Satisfaction with School-Based Sexual Health Education in a Sample of University Students Recently Graduated from Ontario High Schools‪.‬

Abstract: This study investigated satisfaction with school-based sexual health education in a sample of first-year university students recently graduated from Ontario high schools. Participants (n=161) drawn from Introductory Psychology and Introductory Human Sexuality courses completed a questionnaire that assessed their current perceptions of past experience. Overall participants gave very high importance ratings to more than half of 20 topics they considered "important to learn about in high school" (and well above average importance ratings to the others), and would have preferred presentation in grades 6-8 of many sexual health topics that they perceived as having been presented later, and were generally satisfied with their sexual health education teachers and with their overall school-based sexual health education. With very few exceptions, participant's assessments did not differ by gender or type of school attended (i.e., public or Catholic). The results suggest general satisfaction with school-based sexual health education, particularly in relation to changes in their knowledge and values, and a preference for earlier grade exposure to, and emphasis on, many topics as one way to improve the curriculum. The implications and limitations of the findings are discussed. Introduction