Sex education and sexual health knowledge predicting belief in sexual myths in college students attending a mid-level university in Southeastern Louisiana.

Comprehensive sex education has many positive outcomes compared to abstinence-only sex education, such as reduction in adolescent risk behaviours, increased respect of sexual orientation and gender diversity, and more. A direct goal of sex education is to increase students’ knowledge of sexual health. One harmful consequence of abstinence-only sex education and a lack of sexual health knowledge is the belief in sexual myths. Sexual myths spread due to misinformation, and can be reduced by increasing sexual health knowledge. The present study conducted a hierarchical multiple regression to assess the potential influence of sex education and sexual health knowledge on belief in sexual myths. The sample consisted of undergraduate college students (n = 187). The survey included a Sexual Health Education Questionnaire, Sexual Health Knowledge Scale, Sexual Myths Scale, and demographic questions. The majority of the sample received less comprehensive sex education. Sexual health knowledge and belief in sexual myths were found to be significantly negatively correlated, along with sexual health knowledge and religiosity. Religiosity and belief in sexual myths were found to be significantly positively correlated. Gender, religiosity, sexual health knowledge, and sex education were found to predict 21.5% of the variance in one’s belief in sexual myths.