Scheduled for Health I Free Communications, Thursday, April 1, 2004, 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM, Convention Center: 208


Characteristics of United States Legislators: Implications for Voting Trends for Abstinence Education

Jeanne Bleeker and Duston Morris, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, Fayetteville, AR

The need for sexuality education is vital for the health of American teenagers. Staggering statistics such as 66% of American high school students have had sex by their senior year and approximately 65% of all sexually transmitted diseases contracted this year, by Americans, will occur in people under the age of 24. Public opinion polls indicate that American parents and teachers want some sort of sex education taught in public schools. The debate centers not on whether sexuality education should be taught, but rather what type of education should be provided. The American public calls for comprehensive sexuality education. As a result, it would seem realistic that federal monies would reflect American desires. However, federal legislators repeatedly vote to approve abstinence-until-marriage education funding. This study analyzed demographic (gender, marriage status, number of children, and highest degree level achieved) and social variables (religious affiliation and party affiliation) of the 433 U.S. Representatives of the 107th congress. All variable information was gathered from biographical outlines provided by the Representatives on the VoteSmart website. These variables were analyzed in relation to their voting record for welfare reform bill HR 4737. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 11.0. Results of logistic regression analysis indicated that gender and party affiliation were the variables that significantly influenced the vote. Furthermore, crosstabulation identified Republican males as significantly more likely to vote for welfare reform than other groups. A limitation of this study is that abstinence-until-marriage funding cannot be isolated as a separate entity from the welfare reform bill. Additional research is needed to create a model to predict voting trends among legislators for sexuality education funding. Researchers for this project will also include data analysis for SPRANS funding votes to help identify a predictive model for legislator sexuality voting.
Keyword(s): advocacy, health promotion, national issues

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