Sex Ed Before College Can Prevent Student Experiences Of Sexual Assault (EurekAlert)

Read the full article by Columbia University's Mailman School Of Public Health at EurekAlert.org 

Study shows that refusal skills training before age 18 may reduce risk of sexual assault in college.

Students who receive sexuality education, including refusal skills training, before college matriculation are at lower risk of experiencing sexual assault during college, according to new research published today in PLOS ONE. The latest publication from Columbia University's Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation (SHIFT) project suggests that sexuality education during high school may have a lasting and protective effect for adolescents.

The research found that students who received formal education about how to say no to sex (refusal skills training) before age 18 were less likely to experience penetrative sexual assault in college. Students who received refusal skills training also received other forms of sexual education, including instruction about methods of birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Students who received abstinence-only instruction did not show significantly reduced experiences of campus sexual assault.

"We need to start sexuality education earlier," said John Santelli, MD, the article's lead author, a pediatrician and professor of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. "It's time for a life-course approach to sexual assault prevention, which means teaching young people - before they get to college - about healthy and unhealthy sexual relationships, how to say no to unwanted sex, and how to say yes to wanted sexual relationships."

The findings draw on a confidential survey of 1671 students from Columbia University and Barnard College conducted in the spring of 2016 and on in-depth interviews with 151 undergraduate students conducted from September 2015 to January 2017. 

 Co-authors include: Stephanie A. Grilo, Tse-Hwei Choo, Gloria Diaz, Kate Walsh, Melanie Wall, Jennifer S. Hirsch, Patrick Wilson, Louisa Gilbert, Shamus Khan, and Claude A. Mellins

The study was funded by Columbia University with support by the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development.

Founded in 1922, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world.