, the existence of policy and legal frameworks do not always equate to comprehensive content or strong implementation.

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Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education

Affiliations.

• 1 Department of Public Health, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 2 Department of Public Health, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey.
• PMID: 33059958
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.07.036

Purpose: School-based sex education plays a vital role in the sexual health and well-being of young people. Little is known, however, about the effectiveness of efforts beyond pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention. The authors conducted a systematic literature review of three decades of research on school-based programs to find evidence for the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education.

Methods: Researchers searched the ERIC, PsycINFO, and MEDLINE. The research team identified papers meeting the systematic literature review criteria. Of 8,058 relevant articles, 218 met specific review criteria. More than 80% focused solely on pregnancy and disease prevention and were excluded, leaving 39. In the next phase, researchers expanded criteria to studies outside the U.S. to identify evidence reflecting the full range of topic areas. Eighty articles constituted the final review.

Results: Outcomes include appreciation of sexual diversity, dating and intimate partner violence prevention, development of healthy relationships, prevention of child sex abuse, improved social/emotional learning, and increased media literacy. Substantial evidence supports sex education beginning in elementary school, that is scaffolded and of longer duration, as well as LGBTQ-inclusive education across the school curriculum and a social justice approach to healthy sexuality.

Conclusions: Review of the literature of the past three decades provides strong support for comprehensive sex education across a range of topics and grade levels. Results provide evidence for the effectiveness of approaches that address a broad definition of sexual health and take positive, affirming, inclusive approaches to human sexuality. Findings strengthen justification for the widespread adoption of the National Sex Education Standards.

Keywords: CSE; K-12; National Sex Education Standards; National Sexuality Education Standards; Sex education; Sexuality education; Systematic Literature Review; comprehensive sex education.

Copyright © 2020 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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• Sex Education: Broadening the Definition of Relevant Outcomes. Kantor LM, Lindberg LD, Tashkandi Y, Hirsch JS, Santelli JS. Kantor LM, et al. J Adolesc Health. 2021 Jan;68(1):7-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.09.031. J Adolesc Health. 2021. PMID: 33349360 No abstract available.

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Race and LGBTQ Issues in K-12 Schools

What teachers, teens and the u.s. public say about current curriculum debates, table of contents.

• What do teachers think students should learn about slavery and gender identity?
• Should parents be able to opt their children out of learning about certain topics?
• How often do topics related to race and LGBTQ issues come up in the classroom?
• How do teachers’ views differ by party?
• What teachers think students should learn about slavery and gender identity
• Should parents be able to opt their children out of learning about race and LGBTQ issues?
• Influence over curriculum
• What teens want to learn about slavery
• What teens want to learn about gender identity
• 4. Public views on parents opting their children out of learning about race and LGBTQ issues
• Acknowledgments
• Teacher survey methodology
• Teen survey methodology
• General public survey methodology

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand how public K-12 teachers, teens and the American public see topics related to race, sexual orientation and gender identity playing out in the classroom.

The bulk of the analysis in this report is based on an online survey of 2,531 U.S. public K-12 teachers conducted from Oct. 17 to Nov. 14, 2023. The teachers surveyed are members of RAND’s American Teacher Panel, a nationally representative panel of public school K-12 teachers recruited through MDR Education. Survey data is weighted to state and national teacher characteristics to account for differences in sampling and response to ensure they are representative of the target population.

For the questions for the general public, we surveyed 5,029 U.S. adults from Nov. 9 to Nov. 16, 2023. The adults surveyed are members of the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, a nationally representative online survey panel. Panel members are randomly recruited through probability-based sampling, and households are provided with access to the Internet and hardware if needed. To ensure that the results of this survey reflect a balanced cross section of the nation, the data is weighted to match the U.S. adult population by gender, age, education, race and ethnicity and other categories.

For questions for teens, we conducted an online survey of 1,453 U.S. teens from Sept. 26 to Oct. 23, 2023, through Ipsos. Ipsos recruited the teens via their parents, who were part of its KnowledgePanel. The survey was weighted to be representative of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 who live with their parents by age, gender, race and ethnicity, household income, and other categories. The survey on teens was reviewed and approved by an external institutional review board (IRB), Advarra, an independent committee of experts specializing in helping to protect the rights of research participants.

