Attitudes towards Comprehensive School-based Sex Education in Croatian Schools: Results from a National Study of Youth

This paper assessed young people's attitudes toward the need for sex education in Croatian schools and about the preferred sex educators. In addition, we analysed levels of acceptance for 11 topics which are commonly found in comprehensive sex education programs. The study, originally intended to explore HIV-related knowledge, attitudes, and sexual risks, was carried out in February 2010 on a national probability sample of young adults aged 18-25 (N = 1005). A large majority of participants (83.8%) supported the introduction of sex education in Croatian schools. Asked about their preferred sex educator, participants most often reported a doctor (36.9%) and peer educator (23%). None of the 11 topics, derived from the recently published UNESCO International Guidelines on Sexuality Education, was assessed as unimportant. STIs and the Modes of Protection, Sexual Harassment and Abuse, and Pregnancy and Parenthood were the topics perceived as most important. Overall, the mean assessment for all 11 topics was 3.26 (SD = 0.46; range = 1-4). Gender differences were noted in the acceptance of some topics, but the ranking of the three most important and three least important topics was not gender-specific. Importantly, only a few differences were found in the assessment of sex education topics between the most religious and least religious participants. Overall, findings suggest that a majority of young Croatian adults support a rather similar concept of school-based sex education. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]