Attitudes of selected secondary students toward family planning education

Abstract

The generalizations drawn from this study are limited to the sample of selected Iowa high school students studied. Participants were selected from students of teachers who attended a workshop on parent education at Iowa State University in December, 1978. Assumptions It was assumed that the researcher would be able to develop an instrument to measure attitudes toward family planning education which would be interpreted consistently by the respondents, and that the respondents would be willing to respond to the instrument. It was further assumed that the instrument would be administered by the teachers of each group in a similar manner to each group. Explanation of Dissertation Format This thesis contains three papers designed for immediate submission to the appropriate scholarly journals, "Adolescent Fertility," the first paper, is a review of the literature related to adolescent sexuality, pregnancy, and parenting. This paper has been submitted to The Family Coordinator. The second paper, "Development of an Instrument to Measure Attitudes Toward Family Planning Education," includes a description of the development of the attitude 4 instrument and the comparative analysis of the theoretical and statistical derivation of the dimensions of the instrument. The second article has been submitted to Educational and Psychological Measurement. Both of these papers were authored by J, M. Mercier. The third paper, "Attitudes of Selected Secondary Students Toward Family Planning Education," was authored by J. M. Mercier and R. P. Hughes. Ruth P. Hughes, the major professor, has supplied literary assistance and assistance in the interpretation of the data. The third paper has been submitted to the Home Economics Research Journal.

Behavior of Young People Regarding Family Planning

“…Out of that number, approximately 60% of STDs and infections occur in people younger than 25 years. Past experience with young people shows that they get knowledge about sexuality mostly from unreliable sources, such as television, magazines and “experience exchange” with peers and older adolescents (4). Information about “delicate topics” at home is scarce and insufficient, as well as school curricula (5).…”

Attitudinal and demographic characteristics of persons who are supportive of sex education in the schools

“…An earlier study of teens examined the variables of age, sex, religion, occupation of mother, and occupation of father to find possible relationships of their attitudes toward sex education in the schools (Mercier & Hughes, 1981). Sex differences, according to this study, have a major effect on the respondents' attitudes toward family planning education.…”

“…Although it is not the only factor having an effect, males and females have been socialized in different ways regarding sexuality and attitudes toward sexual activity (Mercier & Hughes, 1981). Darling and Hicks (1982), in a study of parental messages to adolescents about sexuality, found that parents transmit quite different messages to their daughters and their sons.…”

“…Teens of all ages supported sex education in the schools, with older teens being the most supportive (Mercier & Hughes, 1981). Little information exists on the effect of age on attitudes toward family planning education.…”

“…The objective of this study is to develop a profile The data for this research were taken from two previous research projects (Mercier & Hughes, 1981;Mercier, 1984).…”