Making the Case for School-Based Sexual Health Education
Reduces STIs and Unplanned Pregnancy
Among the most important objectives of sexual health education for youth is to provide young people with the information, motivation, and skills to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STI) and unplanned pregnancies.
Program planners and educators are sometimes asked to provide evidence that these programs work.
There is clear and conclusive scientific evidence that well developed, broadly based sexual health education programs can effectively help youth avoid negative outcomes such as STI and unplanned pregnancy.
Broadly based sexual health education programs help youth reduce their risk of STI and unplanned pregnancy by focusing on delaying first intercourse, particularly among younger teens, and on contraception and consistent condom use, particularly among older teens.
In other words, broadly based programs provide a comprehensive range of information and skills that allow young people to exercise their right to informed decision-making related to sexual and reproductive health. Scientific evaluation research clearly demonstrates that such programs effectively help youth reduce sexual risk behaviour.
Below are brief descriptions of and links to resources that outline and provide examples of evaluation research demonstrating the effectiveness of sexual health education.
These resources are recommended for teachers who want to provide evidence-based documentation to support the provision of sexual health education in the schools.
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Science and Success: Sex Education and Other Programs That Work to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV & Sexually Transmitted Infections |
This 2003 publication from the Washington, D.C., based Advocates for Youth summarizes the scientific evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of sex education for youth.
The document highlights 19 sex education programs that have been shown, through scientific evaluation, to result in two or more of the following outcomes:
- Delay of sexual initiation
- Reduction in the frequency of sexual intercourse
- Reduction in the number of sexual partners
- Increase in the use, or consistency of use, of effective methods of contraception and/or condoms
- Reduction in the incidence of unprotected sex
- Showed program effectiveness in reducing pregnancy rates, STIs, or HIV
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Sexual Health Education in the Schools: Questions & Answers |
This resource document from SIECCAN, the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada provides research-based answers to common questions that educators, administrators, and parents have about sexual health education in the schools.
The document includes an appendix that provides the citations to evaluation studies for 13 school-based and nine community-based sexual health education programs. All of the individual evaluation studies listed were published in peer-reviewed journals after 1990 and employed experimental (i.e., randomized control trial) or quasi-experimental (i.e., non-randomized control trial) designs.
In all cases, the findings indicated that the program resulted in delayed first intercourse and/or increased use of condoms or other contraceptive methods.
Last Modified: July 17, 2007
