Sexual Health Education and Attitudes Toward Gender and Sexual Minorities in New Brunswick

Abstract

Gender and sexual minorities experience an increased risk for stigma and poor sexual health outcomes compared to their cisgender heterosexual peers. Despite national and international recommendations for comprehensive and inclusive school-based sexual health education, research has shown inconsistencies and lack of gender and sexual minority content in New Brunswick’s curricula. The current study examined if adult participants’ experiences of New Brunswick’s sexual health education within the last 10 years included gender and sexual minority specific content and how perceptions of their sexual health education correlated with attitudes toward gender and sexual minorities. A total of 623 participants who attended sexual health education in New Brunswick between grades 6 to 12 completed an online survey. The survey measured sources of sexual health education, perceived quality of sexual health education, and homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. Participants of all identities and orientations reported low scores for the quality of their school-based sexual health education. Gender and sexual minority participants reported their education was not inclusive of their identities, which differed significantly from cisgender heterosexual participants’ experiences. Unexpectedly, higher perceived quality and inclusivity of school-based sexual health education significantly correlated with higher scores of homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. However, since most people reported low quality, the education itself was inadequate, but those who perceived it as higher quality were more likely to endorse stigma against sexual and gender minorities. Overall, this study highlights opportunities to improve the explicit and comprehensive inclusion of gender and sexual minority content in New Brunswick’s sexual health education curricula