Public acceptance of adoption and surrogacy methods currently prohibited in UK increases if one or both parents are infertile - study

UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

New research has found that the public is more accepting of adoption and surrogacy if one or both parents are infertile, even when applied to methods of adoption and surrogacy which are currently illegal in the UK.

The interdisciplinary research from the University of Birmingham and the University of Nottingham and published in The Journal of Bioethical Enquiry, has revealed that while the UK public is broadly supportive of all forms of adoption and surrogacy, no matter the circumstances this support increases significantly when one or both parents are infertile.

Dr Evelyn Svingen, Assistant Professor at the University of Birmingham, said: “Surrogacy and adoption are both family-making measures subject to extensive domestic and international regulation, and the UK is one country considering a legal overhaul with the Law Commission setting out its recommendations for reform surrounding surrogacy in March last year. Given the possible changes to the law, we wanted to understand the public attitudes to different forms of adoption and surrogacy.

“Our research found that both the family and fertility circumstances of a couple (that is, their fertility and whether they had children already) and the proposed form of adoption or surrogacy influenced participant attitudes.”

The study set out hypothetical scenarios where a heterosexual couple would like to have a child without going through pregnancy and childbirth. The hypothetical couple had four sets of circumstances:

1. Fertile with children.
2. Fertile without children.
3. One partner infertile.
4. Both partners infertile.

How the couple wanted to have a child was also split into four options:

1. Regular adoption.
2. Using a surrogate mother and sperm/egg from the intending father or mother.
3. Using a surrogate mother and donated sperm and egg (double donor surrogacy).
4. “Clear-cut” planned private adoption.

Currently planned private adoption and double donor surrogacy are legally prohibited in the UK.

1552 UK adults were then asked to what extent they agreed that the couple should be allowed to acquire a child in the proposed way. The researchers measured the variation in public support for different policies and the influence that family circumstances and fertility issues had on the participants' attitudes.

The results showed that in the hypothetical scenarios in which one or both partners in the couple were infertile, participants expressed overwhelming support for most types of adoption and surrogacy. This includes a planned private adoption scenario, in which the fictional couple asks another couple to conceive a child and hand it over to them to raise. In the scenarios where the couple had no fertility issues, support for any use of surrogacy decreased, as did support use of adoption, although by a smaller margin.

The lowest levels of support were shown for clear private adoption scenarios where a couple experiences no fertility issues. Still, even those scenarios received agreement from around half of the participants (47-50%), with the level of support increasing from 69-71% in case of fertility difficulties. Levels of moral agreement also increased for the double donor surrogacy scenario in the presence of infertility, 56-58% for fertile couples and 84-90% for infertile couples.

These results show that most of the public surveyed showed higher levels of support for any policy allowing a couple experiencing infertility to acquire a child, including in the case of the two policies that are prohibited by current U.K.

Dr Teresa Baron, Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham, concluded: “Our study found that the public expressed strong support for the current policy on surrogacy, with 63-65% of the public surveyed supporting the policy in cases of a fertile couple and 87-90% supporting the policy in cases of one of the parents being infertile. We also found that the level of support for any policy, including planned private adoption, currently illegal in the United Kingdom, significantly increases if at least one of the partners experiences fertility-related issues.

“These public attitudes may be something that policymakers want to consider when it comes to any changes in law; however, the law should not always and only seek to reflect public morality. Legal reform may sometimes play an important role in motivating public support for a policy.”