Here are the questions used for this report , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

Throughout the report, references to White, Black and Asian adults include those who are not Hispanic and identify as only one race. Hispanics are of any race. The views and experiences of teachers and teens who are Asian American or part of other racial and ethnic groups are not analyzed separately in this report due to sample limitations. Data for these groups is incorporated into the general population figures throughout the report.

All references to party affiliation include those who lean toward that party. Republicans include those who identify as Republicans and those who say they lean toward the Republican Party. Democrats include those who identify as Democrats and those who say they lean toward the Democratic Party.

Political leaning of school districts is based on whether the majority of those residing in the school district voted for Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Amid national debates about what schools are teaching , we asked public K-12 teachers, teens and the American public how they see topics related to race, sexual orientation and gender identity playing out in the classroom.

A sizeable share of teachers (41%) say these debates have had a negative impact on their ability to do their job. Just 4% say these debates have had a positive impact, while 53% say the impact has been neither positive nor negative or that these debates have had no impact.

And 71% of teachers say teachers themselves don’t have enough influence over what’s taught in public schools in their area.

In turn, a majority of teachers (58%) say their state government has too much influence over this. And more say the federal government, the local school board and parents have too much influence than say they don’t have enough.

Most of the findings in this report come from a survey of 2,531 U.S. public K-12 teachers conducted Oct. 17-Nov. 14, 2023, using the RAND American Teacher Panel. 1 The survey looks at teachers’ views on:

• Race and LGBTQ issues in the classroom ( Chapter 1 )
• Current debates over what schools should be teaching and the role of key groups ( Chapter 2 )

It follows a fall 2022 survey of K-12 parents that explored similar topics.

This report also includes some findings from a survey of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 ( Chapter 3 ) and a survey of U.S. adults ( Chapter 4 ). For details about these surveys, refer to the Methodology section of this report. Among the key findings:

• 38% of teens say they feel comfortable when topics related to racism or racial inequality come up in class (among those who say these topics have come up). A smaller share (29%) say they feel comfortable when topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity come up.
• Among the American public , more say parents should be able to opt their children out of learning about LGBTQ issues than say the same about topics related to race (54% vs. 34%).

We asked public K-12 teachers what they think students should learn in school about two topics in particular:

• Whether the legacy of slavery still affects the position of Black people in American society today.
• Whether a person’s gender can be different from or is determined by their sex at birth.

For these questions, elementary, middle and high school teachers were asked about elementary, middle and high school students, respectively.

The legacy of slavery

Most teachers (64%) say students should learn that the legacy of slavery still affects the position of Black people in American society today.

About a quarter (23%) say students should learn that slavery is part of American history but no longer affects the position of Black people in American society. Just 8% say students shouldn’t learn about this topic in school at all.

Majorities of elementary, middle and high school teachers say students should learn that the legacy of slavery still has an impact on the lives of Black Americans.

Gender identity

When it comes to teaching about gender identity – specifically whether a person’s gender can be different from or is determined by their sex assigned at birth – half of public K-12 teachers say students shouldn’t learn about this in school.

A third of teachers think students should learn that someone can be a boy or a girl even if that is different from the sex they were assigned at birth.

A smaller share (14%) say students should learn that whether someone is a boy or a girl is determined by their sex at birth.

Views differ among elementary, middle and high school teachers. But teachers across the three levels are more likely to say students should learn that a person’s gender can be different from their sex at birth than to say students should learn gender is determined by sex at birth.

Most elementary school teachers (62%) say students shouldn’t learn about gender identity in school. This is much larger than the shares of middle and high school teachers who say the same (45% and 35%).

What parents and teens say

Parents of K-12 students are more divided on what their children should learn in school about these topics.

In the 2022 survey , 49% of parents said they’d rather their children learn that the legacy of slavery still affects the position of Black people in American society today, while 42% said they’d rather their children learn that slavery no longer affects Black Americans.

When it comes to gender identity, 31% of parents said they’d rather their children learn that gender can be different from sex at birth. An identical share said they would rather their children learn gender is determined by sex at birth. Another 37% of parents said their children shouldn’t learn about gender identity in school.

