Elementary teachers' attitudes toward human growth, development, and sexuality

This descriptive study was conducted in a large urban school district to determine elementary teachers' attitudes toward human growth, development, and sexuality. The "Attitudes Toward Teaching Human Sexuality" (Schultz & Boyd, 1984) instrument was completed by 125 full time elementary school teachers. The teachers taught in grades 4 through 6. The ethnic groups represented were African-American (74), Anglo-American (46), Mexican-American (2), Asian-American (1), and Native-American (2). The majority of the respondents were between the ages of 31 and 50. Seventy-five respondents were married, widowed, or separated. Seventy-one respondents had over 8 years of teaching experience.

The hypotheses were tested at the.05 level of significance. The findings indicated that there was no significant difference in teachers' attitudes about school and community influence that may be attributable to years of experience, school assignment, or age range. There was no significant difference in community and school influence between those teachers who taught sexuality education. There was no significant difference in teachers' attitudes about personal readiness that may be attributable to years of experience, school assignment, or age range. There was, however, a small significance relationship (p $\le$.05) between sexuality topics actually taught and teachers' personal readiness attitudes.