Too Little Too Late: Perceptions of Sexual Health Education in Spain

Despite the importance of school-based sexual health education (SHE) for enhancing sexual health outcomes, little is known about the SHE youth receive in Spain.

The goal of this research was to shed light on the experience of SHE of Spanish adults.

Participants were 524 Spaniards (73% women, 27% men) between 18 to 70 years of age (M = 35.29, SD = 11.68) who completed an on-line survey. This survey collected information on whether and during which courses they had received SHE in high school. In addition, participants indicated the extent to which each of 10 important sexual health topics had been covered in their school-based SHE.

On average, participants indicated that these 10 important SHE topics were covered between not at all and poorly. Biological topics were most likely to be covered at least to a small extent. Participants who received SHE on average received it in two different grades, most often around 14-16 years old. These participants, on average, rated the quality of the SHE as poor. There were no differences in perceptions of the extent or quality of SHE based on age-group or sexual orientation. However, women reported receiving significantly less SHE than did men; there were no gender differences in perceptions of the quality of SHE. Participants who had received SHE in more grades reported more extensive and higher quality SHE.

Results reflect that SHE in high schools in Spain is still very limited, which could be related to poorer sexual health. To improve sexual health, it would be necessary to enhance the SHE provided in Spanish schools.