Teens, like parents, are more divided than teachers on these questions. About half of teens (48%) say they’d rather learn that the legacy of slavery still affects the position of Black Americans today. Four-in-ten would prefer to learn that slavery no longer affects Black Americans.

And teens are about evenly divided when it comes to what they prefer to learn about gender identity. A quarter say they’d rather learn that a person’s gender can be different from their sex at birth; 26% would prefer to learn that gender is determined by sex at birth. About half (48%) say they shouldn’t learn about gender identity in school.

For more on teens’ views about what they prefer to learn in school about each of these topics, read Chapter 3 of this report.

Most public K-12 teachers (60%) say parents should not be able to opt their children out of learning about racism or racial inequality in school, even if the way these topics are taught conflicts with the parents’ beliefs. A quarter say parents should be able to opt their children out of learning about these topics.

In contrast, more say parents should be able to opt their children out of learning about sexual orientation or gender identity (48%) than say parents should not be able to do this (33%).

On topics related to both race and LGBTQ issues, elementary and middle school teachers are more likely than high school teachers to say parents should be able to opt their children out.

How teachers’ views compare with the public’s views

Like teachers, Americans overall are more likely to say parents should be able to opt their children out of learning about sexual orientation or gender identity (54%) than to say they should be able to opt their children out of learning about racism or racial inequality (34%).

Across both issues, Americans overall are somewhat more likely than teachers to say parents should be able to opt their children out.

For more on the public’s views, read Chapter 4 of this report.

Most teachers who’ve been teaching for more than a year (68%) say the topics of sexual orientation and gender identity rarely or never came up in their classroom in the 2022-23 school year. About one-in-five (21%) say these topics came up sometimes, and 8% say they came up often or extremely often.

Topics related to racism or racial inequality come up more frequently. A majority of teachers (56%) say these topics came up at least sometimes in their classroom, with 21% saying they came up often or extremely often.

These topics are more likely to come up in secondary school than in elementary school classrooms.

As is the case among parents of K-12 students and the general public, teachers’ views on how topics related to race and LGBTQ issues should play out in the classroom differ by political affiliation.

• What students should learn about slavery: 85% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning teachers say students should learn that the legacy of slavery still affects the position of Black people in American society today. This compares with 35% of Republican and Republican-leaning teachers who say the same.

• What students should learn about gender identity: Democratic teachers are far more likely than Republican teachers to say students should learn that a person’s gender can be different from the sex they were assigned at birth (53% vs. 5%). Most Republican teachers (69%) say students shouldn’t learn about gender identity in school.
• Parents opting their children out of learning about these topics: 80% of Republican teachers say parents should be able to opt their children out of learning about LGBTQ issues, compared with 30% of Democratic teachers. And while 47% of Republican teachers say parents should be able to opt their children out of learning about racism and racial inequality, just 11% of Democratic teachers say this.

A majority of public K-12 teachers (58%) identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party. About a third (35%) identify with or lean toward the GOP. Americans overall are more evenly divided: 47% are Democrats or Democratic leaners, and 45% are Republicans or Republican leaners .

• For details, refer to the Methodology section of the report. ↩

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LGBTQ+ students may need to seek sex ed outside of school

• Feinberg School of Medicine

Children across the U.S. who identify as LGBTQ+ say the sexual health-education curricula they receive is leaving them without essential information to make informed decisions about their sexual health, which could force them to seek potentially inaccurate or dangerous advice elsewhere.

The results of a new national survey in part by Northwestern researchers show these young people — aged 13 to 17 — believe crucial topics surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity are being omitted from sexual health-education programs.

In the new study, published in The Journal of Sex Research , one survey respondent said, “I wish I was taught about gay sex, sexual orientation, and all the other controversial topics that [are deemed] ‘grooming.’ When kids aren’t taught good sex ed, they learn how to do it in an unhealthy way from other sources like the internet or word of mouth. If we teach children about these topics, they’ll be safer when they become teenagers.”

Experts who led the study say the addition of key items in the curricula could be “life-saving.”

“LGBTQ+ youth expressed a strong desire to learn more about topics related to their sexual orientation and gender identity, highlighting a critical gap in existing curricula,” said study author Erica Szkody , a postdoctoral research associate at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine who led the data collection for the study.

“Despite the well-known benefits of comprehensive sexual health education, the majority of school sexual health-education curricula in the U.S. is non-comprehensive and excludes LGBTQ+ students,” she said. “Our analyses underscore the extent of this exclusion.”

Szkody works in the Lab for Scalable Mental Health , which is directed by Jessica Schleider, associate professor of medical social sciences and pediatrics at Feinberg.

Of more than 800 survey respondents, most participants reported a lack of LGBTQ+ content in their sexual health-education experiences.

“I wish others understood that while the anatomy-related knowledge is important, we need sexual [health] education that is relevant to today’s world,” a survey respondent said. “This involves sexual [health] education [about] dangers and safety on the Internet, [same-sex/gender] relations, and education geared towards attraction and feelings rather than a lesson only [regarding] heterosexual procreation. I wish they took our real-life experiences and insecurities into account.”

To educate themselves on sexual health, most respondents were using extracurricular sources including online spaces, friends and personal experiences with sexual exploration. The authors found these extracurricular sources are frequently preferred by LGBTQ+ youth but may lack accuracy and reliability.

Overall, participants described feeling marginalized by curricula that were based on abstinence-only approaches, religious principles or contained oppressive and suppressive elements, such as negative remarks about LGBTQ+ individuals or skipping required LGBTQ+ content altogether.

The survey provided LGBTQ+ young people the opportunity to openly share on their experiences and recommendations for change regarding sexual health education. These suggestions included:

• More LGBTQ+ content in sexual health education curricula, as well as more detail on healthy and diverse relationships (e.g., non-monogamy, polyamory), consent, safety in relationships and communication skills.
• Creating safe and supportive spaces while considering legitimate fears due to a possible increase in bullying, as they had heard students make fun of the material or use discriminatory language during past implementation.
• Updating sexual health-education materials to reflect LGBTQ+ lived experiences, history and risk factors.
• Creating sexual health interventions focused on LGBTQ+ experiences and concerns. Improving access to reliable sexual health information.
• Creating more accessible sexual-health information via other avenues, such as online and through mobile applications.

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• v.11(3); 2017 Mar

Knowledge Attitude and Perception of Sex Education among School Going Adolescents in Ambala District, Haryana, India: A Cross-Sectional Study

Randhir kumar.

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, MMIMSR, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India.

Anmol Goyal

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, MMIMSR, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India.

Parmal Singh

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, MMIMSR, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India.

Anu Bhardwaj

4 Professor, Department of Community Medicine, MMIMSR, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India.

Anshu Mittal

5 Professor, Department of Community Medicine, MMIMSR, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India.

Sachin Singh Yadav

6 Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, MMIMSR, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India.

Introduction

Adolescence is a highly dynamic period characterised by rapid growth and development. Adolescents have limited knowledge about sexual and reproduction health, and know little about the natural processes of puberty, sexual health, pregnancy or reproduction. Sex education should be an integral part of the learning process beginning in childhood and continuing into adult life, because it is lifelong process.

This study was carried out to identify the knowledge and attitude of imparting sex education in school going adolescents in rural and urban area of Ambala district

Materials and Methods

A cross sectional study design was used to study the knowledge of reproductive and sexual health among school going children. A total of 743 adolescents from age group of 13-19 year were studied, using self designed semi-structured questionnaire to assess the knowledge regarding reproductive and sexual health among adolescents

The mean age of study subjects was 15.958±1.61 years, majority of adolescents i.e., 93.5% favour sex education. An 86.3% said sex education can prevent the occurrence of AIDS and 91.5% of adolescents prefer doctors should give them sex education followed by 83.0% school/teacher and least preference was parents 37.3%.

There were substantial lacunae in the knowledge about reproductive and sexual health. Students felt that sex education is necessary and should be introduced in the school curriculum.

The term adolescence comes from Latin word meaning “to grow to maturity” [ 1 ]. According to WHO 10-19 years is called adolescents [ 2 ]. It is the period when maximum amount of physical, psychological, emotional and behavioural changes take place [ 3 ].

