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Abstract: 

Sexuality education supports healthy sexual behavior over a lifetime. This article comprehensively reviews the literature on sex education and its positive impact on health development. Because a student’s knowledge and behavior in young adult life arises in part from the exposure students have had in K-12 sex education, the curricula—which in some states is optional—has as much significance to students’ overall development as any other class, including math or English. Such topics as sexual socialization, exposure to diverse populations, and the “rules” of intimacy are necessary elements of the complex landscape of young adulthood, and it is not a leap to predict that the gains already made in expanding freedoms for non-binary sexual identity and protections against sexual violence depend on accurate and realistic sexual education in K-12.

Keywords: Influence of K-12 Sex Education on Later Behavior

Affiliations:  1: John Jay College of Criminal Justice.