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Editorial: School survey of youths’ sexual activity provides useful data

Tue., March 31, 2015

Is it better to be in the dark about the sex lives of teenagers? Not if you ask public health experts.

But two-thirds of Washington state schools omitted the Healthy Youth Survey questions about sexual activity. Students were queried on issues such as alcohol, cigarette and drug use. They were asked about suicide, violence and drinking and texting while driving. They were asked about eating vegetables and exercising.

These are all personal questions. Participation is voluntary. Respondents answer anonymously.

But perhaps owing to the nation’s puritanical roots, asking about sex is deemed more controversial than asking about suicide. The state added the sex-related questions in 2010, but the most popular version of the questionnaire omits them. All school districts in Spokane County abstained.

We know that of the Washington students who were asked the ever-had-sex question, 52 percent of 12th-graders said yes. In 10th grade, it was 27 percent, and in eighth-grade, it was 9 percent. However, we don’t know those figures for Spokane County.

Asking the question hurts nobody, but it can help public health agencies and the students themselves. As Dr. Joel McCullough, head of the Spokane Regional Health District, told The Spokesman-Review, knowledge of the sexual behaviors of youths is a “great tool” in determining how to focus public resources on such issues as sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy prevention.

We understand school districts are generally careful not to rile the public, because they periodically approach voters to pass bonds and levies. Spokane Public Schools formed a committee of parents, teachers and administrators to determine whether the sexual activity questions should be asked.

But the taboo against questions related to sexual behavior is puzzling. Perhaps some accurate information might result.

For instance, in a 2013 survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, only 18 percent of respondents knew the teen-birth rate had declined since 1990. In fact, it had dropped 42 percent.

That’s terrific news, but it’s apparently been drowned out by misguided fears of young people being more irresponsible than their parents’ generation.

Washington isn’t alone in seeing unfounded fears undercut a valuable survey. Colorado has been conducting a similar survey for two decades, but suddenly it’s become a lightning rod, with hearings about why the state is prying. Two years ago, only 13 of its 178 school districts declined to distribute the survey, even though it included questions about sexual activity.

Any supposed damage from asking sex-related questions, whether it’s privacy violations or misused data, would have emerged by now. Being uncomfortable with the topic shouldn’t trump the benefits of being informed.

Spokane Public Schools has said it may revisit the issue. Maybe a letter to parents would allay parental concern about the survey’s intent.

We do know that absent real information, misinformation fills the void.