Physical health, sexual and behavioural problems of adolescents are interrelated and these factors are related to unhealthy development in adolescents stem from the social environment. It also includes poverty, unemployment, crime, sexual harassment, gender and ethic discrimination and impact of social change on individual, family and communities. So adolescents need to provide preventive interventions for these behaviours are the same and all contribute to positive personal growth and development [ 4 ].

Adolescents need to know how to protect themselves from HIV/STDs and premature pregnancies, for this sex education is the best way, it should be a lifelong learning process based on the knowledge and skills and positive attitude, it helps to young people to enjoy sex and relationships that are based on qualities such as positive knowledge, mutual respect, trust, negotiation and enjoyment.

Age appropriate knowledge among youth and adolescents about the changes during puberty, sexuality, modes of transmission and prevention of sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and to maintaining a healthy and safe sexual life is important for the health and welfare and aware them to prevent unwanted pregnancies and of HIV/AIDS [ 5 ].

Sex education should be an integral part of the learning process beginning in childhood and continuing into adult life and its lifelong learning process. It should be for all children, young people and adults, including those with physical learning or emotional difficulties. It should encourage exploration of values and morale values, consideration of sexuality and personnel relationships and the development of communication and decision making skills. It should foster self-esteem, self-awareness, a sense of moral responsibility and the skills to avoid and resist sexual experience [ 6 ].

Health education plays important roles in human life and it is also a fundamental right. It can help to increase self-esteem, develop effective communication skills and encourage awareness about health and disease related knowledge. The mixture of myths/stigma secrecy, lack of knowledge, social disparity and negative media messages confuses young people and encourages poor self-esteem resulting in uninformed choices being made and it may lead to incorrect knowledge about sex, unprotected sex, unplanned pregnancy; STI’S including HIV/AIDS or deeply unhappy and damaging relationship [ 7 ].

Because of lack of clear protocol for sex education, like content, way of approaches, rules and regulation etc., for educational services and how these services should be fulfilled in different socioeconomic and cultural environments is not clear [ 8 ]. So, this study was done to identify the knowledge attitude and perception of sex education among school going adolescents.

A school based cross-sectional study was conducted among school going adolescents in a rural and urban area of district Ambala, Haryana for a period of six months from January 2015 to July 2015. Adolescent in the age group 13-19 years studying in class 9 th to 12 th were included and those who had not given consent and who had not completed questionnaires were excluded from study. The sample size was calculated on the basis of prevalence of knowledge regarding reproductive and sexual health with confidence limit 95% and margin of sampling error 10% by using the formula n=4pq/l 2 , to work out the required sample size the following equation was applied n=4pq/l 2 . Literature review reveals that the prevalence of knowledge regarding reproductive and sexual health among school going adolescents in India is 35% (WHO/MOHFW [ 9 ] and Mittal k et al., [ 10 ]). As the data on knowledge regarding reproductive and sexual health for Haryana state is not available, so the sample size was calculated by presuming the prevalence of knowledge regarding reproductive and sexual health in school going children in India to be 35% and thus the sample size for the study came out 743. These samples were divided into 4 strata rural/urban, government/private, class wise and sex wise were taken through stratified random sampling technique and then use simple random sampling technique to reach the total sample size. Ambala district has 224 higher and senior secondary schools only co-educational schools were taken for study. There were 134 government and 69 private co-educational schools in the six community development blocks of district Ambala. As the number government and private schools were in 2:1 ratio, so eight government and four private schools were selected randomly [ 11 ], and the number of students included in the study was 446 and 297 from government and private schools respectively. The number of schools in the government sector was more in rural areas and greater numbers of private schools were located in urban areas so the Probability Proportionate To Size (PPS) technique was used to cover the sample size of 743 student. One section of each class from selected school was included in the study, which was taken at random. Only those students were enrolled in the study those fulfilled the inclusion criteria, interview was continued till total sample were covered. Special care was taken to include the students in age group from 13-19 years by ensuring participation of all classes from 9 th to 12 th . A self designed, semi-structured, self-report pretested questionnaire was used to screen students regarding knowledge and attitude about sex education. The questionnaires were divided in to two groups. Part-1: Socio demographic profile and part-2: sexual health and knowledge, attitude and source of giving sex education. Most of the questions were structured with 3-5 options. Students were to answer one option unless specified otherwise. Open-ended question were given wherever description of answers was required. The questions were framed in English and translated into Hindi. Both Hindi and English questionnaires were used as per choice of the respondents. The study was conducted after obtaining written permission from district education officer, Ambala. Permission was also obtained from the principals of the selected schools. Informed and written consent was also obtained from parents during teacher- parents meeting. Completed questionnaires were compiled and entered into Microsoft Excel and analysed using Stastical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21, chi-square test and bar diagram.

