Sex-Ed Should Target
Elementary School Kids
Excerpt By Suzanne Rostler, Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - HIV prevention classes may be most effective if they are taught before kids become sexually active, according to a recent report.

The study compared the effects of a specially designed program focused on preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) with those of a regular health education class on the attitudes and behaviors of middle- and high-school students. The urban and ethnically diverse students were interviewed before the class and about 10 months later.

Results, published in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, show that students who were sexually active at the beginning of the study were more likely to continue to have sex and to engage in sexually risky behaviors.

Students were less likely to say they planned to practice safe sex if they reported being sexually experienced at the study's outset, particularly if they were males in middle school. According to the report, about 63% of boys and 30% of girls in middle school reported sexual experience.

Overall, students' long-term knowledge about how to prevent STDs and their belief that they would be capable of carrying out a specific safe-sex behavior were higher after participating in the specially designed program. Students were more likely to say that they intended to practice safe sex after taking part in the program in middle school, but not in high school.

``Our study...underscores that addressing sexuality in a clear and accurate way in schools does not encourage increases in sexual activity,'' Dr. David M. Siegel, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

The finding that the students' attitudes and sexual practices after the class was influenced by their pre-class beliefs and behaviors ``indicates the need to begin testing interventions at younger ages before the transition to unhealthy behavioral choices has already begun,'' said Siegel, from the University of Rochester in New York.

In an editorial that accompanies the report, Drs. Bonita F. Stanton and Mark Gibson of Morgantown, West Virginia, note that the study answers several important questions about teens and sexuality.

The findings not only show that it is possible to shape the sexual behavior of teens, the editorialists write, but underscore the importance of discussing sex both before they have become sexually active and after they have had sex.

The results are based on data from about 4,000 students from 10 schools. Half of the students were African American, 16% were Hispanic, 20% were white and 14% were another race or ethnicity.

The educational program studied is called the Rochester AIDS Prevention Project for Youth (RAPP). It begins with classes that address decision making in general and then progresses through specific content related to age-appropriate sexuality and prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. The classes involve role-playing, games and other participatory activities. A male and a female who reflect the ethnicity of students lead the classes.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 2001;155:1117-1126.

Reference Source 89

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