Sex education

Attitudes of Mothers toward Sex Education

DORIS B L O C H , RN, D R P H

Abstract: Data are presented on the attitudes of mothers from the entire social class spectrum toward content and timing of sex education for children (CT- Attitudes), and also toward sex education in school (S- Attitudes) in two California communities in 1969. Findings underscore the necessity to consider these two attitudinal variables separately. As a result of their separation for study purposes, it was possible to arrive at a four-fold typology or grouping of mothers: 1) CT

liberals in favor, and 2) CT liberals opposed to sex education in schools, 3) CT conservatives in favor, and 4) CT conservatives opposed to school programs of sex education. It is inferred that educational plan- ners need to pay due regard to the sentiments of all four maternal groups and all social classes in devel- oping sex education programs for families and for school children. (Am J Public Health 69:911-915 1979.)

There is need for a better understanding of parental atti- tudes about sex education in school. Previous studies have suffered from a lack of precision in defining "attitudes toward sex education." Attitude measurement has generally mixed two different components which should not be inter- meshed or mistaken one for the other. These components are: 1) attitudes toward the content and timing of sex educa- tion (CT-Attitudes), and 2) attitudes toward sex education in school (S-Attitudes).

The data reported in this paper are derived from a larger study whose purpose was to examine the dilemma which may occur when there is a gap between what mothers feel they should do and what they are actually doing in the sex education of their children.'- ̂

Methodology

The Sample

The study here presented was carried out in two Califor- nia locations, a small industrial city and a suburban "bed- room" community. A random sample of 194 names was drawn from the roster of all seventh-grade girls enrolled in

Address reprint requests to Doris Bloch, RN, DrPH, Chief, Re- search Support Section, Division of Nursing, Bureau of Health Manpower, Health Resources Administration, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Center Bldg., Room 3-50, 3700 East-West Highway, Hyattsville, MD 20782. This paper, submitted to the Joumal August 9, 1978, was revised and accepted for pub- lication April 18, 1979.

the respective school districts. Interviews were requested with the mothers of all 194 girls. As 4.6 per cent of the mothers could not be located, 5.1 per cent had insufficient comprehension of English to participate in a satisfactory in- terview, and 17.5 per cent declined to participate in the study, interviews were conducted with 141 mothers (72.7 per cent) of the original sample. Of these 141 interviews, 17 con- stituted the basis for a pilot study. Consequently, the data here reported reflect interviews with 124 mothers, whose in- dex daughters (all seventh graders) ranged in age from 11 to 14.*

The socioeconomic status of the study families was esti- mated by use of the Hollingshead two-factor index of social position^ (Table 1). Most of the mothers were currently mar- ried (87.1 per cent) and almost all (95.2 per cent) were be- tween ages 30 and 49.

Variables and their Measurement

CT-Attitudes: For this research a number of scales for the measurement of sex education attitudes were exam- ined.*"* However, none of these existing tools were found entirely applicable to the present study because they mixed S- and CT-Attitudes and because many items were unsatis- factorily worded.

A provisional Likert scale consisting of 25 items was therefore constructed to measure mothers' attitudes toward content and timing of sex education (CT-Attitudes). Some of the component items were newly formulated, others were

*23.4 per cent age 11,71 percentage 12, 5.6 per cent over age 12; 65.3 per cent had not yet passed menarche.

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TABLE 1-Distribution of Respondents by Ethnic Group and TABLE 2 - M e a n CT Attitude Scores, by Sociai Class

Social Class

l & l l III IV V

Total

S>0(

No,

44 17 21) 10 91

ciai u i a s s

White

Percent

48.4 18.7

22.0 11.0

100

No.

0 0

9 10 19

Black

Per Cent

.0

.0 47.4 52.6

100

Spanish

No. Percent

0 .0 1 7.1

5 35.7 8 57.1

14 100

No.

44 18

34 28

124

Total

Per Cent

35.5 14.5 27.4 22.8

100

Soclal Class

l & l l III IV V

Total

aF = 6.51; d.f.

N

44 18 34 28

124

= 3, 120; p < .001.

