Abstract
Study Objective
We sought to investigate the associations between race and/or ethnicity and young
women's formal sex education and sex education by parents.
Design, Setting, and Participants
Cross-sectional analysis of a nationally representative sample of 1768 women aged
15-24 years who participated in the 2011-2013 National Survey of Family Growth.
Interventions and Main Outcome Measures
We assessed 6 main outcomes: participants' report of: (1) any formal sex education;
(2) formal contraceptive education; (3) formal sexually transmitted infection (STI)
education; (4) any sex education by parents; (5) contraceptive education by parents;
and (6) STI education by parents. The primary independent variable was self-reported
race and/or ethnicity.
Results
Nearly all of participants (95%) reported any formal sex education, 68% reported formal
contraceptive education, and 92% reported formal STI education. Seventy-five percent
of participants reported not having any sex education by parents and only 61% and
56% reported contraceptive and STI education by parents, respectively. US-born Hispanic
women were more likely than white women to report STI education by parents (adjusted
odds ratio = 1.87; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-2.99). No other significant racial
and/or ethnic differences in sex education were found.
Conclusion
There are few racial and/or ethnic differences in formal sex education and sex education
by parents among young women.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 02, 2015
Footnotes
The authors indicate no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
