Sex education practices of mothers and fathers with preschool children

Graduation date: 1980This study examined the sex education practices of middle class parents with preschool children. Subjects were 128 parents of three- to five year -old children, including 37 mothers of daughters, 37 mothers of sons, 27 fathers of daughters, and 27 fathers of sons. These parents were administered a sex education questionnaire examining children's curiosity about genital differences, curiosity about birth and reproduction, use of obscene words, masturbation, and sex play. In each area, parents provided information about the frequency with which they observed the behavior, the manner in which they responded to the behavior, and the level of comfort they experienced in responding. Results indicated that the majority of parents had encountered questions about genital differences, questions about reproduction, and masturbation. Moreover, half of the sample had encountered obscene language and one quarter had observed sex play. Chi square analyses revealed that mothers and fathers were equally likely to have observed all five sexual behaviors. However, parents of sons were significantly more likely than parents of daughters to have observed masturbation. An examination of parents' responses to the various sexual behaviors revealed that parents provided more accurate information about genital sex differences to daughters than sons. Another notable finding was that the majority of parents failed to provide their children with an accurate description of reproduction and birth. Parents were most likely to ignore their children's masturbation, and to respond to obscene language with a negative sanction. Finally, the data revealed that parents felt quite comfortable in responding to children's sexual questions and behaviors. An analysis of variance performed on comfort ratings also revealed that parents of sons experienced more comfort than parents of daughters in responding to children's questions about genital differences and reproduction. The implications of current findings for sex education programs were discussed