Mean^

15.36 14.00 12.64 11.57 13.56

SD

2.82 4.05 3.83 4.89 4.07

taken from existing scales. Approximately one-half were worded to denote a liberal opinion and the other one-half a conservative opinion toward sex education. Subsequently, this collection of items was revised to encompass the final 10-item scale (Appendix 1).**

The possible range of scores for this 10-item scale is from 0 (most conservative) to 20 (most liberal). The actual range for the study sample was 0 to 20, with a mean of 13.56 and a standard deviation of 4.07. Testing by split-half relia- bility revealed a correlation of 0.54, corrected to 0.70 by the Spearman Brown formula.'"

S-Attitudes: A 25-item scale for measuring attitudes toward sex education in school was likewise constructed and subsequently revised into a 10-item scale (Appendix 2).** Possible range of scores for this scale is 0 (most unfavorable) to 20 (most favorable). Actual range of scores for the study sample was 0 to 20, with a mean of 13.42 and a standard deviation of 4.71. Split-half reliability was 0.83, corrected to 0.91 by the Spearman-Brown formula.

The mothers were also asked to choose from a list of sex information sources those which should be considered as first, second, and third in importance. As limited evidence of validity, it should be noted that the mothers who named the school as the most preferred choice had the highest mean S- Attitude score of any of the study participants; and those who did not name the school as a desirable choice at all had the lowest mean scores of the entire sample. When tested by one-way analysis of variance, the difference between the means was found to be statistically significant (F = 5.18; d.f. = 3, 120; p < .005).

Findings

As indicated, the study data were analyzed in relation to socioeconomic status. They reveal that 83.9 per cent of the mothers gave either the mother or both parents as the pre- ferred source of sex information for children. Some 93.5 per cent of the socioeconomic class (SEC) I-III mothers named parents as the preferred source of sex information, com- pared to 79.4 per cent of those in SEC IV and 67.8 percent of the SEC V participants. This finding indicates that the higher their socioeconomic status, the more likely are mothers to

**Additional information about scale development is available in references 1 and 9.

regard parents as the preferred source of sex education for children (Chi-square = 10.10; d.f. = 2; p < .01).

Within SECs IV and V, no significant relationship was found between ethnic group (white, Spanish-sumamed, or black) and preferred information source, although a some- what larger proportion of the white mothers named "par- ents" as the preferred sex educator.

Attitudes toward Content and Timing of Sex Education (CT-Attitudes)

On a possible scale of 0 to 20, with 0 representing the most conservative position and 20 the most liberal, the mean CT-Attitude score of the total participating group was 13.56, with a standard deviation of 4.07. The data show a significant relationship between social class and CT-Attitudes. The higher the social class of the mothers, the more likely are they to hold liberal CT-Attitudes (Table 2).

Attitudes toward Sex Education in School (S-Attitudes)

On a possible scale of 0 to 20, the mean S-Attitude score of the 124 mothers was 13.41, with a standard deviation of 4.70. As was also the case with CT-Attitudes, analysis of variance indicated a significant relationship between S-Atti- tudes and socioeconomic class. However, a comparison of Table 2 and Table 3, which follows, shows that the CT-and S-Attitude responses present quite different patterns.

While the mean CT-Attitude scores follow a striaght- line pattern for the socioeconomic groups, with mothers in Classes I-II most liberal and those in Class V most con- servative, the pattern of mean S-Attitude scores for these respective class groups is less clear. In the case of S-Atti- tudes, t-tests for equality of means indicate a statistically sig- nificant difference between the S-Attitudes of Classes I, II, and III mothers (combined) and Class IV and V mothers (combined) (t, 2-tailed, = 4.28; d.f. = 122; p < .001), with mothers in the two lower socioeconomic classes holding the most favorable attitudes toward sex education in school, and those in the upper three SEC classes holding the least favor- able attitudes.

