2 polls, opposite opinions on sex ed

Two Utah school districts — Provo and Nebo — provide abstinence-only sex education. The Nebo District, for example, prohibits the discussion of "perversion, homosexuality, contraception, promiscuity and abortion except when presenting the negative consequences thereof."

There are also a few programs, presented by community-based groups to some Utah students, that are funded by the federal abstinence-education grants. These are also abstinence-only: as defined by Section 510 of Title V of the Social Security Act (the federal funding that expires later this month), the program "has as its exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity." Presenters "can mention the word condom but usually in context of factual information about its failure rate," said Jennifer Mayfield, adolescent health coordinator for the Utah Department of Health.

During the 2006-07 fiscal year, Utah received $288,000 in federal funds for abstinence-only education, geared primarily to "groups most likely to bear children out of wedlock," Mayfield says.

According to Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association in Washington, D.C., teaching abstinence is mostly about "skill building, relationship building and goal-setting."

'Message testing'

The NAEA's survey of 1,002 parents, conducted by Zogby International, is what is known in pollster jargon as a "message-testing" poll. The idea is to try out rhetoric on the public before embarking on a campaign to sell, for example, high-fiber doughnuts or a presidential candidate. Usually, says Fritz Wenzel, director of communications at Zogby, the results of a message-testing poll aren't released to the public but are used instead to "develop the message, then the message goes public."

In this case, though, part of the message had to do with the poll process itself. According to the NAEA, "when parents become aware of what abstinence education vs. comprehensive sex education actually teaches, support for abstinence programs jumps from 40 to 60 percent, while support for comprehensive programs drops from 50 to 30 percent." In other words, simply as a result of being asked the questions, public perception changed.

Parents taking the poll were introduced to various aspects of both types of sex education, through polling questions such as, "If you knew that some Comprehensive Sex Education courses may advise students to experiment with different flavors and colors of condoms as part of its sex education, would you be (much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely, etc.) to support teaching Abstinence Education in place of Comprehensive Sex Education?"

Which emphasis?