ENDS
​​​​​​

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Bioethical Inquiry

DOI

10.1007/s11673-024-10343-1 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

 

Scope for action in the Anthropocene: Leopoldina Conference “Crossing Boundaries in Science” in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology

LEOPOLDINA

Changes to the Earth’s climate, the severe decline in biodiversity, and the intense use of land, water and natural resources show the extent of humanity’s impact on the Earth’s biological, geological and atmospheric processes. Experts are already referring to the Anthropocene, the human epoch. Understanding the complex causes and processes of the Anthropocene and identifying and implementing effective actions are crucial for mitigating the negative effects of these developments. At the Leopoldina’s “Crossing Boundaries in Science” conference, which will take place from Monday 24 June to Wednesday 26 June in Jena/Germany, international scientists will participate in interdisciplinary discussions on causes, consequences and solutions in the Anthropocene. The event is also the opening conference of the new Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology. Symposium “Crossing Boundaries 2024: The Anthropocene – Addressing its challenges for humanity – crossing the boundaries of science” Monday 24 June to Wednesday 26 June 2024 Dorint Hotel Esplanade Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Platz 4, 07743 Jena, Germany, and online Following the opening by Leopoldina President Professor (ETHZ) Dr Gerald Haug, the President of the Max Planck Society Professor Dr Patrick Cramer, Professor Dr Jürgen Renn, Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, and Professor Dr Thomas Lengauer, Emeritus Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbrücken/Germany, the event will focus on humanity’s impact on the Earth system, as well as the question as to how limited knowledge on this subject is. Key figures in the Anthropocene and their scope of action will be introduced and discussed over the next days of the conference. Experts from the natural and social sciences and the humanities will speak about economic, political and social control mechanisms as well as the responsibility of the individual. Speakers will include marine researcher Professor Dr Antje Boetius, biologist Professor Dr Katrin Böhning-Gaese, historian Professor Dr Dipesh Chakrabarty (virtual), system ecologist Professor Dr Johan Rockström, climatologist Professor Dr Jochem Marotzke, chemist and Vice-President of the Leopoldina Professor Dr Robert Schlögl and physicist Professor Dr Ricarda Winkelmann, Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology. As part of the symposium, cultural historian Andrea Wulf will speak about the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt in a public lecture on Monday evening. The English-language lecture “The Invention of Nature – Alexander von Humboldt’s New World” will begin at 7.30 p.m. at the Volkshaus Jena (Carl-Zeiss-Platz 15). The conference is the third event in the “Crossing Boundaries in Science” (CBiS) series by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. The objective of the series is to discuss, at an early stage, the research areas which are particularly dependent on interdisciplinary cooperation. This event is open to all interested parties and will also be livestreamed. The conference will take place in English. The complete programme and all information about the livestream can be found at: https://www.leopoldina.org/en/events/event/event/3180/ Journalists who would like to attend should register by email at presse@leopoldina.org. The Leopoldina on X: www.twitter.com/leopoldina About the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina As the German National Academy of Sciences, the Leopoldina provides independent science-based policy advice on matters relevant to society. To this end, the Academy develops interdisciplinary statements based on scientific findings. In these publications, options for action are outlined; making decisions, however, is the responsibility of democratically legitimized politicians. The experts who prepare the statements work in a voluntary and unbiased manner. The Leopoldina represents the German scientific community in the international academy dialogue. This includes advising the annual summits of Heads of State and Government of the G7 and G20 countries. With around 1,700 members from more than 30 countries, the Leopoldina combines expertise from almost all research areas. Founded in 1652, it was appointed the National Academy of Sciences of Germany in 2008. The Leopoldina is committed to the common good.

 

Why some plant diseases thrive in urban environments

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

 

IMAGE: 

A TEAM LED BY BIOLOGIST RACHEL PENCZYKOWSKI IN ARTS & SCIENCES AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS FOUND MORE INFESTATIONS OF POWDERY MILDEW IN ST. LOUIS THAN IN THE CITY’S SURROUNDING SUBURBS AND COUNTRYSIDE.

view more 

CREDIT: RACHEL PENCZYKOWSKI, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

Something about city life seems to suit powdery mildew, a fungal disease that afflicts many plants, including leaves of garden vegetables and roadside weeds.

Rachel Penczykowski, an assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and five WashU graduate and undergraduate students tracked infestations of powdery mildew on common broadleaf weeds. Their study, published in the journal Ecology, covered 22 sites in the St. Louis area ranging from the rural environment of Shaw Nature Reserve near Gray Summit to Forest Park in the heart of the city.

