Sex Education and Sexual Risk Behavior among Adolescents and Youth in the Deep South: Implications for Youth HIV Prevention

Objectives Adolescents and young adults represent the largest group of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in the United States, especially in the South. We wanted to determine whether abstinence only until marriage (AOUM) sex education programs were effective in reducing HIV vulnerability among youth in Mississippi. Methods Using the 2015 Mississippi Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, we examined the effect of AOUM sex education among a sample of youth ages 12 to 18 years on 4 HIV-related sexual risk behaviors. Results Compared with youth not enrolled in AOUM sex education, we found no statistically significant differences on sexual risk behaviors. Race, age, and gender were significant risk factors in predicting sexual risk behavior. Conclusions AOUM sex education programs are ineffective in reducing HIV vulnerability among youth in Mississippi. There is an urgent need to implement comprehensive sex education if we are to reduce the numbers of new HIV infections among youth and achieve our goals of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030.