Comprehensive Sex Education in Schools

To gain general background knowledge on this issue, begin by education yourself on the differences between abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education.
 

Information on Comprehensive Sex Education:
“Comprehensive Sex Education.” Advocates for Youth. 4 April 2006. Advocates for    Youth Organization. 1 April 2006.             .
            This site is crucial to pro-comprehensive sex education research. It provides many links to important sites that demonstrate the need for a federally funded comprehensive sex education program, and has much factual evidence that supports this conclusion.
 

Information on Abstinence-Only Sex Education:
“Abstinence.” Issues in Brief. 2006. The Heritage Foundation. 1 April 2006.             .
            This site demonstrates the other side of the sex education argument. It is biased, because The Heritage Foundation is an arch-conservative group that is subtly religiously affiliated. However, it is an important tool that provides insight into the conservative argument for abstinence-only sex education.

Some of the essential questions student researchers may want to address include:

What are the primary differences between comprehensive and abstinence-only sex education?

What is the federal legislative support behind each method?

Which method has been proven to be more effective and why?

176: Ethics of sex & reproduction 

613: Promotion of health 

The library does not offer any helpful print indexes relevant to this topic.

The best databases for information on sex education in public schools include EBSCOhost and Student Resource Center Gold. When using EBSCOhost, it is best to search for peer reviewed journals so that the sources that appear are credible. You also want to be sure to search through ERIC and the Health Center databases within EBSCOhost. 

EBSCOhost can be found at: http://ejournals.ebsco.com/login.asp?bCookiesEnabled=TRUE 

Student Resource Center Gold can be found at: 

http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC?locID=erde79591&finalAuth=true 

“Advocates for Youth.” Advocates for Youth. 4 April 2006. Advocates for Youth Organization. 1 April 2006. 

        Advocates for youth is a great site to use when searching for other valuable pieces of information. The site has links to important pieces of legislation, definitions of key concepts, publications and lesson plans. It is a good portal to a myriad of information regarding the importance of comprehensive sex education.
“Planned Parenthood Federation of America.” Planned Parenthood. 2006 Planned Parenthood Federation of America. 1 April 2006.       http://www.plannedparenthood.org/pp2/portal/>.
       Planned Parenthood is a world renowned organization that provides sexual health care to teens. Their website offers important health information, fact sheets, reports, local health services and links to pertaining pieces of legislation. It is a great source for quick, up to date facts on comprehensive sex education.

“Comprehensive Sex Education v. Abstinence Only.” PFAW on Capitol Hill. People for the American Way.             http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=20762&gt

“SCIES.” 2006. Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. 1 April 2006.  http://www.siecus.org/
“Sex Education.” Teen Pregnancy. 2006. Woman’s Health Channel. 1 April 2006.

“Sexual Rights.” Our Issues. 2004. The International Women’s Health Coalition. 1 April  2006. .

“Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.” H.R.3734.2006. Library of Congress. 1 April 2006. .
 

“House Report 108-636.” Status of Appropriations Legislation for Fiscal Year 2005.   2006. Library of Congress. 1 April 2006. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/R?cp108:FLD010:@1(hr636):>.
            This bill is responsible for legislating abstinence-only sexual education federal funding. It outlines specific guidelines for the abstinence-only method and states that the federal government will only give money to schools employing that program. It is in stark contrast to the Responsible Education About Life Act, which pushes for federally funded comprehensive sex education in public schools.
 

“Responsible Education About Life Act (REAL).” S.368. 2006. Advocates for Youth. 1 April 2006. .
            The Responsible Education About Life Act, supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, is pushed by the Advocates for Youth Organization and seeks to disband abstinence-only federal funding. It is an important piece of legislation in the fight for comprehensive sex education.

Images are not particularly helpful to this topic.

Santelli, John MD. “Abstinence and abstinence-only education: A review of U.S. policies and programs.” Journal of Adolescent Health January 2006: 72-81. Society for Adolescent Medicine. 1 April 2006. 

The Journal of Adolescent Health is an important resource in defending the case for Comprehensive Sex Education. It is fairly succinct and includes the many key scientific facts that help negate the arguments for Abstinence-Only Sex Education. The Journal of Adolescent Health is also a very respected journal, so its information and sources are highly credible.