This study, using data from a statewide survey (n = 332), examined teachers' practices regarding the inclusion of guest speakers to cover sexuality content. More than half of teachers (58%) included guest speakers. In multivariate analyses, teachers who taught high school, had professional preparation in health education, or who received…

The authors present the feasibility and acceptability of a parent sexuality education program led by peer educators in community settings. They also report the results of an outcome evaluation with 71 parents who were randomized to the intervention or a control group and surveyed one month prior to and six months after the four-week intervention.…

Ubiquitous "sex tips" in popular media evidence an unquenchable public interest in learning how to experience "great sex," and studies confirm that a great sexual relationship correlates to general relationship satisfaction, which in turn correlates to overall happiness. However, sexologists have paid scant attention to…

The purpose of this study was to assess community attitudes toward school-based abstinence-plus sexuality education. A dual sampling approach of landlines and cell phones resulted in 988 adults from two counties completing "The South Carolina Survey of Public Opinion on Pregnancy Prevention." Among respondents, 87.1% supported…

We examined whether sexual attitudes of adolescents were related to their self-reported sexual risk behavior by analyzing survey data from 1,052 boys and girls aged 14 to 17 years from a low income, urban community. Sexual behavior norms that may increase sexually transmitted infection/HIV risks in youth were sanctioned more by males and by…

Best practices in comprehensive sexuality education call for rights-based, factual lessons that provide healthy options and are sensitive to the varied contextual factors affecting participants. Further, lessons are to better balance positive and negative outcomes of sexual expression that reflect the sexual realities of (young) men and women.…

There is currently no validated model explaining the variability of sexual expression. This has created a scenario where sexuality, as a construct, is purely intuitive. Sexuality educators have frequently presented the Circles of Sexuality, a model that contends that sexuality is a combination of intimacy, sensuality, sexual health/behaviors,…

This study provides a description of an innovative workshop that educated college students about the risks of unprotected sexual behavior, particularly oral sex, and methods of risk reduction using a metaphor of "sharing and eating jelly beans." Intervention development was guided by the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model.…

Parents play an important role in the promotion of adolescent sexual health, but little is known about parents' attitudes and beliefs in immigrant families. We examine Hmong American parents' attitudes about adolescent sexual health using survey data from 202 parents of adolescents with attention to parental gender differences. Breaking…

This lesson plan is designed to stimulate awareness and reflection on personal attitudes toward gender expression and sexual orientation. Participants are guided to identify and analyze how external influences from various socialization agents shape gender and sexual orientation norms and, consequently, personal attitudes about gender expression…

Despite recent declines, Latinas bear a disproportionate burden of teen births. Understanding social, cultural, and demographic factors underlying pregnancy desire among Latino adolescents is needed to design effective teen pregnancy prevention interventions. A questionnaire was completed by 794 Latino youth including a "pregnancy wantedness…

Although studies have shown that patients want to receive sexual health services from their physicians, doctors often lack the knowledge and skills to discuss sexual health with their patients. There is little consistency among medical schools and residency programs in the United States regarding comprehensiveness of education on sexual health.…

Sexual health programs on college campuses are often directed toward single individuals with a focus on sexual risk. Using a sample of college students, this study examines how relationship status relates to sexual behaviors and may be a factor for sexual risk. Based on the study's results, expansion of sexual health programming on college…

This study used qualitative content analysis to examine anonymous questions about sex and sexuality submitted by Latino and African American adolescents in Los Angeles, California, classrooms. The majority of questions asked about sexuality and sexual behavior, or anatomy and physiology, with fewer questions about pregnancy and pregnancy…

The Adolescent Sexual Health Work Group commissioned the development of core competencies that define the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for all providers of adolescent sexual and reproductive health. This article describes the background and rationale for this set of competencies, the history and use of competencies, and the process…