Sexuality Education
The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506307633.N738Abstract
Sexuality education comprises the lifelong intentional processes by which people learn about themselves and others as sexual, gendered beings from biological, psychological and socio-cultural perspectives. It takes place through a potentially wide range of programs and activities in schools, community settings, religious centers, as well as informally within families, among peers, and through electronic and other media. Sexuality education for adolescents occurs in the context of the biological, cognitive, and social-emotional developmental progressions and issues of adolescence. Formal sexuality education falls into two main categories: behavior change approaches, which are represented by abstinence-only and abstinence-plus models, and healthy sexual development approaches, represented by comprehensive sexuality education models. Evaluations of program effectiveness, largely based on the outcomes of behavior change models, provide strong evidence that abstinence-only programs are ineffective, and mixed evidence on the effectiveness of programs that include contraception and safer sex. There is a particularly strong need for sexuality education among traditionally underserved youth, including sexual minorities, youth with disabilities, and those in foster care.
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- Eva S. Goldfarb, professor of health education and chair of the Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Montclair State University, is a nationally recognized expert in the field of sexuality education. Dr. Goldfarb leads sexuality education and sexual health programs with youth, parents, educators, and other professionals and has trained teachers across the country. Goldfarb is co-author of Our Whole Lives: Sexuality Education: Grades 10-12 and Our Whole Lives: Sexuality Education: Grades 4-6, curricula for which she was awarded an honorary doctorate, is co-author and co-editor of Filling the Gaps: Hard-To-Teach Topics in Human Sexuality, and co-author of Making Smarter Choices About Sex, a curriculum for middle school adolescents. Recently, Goldfarb co-authored Being Out, Staying Safe, the first HIV/STD prevention curriculum specifically geared for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual teens. Her work has been featured in Sexuality and Our Faith, on MTV.com, in Newsweek, The Nation, Self and The New York Times. Dr. Goldfarb has published numerous articles and essays and has presented at conferences worldwide in the area of sexuality education and sexual health. She holds a Ph.D. in Human Sexuality Education from the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters Degree in Communications and a Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary).
- Norman A. Constantine, a research psychologist and methodologist, is program director of the Public Health Institute's Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development. Dr.
- Constantine's research focuses on adolescent sexual health and rights, sexuality education, parent-adolescent communication, and policy use and misuse of research evidence. He is principal investigator of sexuality education research and policy studies funded by The California Wellness Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and a randomized trial of the Planned Parenthood -Los Angeles Sexuality Education Initiative, and directs a