April 10, 2025, Durham, NC – Providing sex education to adolescents can promote their wellbeing and prevent negative sexual health outcomes. However, the types of sex education that adolescents receive in school, and the sexual health topics they receive education on, vary greatly. For example, some students receive abstinence-only sex education, which emphasizes refraining from sexual activity or waiting until marriage to have sex – and often leaves out important information about topics like condoms/contraception and STI testing. Conversely, some students receive more comprehensive sex education that covers more sexual health topics, such as gender and sexual identity, sexual rights, pleasure, violence prevention, condoms and contraception, consent, relationships, and more.
Some research has shown that more comprehensive sex education programs are more effective at promoting positive sexual health outcomes in young people. However, many sex education programs that have been labeled “comprehensive,” due to their coverage of more sexual health topics than abstinence-only programs, still vary in which topics they cover or emphasize. Some comprehensive programs may focus primarily on topics related to STI/HIV and unplanned pregnancy prevention while other comprehensive programs cover a wider variety of topics. This has made it difficult for research to thoroughly and accurately examine the impacts of comprehensive sex education programs on young people.
A recent study analyzed data from a large sample of community college students to fill these gaps in research and examine how different types of sex education impact young adults in the longer-term. More specifically, the study categorized different types of sex education based on the topics covered to examine how the comprehensiveness of education received during adolescence is related to young adults’ sexual health outcomes.
Based on sex education topics that young adults report receiving education on during adolescence, the study used a latent class analysis to identify four classifications of sex education with different levels of comprehensiveness. The study then examined how young adults’ sexual health outcomes were associated with the classification of sex education they received.
Young adults who had received the most comprehensive sex education (including topics such as how to use a condom, communication with sexual partners, pleasure, gender roles) were more likely to use condoms and communicate with their partners about STIs than all other groups. The group of young adults who had received the most comprehensive education were also more likely to have had an STI test and reported greater sexual satisfaction. Those that received the most comprehensive sex education reported their sex education to be more inclusive, preparative, and empowering but less comfortable.
Findings from this study indicate that providing highly comprehensive sex education to adolescents may make them more likely to experience positive sexual health outcomes during young adulthood.
More findings from this study were recently published in The Journal of Sex Research in an article entitled, “Moving Toward a More Comprehensive Standard for Sex Education: A Latent Class Analysis and Examination of Young Adult Sexual Health.” The article was authored by iRT Researchers Drs. Tracy Scull, Katie Stump, Reina Evans-Paulson, and Christina Dodson, as well as Dr. Alexander Schoemann of East Carolina University.
To access a free copy of this article on Taylor & Francis Online, visit https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/2CJUGCWU4ZVDX9UVAADQ/full?target=10.1080/00224499.2025.2475549.
If you are interested in providing comprehensive sexual health education programs to adolescents to promote their sexual health in the long-term, visit https://mediaawareprograms.com/media-aware-high-school/ to learn more about iRT’s evidence-based, comprehensive sexual health program for high schools.
Scull, T. M., Stump, K. N., Evans-Paulson, R., Dodson, C. V., & Schoemann, A. M. (2025). Moving Toward a More Comprehensive Standard for Sex Education: A Latent Class Analysis and Examination of Young Adult Sexual Health. Journal of sex research, 1–14. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2025.2475549