Relationship between CT-Attitudes and S-Attitudes

As anticipated, the data reveal a significant positive as- sociation between the two sex education attitude variables: the more liberal the attitudes toward the content and timing of sex education, the more favorable are the attitudes toward

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ATTITUDES TOWARD SEX EDUCATION

TABLE 3—Mean S-Attltude Scores, by Social Class TABLE 4 - M e a n S-Attitude Scores, by Attitudes toward Con-

Social Class

l & l l III IV V

Total

N

44 18 34 28

124

Meana

12,18 10,61 15,23 14,96 13,41

SD

5 34 4,57 3,48 3,62 4,70

leni ai

CT-Attitudes''

Conservative Moderate Liberal

Total

na liming or s

N

38 57 29

124

«x Education

Meana

11,73 13,43 15,58 13.41

SO

4,88 4,64 3.75 4.70

= 6.64; d.f. = 3, 120; p < .001 ^F = 5.94; d.f. = 2, 121; p < .005, ''Conservative: score 0 - 1 1 ; moderate: score 12-16; liberal: score 17-20.

sex educatioti in school (Table 4), Iti additioti, however, they support the belief that the two attitude componetits are largely independent of each other (Figure 1). It is evident that the correlation between the CT- and S-Attitudes is far from perfect, Pearson product-moment correlation between them is ,28, only 7.8 per cent of the variance between the two distributions being shared. It was possible, therefore, to delineate four diflFerent types of mothers in terms of their varying attitudes toward content-timing, and school sex edu- cation: 1) mothers with high scores on both components (HI- HIs, N = 40); 2) those with low scores on both components (LO-LOs, N = 41); 3) CT-liberals with relatively unfavor- able S-Attitudes (HI-LOs, N = l8);and4)CT-conservatives with relatively favorable S-Attitudes (LO-HIs, N = 25),

In an effort to discover which factors distinguish these four groups of mothers, the four groups were compared on a number of variables. All 18 CT-liberals with unfavorable S- Attitudes belonged to Classes I, II, and III, and almost all CT-conservatives with favorable S-Attitudes belonged to Classes IV and V, A sizable majority of mothers in all groups—but less so in the LO-HI group—preferred the home

20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I

0

O

i a: < o o

o X u ijj

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 SCORE FOR ATTITUDES TOWARO CONTENT AND

TIMING OF SEX EDUCATION

FIGURE 1—Scattergram of Attitudes toward the Content and Timing of Sex Education and Attitudes toward Sex Education in School (N=124)

as the source of sex information. The LO-LO mothers were most likely to refuse permission for a daughter interview*** (Table 5),

Discussion

Maternal attitudes toward sex information for children were analyzed with a focus on attitudes toward the source of such information, and attitudes toward the content and tim- ing of sex information. Content and timing were combined into one tool, because these elements appeared too closely allied to permit separation. Data were derived from inter- views with 124 mothers of the seventh grade girls.

The analyses have included the variable "social class," since other significant variables, such as religion and mother's sex knowledge, are themselves highly correlated with SEC class. Other variables, such as mother's own sex education, did not seem to relate to attitudes. Data on a num- ber of daughter variables, such as birth order and whether or not the daughter had passed menarche, were collected, but were not analyzed in relation to maternal attitudes.

As expected, the overwhelming majority of the mothers in the sample (84 per cent) took the traditional view that par- ents should be primarily responsible for the sex education of their children. Witmer* reported in 1929 that over 90 per cent of mothers expressed the belief that children should receive sex information in the home. Although the two studies are not strictly comparable, there seems to have been little change in 40 years,

CT-Attitudes were conceptualized as relevant to the pa- rental role. They are regarded as that part of the role which prescribes what and when children should be taught about sex. Consistent with certain prior studies, this investigator found a positive association between CT-Attitudes and so- cial class. From the study data it may be concluded that the higher the social class of mothers, the more likely they are to feel that parents should be the primary (but not necessarily the sole) sex educators, and that children should be taught the facts of life at an early age and in extensive degree. Con- versely, the lower their social class, the more likely are they to feel that sources other than parents should assume the sex

***The daughter interview was requested to gain information about the extent and sources of the girls' sex knowledge. These data will be reported elsewhere.

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TABLE 5-Distribution of Respondents by Attitude Typoiogy, and by Sociai Ciass, Preferred Source of Sex Information, and Completion of Daughter interviews

Social Class® mill IVV

Home Preferred Source'' Yes No

Daughter Interview"^ Completed Refused

No.

20 20

35 5

34 6

HI-HI

Per Cent

50.0 50.0

87.5 22.5

85.0 15.0

CT Attitude—S-Attitude Typology

No.