Penczykowski and her team found a strong and surprising pattern: Weeds in the city had significantly more mildew than the weeds in the suburbs or countryside. “Now we need to figure out what’s driving those patterns,” she said.

While the particular fungus the team studied is harmless to other plants or animals, different species of powdery mildew can be a major threat to vegetable gardens, flowers and vineyards, said Quinn Fox, a 2023 PhD graduate and the study’s lead author. “It’s a big concern in different agricultural industries,” Fox said.

At any given location, mildew did best in places where trees or buildings provided a bit of shade. This observation was backed up by experiments that made use of solar array panels at Tyson Research Center, Washington University’s environmental field station. Potted plants placed in the shade of the panels had more mildew than those exposed to full sun.

But that finding raised a bigger question: If mildew does well in shade, why is it so common in the city, which is generally sunnier than the suburbs and countryside? “That’s the paradox,” Penczykowski said.

The heat of city life may be a double-edged sword for the mildew, Penczykowski said. As with other cities, St. Louis tends to be warmer in urban areas because pavement, buildings and other human-made structures absorb heat, creating a phenomenon known as “urban heat islands.” While too much summer heat can be lethal to powdery mildew, the extra warmth could help spores grow faster in spring. It’s also possible that people and vehicles help encourage the spread of spores along busier city roads and between city parks, she said.

In follow-up studies, Penczykowski’s team sowed seeds from city, suburban and countryside locations in a greenhouse before transplanting them into gardens across the St. Louis region to study the factors that encourage or discourage mildew growth. Each garden was split into a full sun and shade treatment, and plants and temperatures were monitored over an entire year. The team’s unpublished preliminary results suggest extra heat is generally bad for mildew growth, but small patches of shade are sufficient to promote infestations of mildew — even in hot city environments and regardless of the plants’ locations of origin. “We’re starting to understand how heat and other aspects of human activity can change the dynamics of disease in plants,” Penczykowski said.

“St. Louis has a thriving urban agriculture scene,” she added. “There are a lot of backyard gardens and community gardens. But very little work has been done on understanding the particular risks of plant diseases to agriculture in cities.”

Penczykowski’s research into plant pathogens is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In 2023, she won a NSF CAREER grant to support her ongoing research and mentoring.

---

Originally published on The Ampersand website

---

JOURNAL

Ecology

DOI

10.1002/ecy.4313 

ARTICLE TITLE

Effects of microclimate on disease prevalence across an urbanization gradient

 

Ancient ocean slowdown warns of future climate chaos

Ocean circulation enables tolerable climate

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - RIVERSIDE

 

IMAGE: 

FORAMINIFERA SHELLS HELPED SCIENTISTS PIECE TOGETHER A PICTURE OF OCEAN MOVEMENT DURING THE EOCENE PERIOD, WHERE HIGH ATMOSPHERIC CARBON LEVELS CAUSED THE EXCHANGE OF OCEAN WATERS TO SLOW DOWN. 

view more 

CREDIT: MARCI ROBINSON, USGS

When it comes to the ocean’s response to global warming, we’re not in entirely uncharted waters. A UC Riverside study shows that episodes of extreme heat in Earth’s past caused the exchange of waters from the surface to the deep ocean to decline.

This system has been described as the "global conveyer belt," because it redistributes heat around the globe through the movement of the ocean waters, making large portions of the planet habitable. 

Using tiny, fossilized shells recovered from ancient deep-sea sediments, the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrates how the conveyor belt responded around 50 million years ago. At that time, Earth’s climate resembled conditions predicted by the end of this century, if significant action is not taken to reduce carbon emissions.

Oceans play a crucial role in regulating Earth’s climate. They move warm water from the equator toward the north and south poles, balancing the planet’s temperatures. Without this circulation system, the tropics would be much hotter and the poles much colder. Changes in this system are linked to significant and abrupt climate change.  

Furthermore, the oceans serve a critical role in removing anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. “The oceans are by far the largest standing pool of carbon on Earth’s surface today,” said Sandra Kirtland Turner, vice-chair of UCR’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and first author of the study.

