• School based comprehensive sex education shows very little effectiveness, a global research review found. 
  • The review also found that studies of school based sex education foundincreased sexual activity in some cases.
  • This comes as families across the U.S. protest against explicit sex education programs taught in schools.

A global research review of school based comprehensive sex education programs found very little effectiveness from these programs and instead found increased sexual activity.

The review, conducted by the Institute for Research & Evaluation and published in the Issues in Law and Medicine in January, examined 60 studies of 40 school based comprehensive sex education programs in the U.S. as well as 43 studies of 39 programs in other countries.

The review found “little evidence that [comprehensive sex education] programs are effective at producing positive impact on their participants” and questioned the efficacy of school based comprehensive sex education, according to a press release from the Institute for Research and Evaluation.

“Perhaps of greatest concern, this new analysis found harmful effects on children and youth for roughly one in six school-based comprehensive sex education programs worldwide,” lead author Irene Erickson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Of the 103 school based comprehensive sex education studies, six studies found evidence of “real effectiveness” at least 12 months after the program without producing other negative effects, the review found. But the review also found no evidence that these six programs increased consistent condom usage or teen abstinence and condom use within the same program. It also found one out of six of these studies was effective at reducing teen pregnancy and one was effective at reducing sexually transmitted diseases.

Conversely, the review found that 16 of the studies showed negative effects on teen sexual behavior and sexual health. This includes 18 increases in teen sexual activity and other risky behaviors.

Negative effects listed in the review include increased pregnancy, increased STDs, increased sexual activity (initiation, frequent or recent sex), decreased condom use, increased oral sex, increased sex partners, an increase in forced or coerced sex, or an increase in paid sex.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/02/20/sex-education-study-teen-pregnancy-condoms/