18 0

18 0

15 3

HI-LO

Per Cent

100.0 .0

100.0 .0

83.3 16.7

No.

3 22

16 g

22 3

LO-HI

Per Cent

12.0 88.0

64.0 36.0

88.0 12.0

No.

21 20

35 6

21 20

LO-LO

Per Cent

51.2 48.8

85.4 24.6

51.2 48.8

No.

62 62

104 20

92 32

Total

Per Cent

50.0 50.0

83.9 16.1

74.2 25.8

a) x2 = 32.46; df. = 3; p < .001 b) x' = 11.33; df. = 3;p < .025 c) x* = 17.02; df. = 3;p < .001

education function, and that relatively little should be re- vealed to children, and that little relatively late.

S-Attitudes were also conceptualized as relevant to the parental role. In contrast to CT-Attitudes, the data do not indicate a linear, positive association between social class and attitudes toward sex education in school. Mothers in the lower social strata were most favorably inclined toward hav- ing sex education a school responsibility.

Previous opinion studies, using various methodologies, have consistently found parents to be highly favorable toward sex education in school.""" However, the need to separate CT and S sex education attitude components has not been recognized in the past, so that the peculiar correla- tion between social class and S-Attitudes has gone unno- ticed. Sex education experts have generally labored under the belief that support for sex education in schools is highest in the higher social classes.*' "• '*

Intuitively it would be expected that mothers with liber- al attitudes toward the content and timing of sex education would also be favorably inclined toward sex education in school. However, a sizable proportion of the sample did not fit the expected pattem.

If these findings can be generalized, professionals plan- ning parent sex education groups, and those planning school sex education programs for children should consider four, rather than two types of parents. That is to say, they have to take into account not just parents who are for and parents who are against sex education, but four types of parents who may react differently to the type of program that is proposed and/or offered.

The HI-HI group may be most likely to take advantage of parent education programs, but not need it as much as the other parents. If they themselves are not doing a good job of sex education with their children—despite the fact that they want to—they are happy to have the school fill in the gaps.

The LO-LO group may not be very interested in parent or school sex education, presumably feeling that sex and

sex education are better "swept under the rug." However, an attempt to involve these mothers in facing the issues may possibly result in relatively high payoff in terms of liber- alized CT-Attitudes as well as in liberalized S-Attitudes.

The HI-LO group may or may not take advantage of parent education. Other data from the study (not reported here) tend to support the belief that these mothers feel that they are already doing a good job, although the validity of their self-assessment can be questioned. Their CT-Attitudes are already liberal; if they are not doing a good job of sex education themselves, this may be due to deeper psychologi- cal factors on which parent education may have little if any efiFect. They are unlikely to favor school programs in any case.

The LO-HI group may well feel too insecure about doing the job of sex education themselves to be interested in taking advantage of any parent education program that might be ofiFered. It may be that they and their children are most benefited by a good school sex education program.

Professionals planning new or improved school family life and sex education programs for children must consider these four types of parents; to think only in terms of parents who favor and those who oppose sex education would be an inadequate explanation of reality, and could result in mis- understanding both those parents who favor and those who are opposed to sex education in schools.

REFERENCES 1. Bloch D: Attitudes and practices of mothers in the sex educa-

tion of their daughters. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Uni- versity of California, Berkeley, 1970.

2. Bloch D: Sex education practices of mothers. Joumal of Sex Education and Therapy 4:7-12, 1978.

3. Hollingshead AB; Two factor index of social position. New Haven; Author, 1957.

4. Harris MH; Parent-teacher attitudes toward sex education and the film. Human Growth. Unpublished master's thesis. Univer- sity of Oregon, 1949.

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ATTITUDES TOWARD SEX EDUCATION

5. Lemon B: Parental attitudes toward sex education. Unpub- lished master's thesis. University of Oregon, 1948.

6. Reeve SB: Parental attitudes toward sex education in junior high school. Unpublished master's thesis, Florida State Univer- sity, 1963.