“Today, the oceans contain nearly 40,000 billion tons of carbon — more than 40 times the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Oceans also take up about a quarter of anthropogenic CO2 emissions,” Kirtland Turner said. “If ocean circulation slows, absorption of carbon into the ocean may also slow, amplifying the amount of CO2 that stays in the atmosphere.”

Previous studies have measured changes in ocean circulation in Earth’s more recent geologic past, such as coming out of the last ice age; however, those do not approximate the levels of atmospheric CO2 or warming happening to the planet today. Other studies provide the first evidence that deep ocean circulation, particularly in the North Atlantic, is already starting to slow. 

To better predict how ocean circulation responds to greenhouse gas-driven global warming, the research team looked to the early Eocene epoch, between roughly 49 and 53 million years ago. Earth then was much warmer than today, and that high-heat baseline was punctuated by spikes in CO2 and temperature called hyperthermals. 

During that period, the deep ocean was up to 12 degrees Celsius warmer than it is today. During the hyperthermals, the oceans warmed an additional 3 degrees Celsius. 

“Though the exact cause of the hyperthermal events is debated, and they occurred long before the existence of humans, these hyperthermals are the best analogs we have for future climate change,” Kirtland Turner said. 

By analyzing tiny fossil shells from different sea floor locations around the globe, the researchers reconstructed patterns of deep ocean circulation during these hyperthermal events. The shells are from microorganisms called foraminifera, which can be found living throughout the world’s oceans, both on the surface and on the sea floor. They are about the size of a period at the end of a sentence. 

“As the creatures are building their shells, they incorporate elements from the oceans, and we can measure the differences in the chemistry of these shells to broadly reconstruct information about ancient ocean temperatures and circulation patterns,” Kirtland Turner said. 

The shells themselves are made of calcium carbonate. Oxygen isotopes in the calcium carbonate are indicators of temperatures in the water the organisms grew in, and the amount of ice on the planet at the time. 

The researchers also examined carbon isotopes in the shells, which reflect the age of the water where the shells were collected, or how long water has been isolated from the ocean surface. In this way, they can reconstruct patterns of deep ocean water movement. 

Foraminifera can’t photosynthesize, but their shells indicate the impact of photosynthesis of other organisms nearby, like phytoplankton. “Photosynthesis occurs in the surface ocean only, so water that has recently been at the surface has a carbon-13 rich signal that is reflected in the shells when that water sinks to the deep ocean,” Kirtland Turner said. 

“Conversely, water that has been isolated from the surface for a long time has built up relatively more carbon-12 as the remains of photosynthetic organisms sink and decay. So, older water has relatively more carbon-12 compared to ‘young’ water.”

Scientists often make predictions about ocean circulation today using computer climate models. They use these models to answer the question: ‘how is the ocean going to change as the planet keeps warming?’ This team similarly used models to simulate the ancient ocean’s response to warming. They then used the foraminifera shell analysis to help test results from their climate models. 

During the Eocene, there were about 1,000 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which contributed to that era’s high temperatures. Today, the atmosphere holds about 425 ppm. 

However, humans emit nearly 37 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year; if these emission levels continue, similar conditions to the Early Eocene could occur by the end of this century. 

Therefore, Kirtland Turner argues it is imperative to make every effort to reduce emissions. 

“It’s not an all-or-nothing situation,” she said. “Every incremental bit of change is important when it comes to carbon emissions. Even small reductions of CO2 correlate to less impacts, less loss of life, and less change to the natural world.”

Sandra Kirtland Turner, of UC Riverside, and an ocean core sediment sample.

CREDIT

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

---

JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2311980121 

ARTICLE TITLE

Sensitivity of ocean circulation to warming during the Early Eocene greenhouse

COMMUNISM

6,000 years ago, men and women had equal access to resources

A UNIGE team shows that all the people who lived and were buried in Barmaz necropolises (Switzerland) during the Neolithic period had the same access to food resources.

