Parents Still Burying Their Heads in the Sand When it comes to Teens and Sex
Back in 2004, Sinikka Elliot, a parent and sociology professor at the University of North Carolina, watched a heated controversy over sexuality education play out at the Texas School Board and wondered whether this polarized debate truly represented the views of parents who weren’t so entrenched in the issue. After interviewing parents on all points along the political spectrum, Elliot determined that it did not and published her finding in a book called, “Not My Kid: What Parents Believe About the Sex Lives of Their Teenagers.” In an interview with Salon.com, Elliot talked about what she learned interviewing these parents who all resided in an “unnamed red state.”
She found that parents tend to think of their children as less mature and less sexual than they really were:
Parents were, however, were willing to believe that other kids were having sex. She points to the way society talks about teen sex as the culprit in this contradiction:
Elliot also writes about the sex education debate in this country and argues that both In both sides of the debate over sexuality education treated teen sex the same way and operatedwithin a “danger discourse.” She points out that those on either side of the spectrum base their arguments on the same thing—the possibility of STDs, HIV, or teen pregnancy—they just have different ideas of how teens should avoid these. She argues that, “we can and should shift the discourse, but we need to start talking about the evidence there is that teens are actually being quite responsible when it comes to sex.”
I agree with her whole-heartedly that teens often behave very responsibly when it comes to teen sex, that we have to give them credit for it, and that we have to start talking about something other than the dangers of teens sex (I’ve said all of these things before), but I think there is another layer to the argument over sex ed. While both sides often reduce their argument to one about preventing the dangers of teens sex I think this is because public health issues tend to sway those who are not, as Elliot puts it, deeply entrenched in the issue. But I b.
material because they would be tested on it (called an extrinsic focus), or if the teachers encouraged them to truly learn and understand the information because it would be important for their lives (termed a mastery focus).
The researchers then compared these two groups of students on a variety of measures.
Overall, the results showed that students in classes with a mastery focus were better off on a variety of health-related measures than were those whose teachers emphasized testing, Anderman said.
One example is the ability to refuse unwanted sexual advances. Findings showed that students in mastery classes reported they were better able to refuse sex 4 to 6 weeks later and even one year later than they were before the class began.
However, those in the extrinsic-focused classes actually felt less effective at refusing sex after they took the class than they did before, Anderman said.
Similar results were found when students were asked whether they thought they would wait to have sex.
Four to six weeks after the class, students whose teachers emphasized mastery were more likely to report that they wanted to wait to have sex, although there was no significant effect at a year later. That was not true for those who had extrinsic-focused classes, who were actually less likely to want to wait for sex after taking the class.
That's a really scary finding. The class was not having the intended effect when teachers emphasized the tests, Anderman said.
Students in the mastery classes reported they felt better able to tell partners.
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