The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted in rural and urban areas of district Ambala, Haryana. A total of 743 school- going adolescents studying in classes 9 th to 12 th in the selected government and private schools situated in different parts of urban and rural areas were included in the study. A total of 743 students of 13-19 years age-group those responded well, without hiding any problem were the subjects of the present study. [ Table/Fig-1 ] shows that 294(39.5%) of adolescents belonged to 15-16 year age group. The mean age of studied subjects was 15.958±1.61. Female were 358 (48.2%) and 385 (51.8%) were male. There were more students from government schools 446 (60%). More number of students were studying in class 10 th and 11 th i.e., 27.2% each, and in urban area 204 (53.5%) belongs to nuclear family and in rural area 198 (54.7%) belongs to joint family. Maximum 211 (28.4%) of adolescents belongs to SES class III and lowest number from class I 84 (11.3%). Whereas in rural area majority of adolescents belongs to SES class V and in urban area majority of adolescents belongs to class II. It was statistically highly significant (p<0.001).

[Table/Fig-1]:

Socio demographic profile of respondents.

Present study [ Table/Fig-2 ] reveals the association between different socio-demographic profile and perception of need of sex education among adolescents; it shows that majority of adolescents 695 (93.5%) favour sex education. However, boys 374 (97.1%) were more likely to favour sex education as compared to girls 321 (89.7%). It was found that adolescents with higher age group, belongs to urban area and private school with higher SES favours sex education in school. It was considered statistically significant.

[Table/Fig-2]:

Perception of sex education according to their socio-demographic profile of adolescents.

[ Table/Fig-3 ] reveals the reason for sex education among adolescents, out of 695 adolescents who are in favour of sex education, 600 (86.3%) said sex education can prevent the occurrence of AIDS, whereas 396 (57.0%) removes myth, 373 (53.7%) believe knowledge of sex makes future life easy, 275 (39.5%) thought that protects from other diseases and 102 (13.7%) don’t give any reason for sex education.

[Table/Fig-3]:

Perception of the reasons of sex education among adolescents (n=695).

(*Multiple responses)

[ Table/Fig-4 ] reveals that majority of adolescents thought 615 (86.9%) sex education and STDs, 581 (82.2%) menstruation and its hygiene, 512 (72.3%) changes occurring during puberty and 503 (71.0%) drug abuse was the most common topic that should be discussed in class. However, 349 (49.4%) urban adolescents thought menstrual and its hygiene topic and about 280 (39.5%) rural adolescents sex education and STDs related topic should discuss in class.

[Table/Fig-4]:

Perception of students about content of sex education.

[ Table/Fig-5 ] shows the area wise distribution of respondents according to their preference for getting sex education. It was found that majority 680 (91.5%) of adolescents prefers doctors should give them sex education followed by 617 (83.0%) school/teacher and least preference was parents 277 (37.3%). However, in urban adolescents most common preference for sex education was school/teacher i.e., 357(48.0%) and in rural area 347 (46.7%) doctor was the most common preference for getting sex education.

Distribution of respondents according to their preference for getting sex education.

This study has tried to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding reproductive health and sexual problems, to assess the perception regarding reproductive and sexual health among adolescents and to identify the need of imparting sex education in school going adolescents (13-19 year) from urban and rural area of district Ambala Haryana.