UNIVERSITÉ DE GENÈVE

Using isotope geochemistry, a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has uncovered new information about the Barmaz necropolis in Valais (Switzerland): 14% of the people buried 6,000 years ago at this site were not locals. What’s more, the study suggests that this Middle Neolithic agropastoral society - one of the oldest known in the western part of Switzerland - was relatively egalitarian. The isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur contained in the bones reveal that all members of the community, including people from elsewhere, had access to the same food resources. These results are published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Neolithic times marked the beginning of animal husbandry and agriculture. In Switzerland, this period spans between 5500 and 2200 BC. The first agropastoral communities gradually moved from a predatory economy - in which hunting and gathering provided the nutrients essential for survival - to a production economy. This radically changed the dietary habits and functioning dynamics of Neolithic populations. The bones and teeth of individuals retain chemical traces that scientists are now able to detect and interpret.

The aim of the study carried out by Déborah Rosselet-Christ, a doctoral student at the Laboratory of Archaeology of Africa and Anthropolgy in the UNIGE Faculty of Science, is to apply isotope analysis to human remains dating from the Neolithic period to learn more about their diet and mobility. The levels of certain isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and strontium depend on the environment in which each individual lives and eats. Isotopes are atoms that have the same number of electrons and protons but a different number of neutrons. This very precise and delicate technique is being applied for the first time to alpine agropastoral populations from the Middle Neolithic period in the western part of Switzerland.

Mobility according to the second molar 

Excavated in the 1950s and 1990s, the Barmaz site at Collombey-Muraz in the Chablais region of Valais is one of the oldest remains of agropastoral societies in the western part of Switzerland to have preserved human remains. It comprises two necropolises containing the bones of around seventy individuals. For her master degree, Déborah Rosselet-Christ, the study’s first author, selected 49 of them (as many women as men) from whom she systematically took samples of collagen from certain bones, as well as fragments of enamel from their second molars.
 

‘‘The second molar is a tooth whose crown forms between the ages of three and eight,’’ explains the researcher. ‘‘Once formed, tooth enamel is not renewed for the rest of its life. Its chemical composition therefore reflects the environment in which its owner lived during childhood. Strontium (Sr) is a good marker of mobility. The ratio of abundance between two of its isotopes - i.e. their proportion - varies greatly depending on the age of the surrounding rocks. These chemical elements end up in the enamel via the food chain, leaving an indelible signature that is specific to each environment.’’

Analysis of the strontium isotope ratios in the 49 individuals from Barmaz reveals a high degree of homogeneity in most of them and markedly different values in only 14% of the samples, indicating a different origin. ‘‘The technique makes it possible to determine that these are individuals who did not live the first years of their lives in the place where they were buried, but it is more difficult to determine where they come from’’, moderates Jocelyne Desideri, senior lecturer at the Laboratory of Archaeology of Africa and Anthropolgy in the UNIGE Faculty of Science, last author of the article. ‘‘Our results show that people were on the move at that time. This comes as no surprise, as several studies have highlighted the same phenomenon in other places and at other times during the Neolithic period.’’

Diet recorded in collagen 

Collagen is used to determine the ratios of isotopes of carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N) and sulphur (δ34S). Each measurement provides information on specific aspects of the diet, such as the categories of plants according to the type of photosynthesis they use, the amount of animal protein or the intake of aquatic animals. As bones are constantly being renewed, the results only concern the last few years of an individual’s life. That said, the scientists were able to deduce that these former residents of the region of Barmaz had a diet based on terrestrial (rather than aquatic) resources, with a very high consumption of animal protein.

‘‘What’s more interesting is that we didn’t measure any differences between men and women,’’ notes Déborah Rosselet-Christ. ‘‘Nor even between locals and non-locals. These results therefore suggest equal access to food resources between the different members of the group, whatever their origin or sex. However, this is not always the case. There are, for example, dietary differences between the sexes in Neolithic populations in the south of France.’’

