Attitudes of Mothers toward Sex Education
DORIS BLOCH, RN, DRP 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 (CTAttitudes), and also toward sex education in school (SAttitudes) 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 planners need to pay due regard to the sentiments of all
four maternal groups and all social classes in developing 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 attitudes 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 intermeshed or mistaken one for the other. These components
are: 1) attitudes toward the content and timing of sex education (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 California locations, a small industrial city and a suburban “bedroom” 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, Research 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 publication 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 interview, 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 constituted the basis for a pilot study. Consequently, the data
here reported reflect interviews with 124 mothers, whose index daughters (all seventh graders) ranged in age from 11 to
14.*
The socioeconomic status of the study families was estimated by use of the Hollingshead two-factor index of social
position^ (Table 1). Most of the mothers were currently married (87.1 per cent) and almost all (95.2 per cent) were between 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 examined.*”* 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 unsatisfactorily 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.
AJPH September 1979, Vol. 69, No. 9 911
BLOCH
TABLE 1-Distribution of Respondents by Ethnic Group and TABLE 2-Mean CT Attitude Scores, by Sociai Class
Social Class
l&l l
III
IV
V
Total
S>0(
No,
44
17
21)
10
91
ciai uiass
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 reliability 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 SAttitude 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 preferred 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, compared 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 somewhat larger proportion of the white mothers named “parents” 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-Attitudes 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 striaghtline pattern for the socioeconomic groups, with mothers in
Classes I-II most liberal and those in Class V most conservative, the pattern of mean S-Attitude scores for these
respective class groups is less clear. In the case of S-Attitudes, t-tests for equality of means indicate a statistically significant 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 favorable attitudes.
Relationship between CT-Attitudes and S-Attitudes
As anticipated, the data reveal a significant positive association 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
912 AJPH September 1979, Vol. 69, No. 9
ATTITUDES TOWARD SEX EDUCATION
TABLE 3—Mean S-Attltude Scores, by Social Class TABLE 4-Mean S-Attitude Scores, by Attitudes toward ConSocial 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 0-11; 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 education: 1) mothers with high scores on both components (HIHIs, N = 40); 2) those with low scores on both components
(LO-LOs, N = 41); 3) CT-liberals with relatively unfavorable 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 SAttitudes 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 timing 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 interviews 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 number 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 parents 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 parental 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 social 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. Conversely, 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.
AJPH September 1979, Vol. 69, No. 9 913
BLOCH
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 revealed 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 having 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 correlation between social class and S-Attitudes has gone unnoticed. 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 liberal 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 planning 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 liberalized 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 psychological 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 misunderstanding 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 education of their daughters. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University 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. University of Oregon, 1949.
914 AJPH September 1979, Vol. 69, No. 9
ATTITUDES TOWARD SEX EDUCATION
5. Lemon B: Parental attitudes toward sex education. Unpublished 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 University, 1963.
7. Shaw ME and Wright JM: Scales for the measurement of attitudes. 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 Nursing 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: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1966, pp. 231-232.
11. Paddack CT: Public opinion of the people of Washington regarding the teaching of sex education in the public schools. Unpublished 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: American Institute of Public Opinion, June 23, 1969. (Report of Opinion 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. NU27,049 from the National Institutes of Health, Division of Nursing;
also (in part) through General Research Support Grant SOl-FR05441 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 Gortner. Dr. Eugene Levine, and Mr. Roger Libby for reading and commenting upon a draft of this paper. Special thanks go to Mrs. Evelyn
Lazzari for her extensive Helpance 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 im2 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 educa2 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, chil2 1 0 dren leam that sex is a normal part of life.
A U D Classroom discussion about sex will stimu0 1 2 late too much interest in raw sex.
AJPH September 1979, Vol. 69, No. 9 915

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