Sexuality education groups in juvenile detention

Several major studies have described the magnitude and character of adolescent sexual activity and sexual knowledge related to contraception and sexually transmitted diseases (Diepold & Young, 1979; Hass, 1979; Sorenson, 1973; Zelnick & Kantner, 1980). Few systematic studies have been conducted, however, which analyze the attitudes toward sexuality and contraception of delinquent adolescents who are generally school dropouts and who may engage in socially unacceptable behaviors such as running away, drug abuse, and prostitution. Delinquent youths, especially delinquent girls, have been characterized as being more sexually active and less sexually knowledgeable than their nondelinquent peers (Gibbon, 1981; Mannarino & Marsh, 1978). Despite the assumed high-risk nature of this delinquent population, few juvenile detention facilities have offered systematically evaluated coeducational sex education programs. One barrier to implementation of such programs in juvenile detention centers is the lack of a treatment or program orientation of most staff, and/or staff denial of adolescent sexuality in general, an attitude which suppresses the development of healthier sexual values and often promotes pathologic sexual interaction within institutions (Shore & Gochros, 1981). A recent survey of adolescent sexuality (Diepold, 1979) points out that teenagers' feelings about their "sexual selves" impacts greatly upon their general self-image. Low self-esteem is more frequently found among delinquents than nondelinquents (Jones & Swain, 1977; Lund & Salury, 1980), and treatment for delinquent girls often focuses on increasing self-esteem and developing assertiveness skills based on feelings of self-worth (DeLange, Lanahan, & Barton, 1981; NiCarthy, 1981). Two studies carried out with juvenile detainees from a large urban center confirmed that sexual activity among delinquent adolescents is significantly greater than that of the general adolescent population, and that the delinquents have little or no knowledge of birth control methods or venereal disease (Deisher, 1980; Schroeder, 1981). Further, these adolescents appear to endorse constricted and conventional values related to sexual activity, abortion, and relationship issues and frequently have a background of sexual abuse and prostitution. These findings form the basis of the current study which attempts to develop an effective coeducational sex education program for this population within a detention facility. This program is specifically designed for a sexually active adolescent group aged 14 to 17.