Regarding the need of sex education among adolescents, it shows that majority of adolescents (93.5%) favour the sex education. However, boys (97.1%) were more likely to favour sex education as compared to girls (89.7%). A similar study was conducted by Jaideep K et al., in Chandigarh found that 95% of students were in favours of mainstreaming of sex education [ 12 ]. Another study done by Benzaken T et al., shows 90% favours sex education and study by Thakur HG et al., shows that 90% and 97% favours sex education, among boys 82.9% and among girls 75.6% respectively [ 13 , 14 ]. A study done by Dorle AS et al., from Karnataka found only 48% of student favours sex education in higher and senior secondary school and it was lower than our study it might be because of regional and cultural difference and also study was conducted five year back [ 15 ].

To find out the reason of sex education, 86.3% participants said that sex education can prevent the occurrence of AIDS, whereas 57.0% remove myth, 53.7% knowledge of sex makes future life easy, 39.5% protect from other disease and 102 (13.7%) don’t give any reason for sex education. A study done by Mueller TE et al., reported that majority of adolescents said sex education reduce the risks of potentially negative outcome from sexual behaviour such as fear and stigma of menstruation, unwanted and unplanned pregnancies and infection with STIs including HIV [ 16 ]. To know the preference for getting sex education, present study found that majority 680 (91.5%) of adolescents prefers doctors followed by 617 (83.0%) school/teacher and least preference was parents 277 (37.3%) respectively. A similar study was conducted by Jaideep K et al., in Chandigarh found that 76.74% students choose the teacher as the best source to provide sex education [ 12 ]. Similar observation was found by Wong WC et al., in Hongkong and Zhang L et al., in China [ 17 , 18 ]. All these variation might be because of regional and cultural difference. A study done by Dorle AS et al., from Karnataka found girls favours parents and boys favours friend as a source of information about sex [ 15 ]. A view point given by Datta SS et al., favours school and college should give sex education to adolescents [ 19 ].

This study suffers from the usual limitation of a cross-sectional study. We only include the co-education school so it cannot be generalizes to all school adolescent. As sex education is a sensitive topic, we cannot guarantee about the honest answers as it covered the sensitive issue i.e., recall bias. Participants may agree with statements as presented to them, especially when in doubt i.e., acquiescence bias and also social desirability bias.

Recommendation

Sex Education must be introduced in the school which should start from the primary school and brings about the age appropriate topics as they go through the high school. It should contain a package of information about life skills, reproductive health, safe sex, pregnancy and STI’s including HIV/AIDS. A socio cultural research is needed to find the right kind of sexual health education services for boys and girls separately from the teacher of same gender. It is the responsibility of parents, teachers, social workers, politicians, administrators, medical and paramedical profession so that adolescent girl or boy got legitimate due to education and empowerment and change over to adult men or women is smooth and streamlined with nil or least medical, social or psychological problems.

In this present study knowledge and perception of sex education was good, majority believe that sex education should implemented in school curriculum and majority of them gave good reason for sex education implementation in school. The most common preference for getting sex education was from doctor and teacher/school followed by friend respectively. Sex education and sexuality is unaccepted in many communities and also among some parents, adolescents feel shy and scared to talk about sex education, some adolescents hesitate to reply about sex education especially girls.

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Young people are choking each other during sex but experts say they don't know the risks

An Australian-first study into the prevalence of strangulation during sex among young people has prompted concerns over the serious health risks. 

Researchers found women were more likely to have been strangled than men during sex. 

What's next:

Experts say more conversations need to be happening in schools and at home to raise awareness around the risks, and the factors contributing to its normalisation.

Susie Dodds has had several sexual partners who wanted to choke her during sex.

While the 25-year-old had been able to rebuff their attempts, she says the experiences left her feeling panicked.

"That's definitely not something I am into," Ms Dodds told 7.30.  

"If there's someone that you don't know that well, or it's the first experience you have with somebody, that's quite shocking to experience.

"I've had, you know, a few men ask if they can choke me. A couple of them, their hands kind of [wandered] up that way, but I know a lot of people have experienced much worse."

Ms Dodds said she did not want to shame the men who asked her if they could choke her, nor does she think they are bad people — but she was surprised by how frequently the question came up.

Susie isn't alone — a study by the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland which surveyed 5,000 people aged between 18 and 35 found 59 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women admitted to having choked a sexual partner.

The figure was even higher among trans and gender-diverse people, at 74 per cent.

More women (61 per cent) than men (43 per cent) reported ever being strangled, while the numbers were higher again for trans and gender-diverse people (78 per cent). 