A clearer picture of agropastoral societies

However, the scientists were able to show that non-local people were only buried in one of the necropolises (Barmaz I) and that higher levels of the nitrogen isotope were measured in the other (Barmaz II). Given that the two necropolises were contemporaneous (and only 150 metres apart), the latter observation raises the question of whether there was a difference in social status between the two groups of deceased.

‘‘Our isotope measurements are an interesting complement to other approaches used in archaeology,’’ says Jocelyne Desideri. ‘‘They help to clarify the picture we are trying to paint of the life of these early Alpine agropastoral societies, the relationships between individuals and their mobility.’’

Déborah Rosselet-Christ is currently pursuing this work as part of her doctoral thesis, funded by the ALPproject of the Swiss National Science Foundation and co-directed by Jocelyne Desideri and Massimo Chiaradia (senior lecturer, Department of Earth sciences). Working alongside a multidisciplinary team specialising in genetics, palae-opathology, dental calculus and morphology, she is broadening her field of study by including other sites in Valais and the Val d’Aosta in Italy, covering a wider Neolithic period and using other isotopes, such as neodymium, which are potentially interesting in a prehistoric archaeological context.

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Archaeological Science Reports

DOI

10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104585 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

News article

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

"First Swiss alpine agropastoral societies: Contribution of isotope analysis to the study of their diet and mobility"

Wildfire smoke and health

CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL

With wildfires becoming more frequent and extensive in Canada, it’s important for people to understand the health risks of wildfire smoke. An article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.240135 aims to provide information for clinicians and people in Canada as wildfire season is upon us.

"As climate change causes more frequent and severe wildfires, wildfire smoke becomes a larger health problem,” says Dr. Mehdi Aloosh, assistant professor, Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, and medical officer of health of Windsor–Essex County, Ontario. “Communities need to be aware and prepared to reduce the harmful health effects of wildfire smoke, and health care practitioners play a crucial role in this effort."

1. Exposure to wildfire smoke is linked to negative health outcomes, including respiratory conditions, such as asthma, and heart issues.
2. Wildfire smoke can be more toxic than other types of air pollution. The fine particulates in wildfire smoke can travel more than 1000 km, enter the body, generate free radicals, and cause inflammation in body organs.
3. The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is a useful tool to communicate risk of wildfire smoke. The AQHI scale measures air quality on a scale of 1–10, and a level of more than 7 indicates that at-risk people, including those with respiratory and chronic diseases, older adults, pregnant people, and children, should minimize time spent outdoors in strenuous activity.
4. Health care providers can help people understand health risks. Clinicians should discuss the risks of wildfire smoke with at-risk patients, the usefulness of the AQHI, and the value of indoor air filtration, and ensure patients with respiratory conditions have updated action plans and an adequate supply of medications.
5. Reducing exposure will reduce health risks. Staying indoors and using high-efficiency particulate air cleaners, and when outside wearing well-fitted N95 or KN95 masks can reduce exposure to fine particles by more than 90%.

---

JOURNAL

Canadian Medical Association Journal

DOI

10.1503/cmaj.240135 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Wildfire smoke

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Jun-2024

 

US sexual health curriculum could force LGBTQ+ students to seek potentially inaccurate education outside of school

Addressing the negligence could be “life-saving”, argue authors of new study, launched during Pride Month

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP

Children across the United States who identify as LGBTQ+ say the sexual health education curricula they receive is leaving them without essential information to make informed decisions about their sexual health – which could force them to seek potentially dangerous advice elsewhere. 

The results of a new, national, peer-reviewed survey, show that these young people — aged 13 to 17 — believe crucial topics surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity are being omitted from sexual health education programs.

Experts who led the study – published today in The Journal of Sex Research, as people around the world celebrate Pride month – say the addition of key items in the curricula could be “life-saving”.     

“The exclusion of LGBTQ+ students from the curricula may contribute to poor health outcomes in LGBTQ+ youth, with some research beginning to document these experiences and provide recommendations for curricula changes,” explains lead author Steven Hobaica, a clinical psychologist and Research Scientist at The Trevor Project, whose mission is to end suicide among LGBTQ+ young people. 

