Understanding Resistance to Comprehensive Sex Education: The Role of Psychological and Sociopolitical Individual Factors
Summary
Despite substantial evidence of the benefits of Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE),
resistance towards the approach persists. Following the ongoing political debates, this study
explored the understudied individual differences in CSE attitudes and their possible
precursors to indirectly promote the discussion and adoption of more holistic approaches
towards sex education in schools. Using a nationally representative US adult sample
(N=1003) from the 2024 Pre-Election iteration of The Psychology Political Behavior Studies,
a series of multiple regression analyses – both confirmatory and exploratory – were
conducted. A number of psychological and sociopolitical factors – namely, political ideology,
general system justification (GSJ), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance
orientation (SDO), anti-scientific attitudes, and conspiracy beliefs – were investigated for
their predictive power in explaining CSE attitudes (general and policy-specific support and
anti-scientific attitudes). Results revealed that higher RWA and political conservatism
consistently predicted lower general and specific support, and higher anti-scientific attitudes
towards CSE. The effect of SDO was limited and GSJ was positively associated with higher
general support towards CSE, after controlling for socio demographics and other
psychological variables. Exploratory analysis suggested a unique contribution of anti-
scientific attitudes, but not of conspiracy beliefs, as a predictor of support for CSE in the
combined models. The findings offer new insights into the ideological and psychological
drivers of resistance to CSE laying the foundation for future research while also providing
practical guidance to policymakers aiming to foster an inclusive public dialogue and develop
effective, evidence-based solutions.