Educating Teenagers About Sex in the United States

Sex education in schools and other places, as well as received from parents, provides adolescents with information to make informed choices about sex at a crucial period of their development. Using data from the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), this report examines the percentage of male and female teenagers 15–19 years who received sex education. Teenagers were asked if they received formal instruction on four topics of sex education at school, church, a community center, or some other place before they were 18 years old and the grade they were in when this first occurred. In addition, they were asked if they talked to their parents before they were 18 about topics concerning sex, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevention.