School-based Sexuality Education Experiences across Three Generations of Sexual Minority People

ABSTRACT

Sexual minority people face greater risk for compromised sexual health than their heterosexual peers, yet school-based sexuality education often excludes them. Little is known about whether or how sexual minority people’s sexuality education experiences have varied across sociohistorical contexts of rapid social change in both sexuality education and sexual minority visibility. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted among 191 sexual minority people from three distinct sociohistorical generations (ages 18–25, 34–41, and 52–59, respectively) and four geographic regions of the United States. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis following a consensual qualitative protocol. Fifty-one participants (i.e., 27%) discussed school-based sexuality education experiences despite the lack of an explicit question in the interview protocol prompting them to do so. Four distinct yet overlapping themes emerged in participants’ experiences of sexuality education: 1) Silence; 2) The profound influence of HIV/AIDS; 3) Stigma manifest through fear, shame, and prejudice; and, 4) Comparing school-based experiences to sexuality education outside of school. The presence of themes varied across groups defined by sociohistorical generation. The implications of sexuality education experiences for the wellbeing of sexual minority people are discussed.

Acknowledgments

Generations is funded by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD grant 1R01HD078526) and through supplemental grants from the National Institutes of Health, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and the Office of Research on Women’s Health. The Generations investigators are: Ilan H. Meyer, Ph.D., (PI), David M. Frost, Ph.D., Phillip L. Hammack, Ph.D., Marguerita Lightfoot, Ph.D., Stephen T. Russell, Ph.D. and Bianca D.M. Wilson, Ph.D. (Co-Investigators, listed alphabetically). The authors thank the interviewers and field research workers and recognize the contribution of Heather Cole, Jessica Fish, Janae Hubbard, Evan Krueger, Quinlyn Morrow, Jack Simons, James Thing, Erin Toolis. This work also was supported by grant, P2CHD042849, Population Research Center, and by grant, T32HD007081, Training Program in Population Studies, both awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The research was also supported by a predoctoral training grant, F31MH115608, awarded to Allen Mallory in the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin by the National Institute of Mental Health. Finally, Russell acknowledges support from the Priscilla Pond Flawn Endowment at the University of Texas at Austin. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Declaration of Interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [1R01HD078526,P2CHD042849,T32HD007081]; National Institute of Mental Health [F31MH115608]; University of Texas at Austin [Priscilla Pond Flawn Endowment].