"This group of people that we're looking at now is a context where the people engaging in sexual strangulation are largely saying that they're consenting to the practice," said Heather Douglas, a professor at Melbourne University Law School and co-author of the study.

The numbers don't surprise violence prevention educator Maree Crabbe.

"About three years ago, I started to hear much more frequently that strangulation was part of what was happening in young people's sexual lives," Ms Crabbe told 7.30.

"It had come up only marginally every now and then in the years before that.

"Young women have talked about [how] they have felt like they're genuinely being murdered ... they're really uncomfortable and feeling very, very unsafe."

The study, published in the academic journal Archives in Sexual Behaviour, defined strangulation or choking as placing pressure on the neck by using hands or other body parts or ligatures to hinder, restrict or obstruct breathing.

On average, those surveyed had been strangled six times by three partners – and the first time someone experienced strangulation was usually between the ages of 19 and 21.

Ms Crabbe said representations of strangulation in pornography and popular culture were influencing sexual practice, adding that sometimes, consent to sex was also seen as consent to choking.

The study found pornography is the most common way young people are finding out about strangulation (61 per cent), then movies (41 per cent), friends (32 per cent), social media (31 per cent), and current or potential partners (29 per cent).

"A lot of the people in our study said that they'd seen pornography in their teens, some quite young. So obviously this is an issue for parents as well in terms of engaging with the effects of pornography, the dangers of strangulation, how to broach those kinds of topics with their kids," Ms Douglas said.

Some young men Ms Crabbe has interviewed also describe feeling pressured to strangle their partners.   

"Some of them talk about not really being into it, there being an expectation, sometimes being asked by their partners to do it," Ms Crabbe said.

"But I think also it can be really difficult for young men to reject that as a sexual practice when it's become normalised."

Potential for brain injuries 'concerning'

Medical professionals warn compression of the neck can cause miscarriage of pregnancy, stroke, and within minutes, death.

"[Death] is rare, but it can occur. But perhaps most concerning is the issue that we're very aware of, which is brain injury," said Heather Douglas, a professor at Melbourne University Law School and co-author of the study.

Ms Douglas said studies had found people could be injured quickly with about 10 seconds to being rendered unconscious, 17 seconds to having a fit from a lack of oxygen, 30 seconds to loss of bowel control and 150 seconds to death. 

Jo Ann Parkin from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine says choking during sex can cause brain injuries like concussion, even if it's not apparent, and signs of non-fatal strangulation can also evolve.

"Absence of oxygen being supplied to the brain will affect things such as concentration, memory, decision-making, and we're waiting for more research in that particular area," Dr Parkin said.

"The issue with non-fatal strangulation is the fact that it has very serious outcomes that can arise from instances of short to long-term compression, so repeated episodes as well are an issue that we get quite concerned about."

Dr Parkin said other symptoms of injury could include a hoarse voice, and difficulty breathing and swallowing.

"The thing I would like to convey to the community is there is a perception that they can have a safe word, there is a perception that they can tap out effectively that they can give a signal," she said.

"And what we are hearing from our victims when they present in these settings is they were unable to indicate that in that situation.

"There is a very large misconception that this can be operated as an act very safely and it just is not a safe act, at any time."

'We need to be having conversations as a society'

In response to what she had heard from young people, Ms Crabbe is launching a campaign called Breathless to raise awareness about the prevalence of health risks of non-fatal strangulation and to encourage critical thinking about the kinds of influences that are contributing to its normalisation.

"I think we need to be having conversations as a society, but also, in schools and homes. Parents need to be speaking with their children about this practice," Ms Crabbe said.

"Unless there is stronger awareness of the risks, and also, some critical thinking about the gendered nature of it … it's going to be something that continues."

Ms Dodds shared her own experience with the campaign and said young people, particularly women, often felt pressured to conform with so-called rough or kinky sex, including strangulation.

"If someone says they're not interested in doing that, in a sexual context, now that's labelled as boring, or vanilla," she said.

"If you're going to do that, you do need to know the risk and you need to know that there is no way you can really do it safely.

"If you're comfortable with that, I guess, you know, it's your life, but it is your life."

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