7. Shaw ME and Wright JM: Scales for the measurement of atti- tudes. New York: McGraw Hill, 1967, pp. 63-64.

8. Witmer HL: The attitudes of mothers toward sex education. N.p.: The University of Minnesota Press, 1929.

9. Ward MJ and Lindeman CA: Instruments for Measuring Nurs- ing Practice and Other Health Care Variables: Psychosocial and Physiological, Volume 1 and 2. DHEW Pub. No. HRA 78-53 and 78-54, Division of Nursing, Bureau of Health Manpower, Health Resources Administration, Washington, DC, 1979.

10. Fox DJ: Fundamentals of research in nursing. New York: Ap- pleton-Century-Crofts, 1966, pp. 231-232.

11. Paddack CT: Public opinion of the people of Washington regard- ing the teaching of sex education in the public schools. Unpub- lished master's thesis. The State College of Washington, 1951, pp. 14-15.

12. Fink K: Public thinks sex education courses should be taught in the schools. Journal of Social Hygiene 37:62-63, 1951.

13. Field MD: Poll favors high school sex courses. San Francisco Chronicle, p. 14, August 29, 1969.

14. Gallup G: Sex revolution in U.S., Part II. Princeton, NJ: Ameri- can Institute of Public Opinion, June 23, 1969. (Report of Opin- ion Poll).

15. Libby RW: Parental attitudes toward high school sex education programs. The Family Coordinator 19:234-247, 1970.

16. Bowers RS: A study of opinions concerning the teaching of sex education in the public schools. Unpublished master's thesis. East Tennessee State College, p. 58, 1962.

ACKNOWLEDGti/IENTS This investigation was supported through fellowship No. NU-

27,049 from the National Institutes of Health, Division of Nursing; also (in part) through General Research Support Grant SOl-FR- 05441 from the National Institutes of Health to the School of Public Health, University of Califomia, Berkeley, and (in part) through a Graduate Student Grant-in-Aid from the Graduate Division of the University of California, in Berkeley.

The writer wishes to express appreciation to Dr. Susan Gort- ner. Dr. Eugene Levine, and Mr. Roger Libby for reading and com- menting upon a draft of this paper. Special thanks go to Mrs. Evelyn Lazzari for her extensive assistance with the most difficult task, the condensing of a lengthy manuscript. This paper reports on a portion of the author's doctoral dissertation, completed at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1970.

APPENDIX 1 —Revised CT-Attitude Scale APPENDIX 2—Revised S-Attitude Scale

A U D Children should not be told about intercourse 0 1 2 until they are at least 12 years old.

A U D If a child of 6 asks where babies come from, 0 1 2 heshouldbe told: "From God; He lets a little

seed grow under mother's heart."

A U D Children should be taught that playing with 0 1 2 themselves is a bad habit.

A U D Children should be told that women have to 0 1 2 be married to have babies.

A U D Children should be allowed to see their pets 2 1 0 mate.

A U D Parents should teach their children not to talk 0 1 2 about the facts of life with other children.

A U D If a young child asks how the baby got inside 0 1 2 the mother, it's best to change the subject.

A U D Children should only be told about the facts 0 I 2 of life when they ask questions.

A U D A child who wants to know how babies get 2 I 0 out of the mother, should be told the truth, no

matter how young he is.

A U D When a 5-year-old asks how babies get out of 0 1 2 the mother, he should be told he is too young

to know.

A U D Teaching the facts of life in school is as im- 2 1 0 portant as teaching reading, writing, and

arithmetic.

A U D Children should learn about the facts of life as 2 1 0 part of their regular work in school.

A U D When the facts of life are taught in school, 0 1 2 children are given too much information

when they are too young.

A U D When children are given a good sex educa- 2 1 0 tion in school, they will make wiser decisions

when they grow up.

A U D The facts of life should be taught in school, so 2 1 0 that children get the proper information.

A U D Schools should take the lead in teaching the 2 1 0 facts of life.

A U D Boys and girls should be together in classes 2 1 0 where the facts of life are taught.

A U D Teachers are too overworked to teach sex 0 1 2 education in addition to all their other duties.

A U D If the facts of life are taught in school, chil- 2 1 0 dren leam that sex is a normal part of life.

A U D Classroom discussion about sex will stimu- 0 1 2 late too much interest in raw sex.

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