National trends and disparate access to formal and informal sex education among youth involved with the child welfare system in the USA

ABSTRACT

This study investigated whether youth involved with the child welfare system in the USA are receiving formal and informal sex education. Data come from the Second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing, a nationally representative sample of children and adolescents in contact with child protective services. Participants included young people (n = 1093, aged 11–21) involved with the child welfare system. Participants reported whether they had received formal sex education about a) abstinence only; b) contraceptives/condoms only; c) abstinence and contraceptives/condoms; or d) none. They also reported whether they knew where to access family planning services. We examined the prevalence of sex education experiences and differences in sex education access and knowledge based on participants’ pregnancy history and sociodemographic characteristics. Only half (49%) of participants had received any form of formal sex education. Pregnant youth were less likely to have received any sex education compared to non-pregnant youth . 72% of adolescents who had received sex education about contraceptives/condoms reported knowing where to access family planning services compared to only 46% of adolescents who had not received this sex education . There is a pressing need for comprehensive sex education among youth involved with the child welfare system.

KEYWORDS:

• Sex education
• youth involved with the child welfare system
• family planning
• contraception
• sexual health

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Sex education in this study refers narrowly to whether youth received information about abstinence, contraceptive/condoms, or nothing. This is a limited measure and did not capture whether youth had received comprehensive sexuality education.

Additional information

Funding

The research reported here was supported by the US National Institute of Mental Health of the NIH under Award Number 1F31MH126763-01A1 awarded to Julia Brasileiro. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the US National Institutes of Health.