“Addressing this negligence is urgent and could be life-saving.

“Given the current political climate, with legislation attempting to exclude LGBTQ+ information in schools, we encourage policymakers to continue fighting for LGBTQ+ inclusion in curricula as a means to prevent health problems for a vulnerable group.”

Of more than 800 respondents to the survey, most participants reported a lack of LGBTQ+ content in their sexual health education experiences. In order to be educated on sexual health, most were using extracurricular sources including online spaces, friends, and personal experiences with sexual exploration. The authors found that these extracurricular sources are frequently preferred by LGBTQ+ youth; but may lack accuracy and reliability.

Overall, participants described feeling marginalized by curricula that were based on abstinence-only approaches, religious principles, or contained oppressive and suppressive elements – such as negative remarks about LGBTQ+ individuals or skipping required LGBTQ+ content altogether. 

“LGBTQ+ youth expressed a strong desire to learn more about topics related to their sexual orientation and gender identity, highlighting a critical gap in existing curricula,” says co-author Dr. Erica Szkody, who is a Postdoctoral Research Associate, at the Lab for Scalable Mental Health, at Northwestern University.

“Despite the well-known benefits of comprehensive sexual health education, the majority of school sexual health education curricula in the U.S. is non-comprehensive and excludes LGBTQ+ students.

“Our analyses underscore the extent of this exclusion.”

The survey also provided LGBTQ+ young people the opportunity to openly share on their experiences, as well as recommendations for change, in regard to sexual health education:

These suggestions included:

• More LGBTQ+ content in sexual health education curricula, as well as more detail on healthy and diverse relationships (e.g., non-monogamy, polyamory), consent, safety in relationships, and communication skills.
• Creating safe and supportive spaces, while considering legitimate fears due to a possible increase in bullying, as they had heard students make fun of the material or use discriminatory language during past implementation.
• Updating sexual health education materials to reflect LGBTQ+ lived experiences, history, and risk factors.
• Creating sexual health interventions focused on LGBTQ+ experiences and concerns.
• Improving access to reliable sexual health information.
• Creating more accessible sexual health information via other avenues, such as online and through mobile applications.

Summarizing their experiences of sexual health curricula in the U.S., LGBTQ+ study participants left heartfelt responses:

“I wish I was taught about gay sex, sexual orientation, and all the other controversial topics that [are deemed] ‘grooming.’ When kids aren’t taught good sex ed, they learn how to do it in an unhealthy way from other sources like the internet or word of mouth. If we teach children about these topics, they’ll be safer when they become teenagers,” one said.

Another added: “I wish others understood that while the anatomy-related knowledge is important, we need sexual [health] education that is relevant to today’s world. This involves sexual [health] education [about] dangers and safety on the Internet, [same-sex/gender] relations, and education geared towards attraction and feelings rather than a lesson only [regarding] heterosexual procreation. I wish they took our real-life experiences and insecurities into account.”

One more exclaimed: “It is NOT HARMFUL to talk about gender identity and sexuality with high schoolers. It SAVES LIVES.”

The authors hope that their findings contribute to a “critical” policy shift toward including LGBTQ+ young people in sexual health education, a community that is “often underserved”.    

“By including the voices of LGBTQ+ young people in curricula design, we can not only provide the necessary knowledge for youth to engage in healthy relationships and health behaviors, but also can contribute to a more accepting and equitable society for years to come,” states Hobaica.

Although this study incorporated quantitative and qualitative analyses with a large national sample of LGBTQ+ youth, it had limitations. “Given sample size constraints, we could not draw conclusions regarding recommendations from students with specific identities,” explain the authors who state future work could collect similar data from even larger samples for further generalizability and comparisons.

---

JOURNAL

The Journal of Sex Research

DOI

10.1080/00224499.2024.2355564 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

ARTICLE TITLE

Sexual Health Education Experiences and Recommendations from the Perspective of LGBTQ+ Youth

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Jun-2024