Family Life and Sex Education Goals Questionnaire II

Abstract

The Family Life Sex Education Goal Questionnaire II (FLSE-GQ-II) is an updated psychological instrument designed as a needs assessment instrument. Its primary function is to empirically measure and clarify the diverse attitudes and priorities of school personnel and community members regarding the specific goals and content areas of family life and sexuality education in public school systems. The scale is crucial for determining local needs and the extent of community support, particularly in light of ongoing debates between comprehensive and abstinence-based sex education programs. The instrument evolved from the initial FLSE-GQ developed in the early 1980s and is available in both a 60-item long form and a 20-item short form, both utilizing a 5-point Likert-type response format.

Keywords

Family Life Sex Education Goal Questionnaire II, FLSE-GQ-II, Sexuality Education, Needs Assessment, Attitudes, School Personnel, Community Support, Comprehensive Sex Education, Sexual Decision-Making, Life Skills, Prevention.

Authors

Steven Godin, Kimberly Razzano.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the FLSE-GQ-II is to serve as a robust, empirically grounded needs assessment instrument for public school systems. It facilitates the identification and clarification of goals deemed important for a family life sex education program by key stakeholders, namely teachers, school administrators, and parents within the community. The application of the questionnaire provides an empirical basis for clarifying diverse attitudes and priorities, allowing school boards and administrators to address community concerns while developing comprehensive curriculum goals.

The scale was updated from its initial 1980s version (FLSE-GQ) to incorporate modern items relevant to contemporary public school systems, ensuring that discussions around topics like comprehensive sexuality education, sexual decision-making, and prevention strategies are accurately assessed in terms of community and staff acceptance. This helps mitigate the hesitation often felt by school administrators regarding the inclusion of potentially controversial goals.

Construct

The FLSE-GQ-II measures the perceived importance of various pedagogical goals related to family life and sexuality education. It operates under the construct that attitudes toward these goals are multidimensional and can be categorized into five distinct goal dimensions, identified through separate principal components factor analysis conducted on teacher and parent samples across different geographical regions.

These five common goal dimensions represent the core constructs assessed by the instrument:

• Facilitating Sexual Decision-Making and Life Skills.

• Teaching about Male and Female Physical Development.

• Encouraging Respect for Diversity.

• Providing Secondary Prevention (e.g., support to help pregnant girls stay in school).

• Teaching about the Family and Integrating Sexuality in Personal Growth.

Validity

The validity of the FLSE-GQ-II is supported by its utility in distinguishing attitudes based on demographic characteristics. Early research utilizing the long form of the scale (Frank, Godin, Jacobson, & Sugrue, 1982; Godin, Frank, & Jacobson, 1984) demonstrated that among teachers, religiosity was the most significant predictor of differing attitudes toward family life sex education goals. Among parents, both religiosity and race contributed significantly to attitude differences, indicating strong criterion validity.

The scale also demonstrated construct validity by highlighting areas of controversy and agreement among stakeholders. Research showed that parents and teachers often rated goals related to sexual decision-making as significantly less important than other goal dimensions, validating the instrument’s ability to capture differing viewpoints regarding controversial topic areas. However, within the Northeast sample, parents and teachers showed agreement regarding the high importance of sexual decision-making and life skills, demonstrating the questionnaire’s sensitivity to regional variations in attitudes.

Reliability

Internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach alphas for the five goal dimensions across both the long and short forms of the FLSE-GQ-II, utilizing samples of teachers and parents.

For the long form (60 items), the Cronbach alphas ranged from 0.60 to 0.79 for the sample of teachers, and from 0.65 to 0.85 for the sample of parents. The short form (20 items) demonstrated slightly higher internal consistency, with Cronbach alphas ranging from 0.73 to 0.83 for teachers and 0.79 to 0.87 for parents. Although the short form is highly reliable, researchers may choose the long form to assess whether new or unique goal dimensions exist for their specific population.

Factor Analysis

Separate principal components factor analysis procedures were employed on data collected from teacher and parent samples across different geographical regions (Midwest and Northeast) to establish the underlying factor structure of the scale items. This analysis successfully identified five robust, common goal dimensions shared by both stakeholder groups: Sexual Decision-Making and Life Skills; Physical Development; Respect for Diversity; Secondary Prevention; and Family Life and Personal Growth.

Specific findings from the factor analysis indicated variations in priority based on sample group and region. In the Midwest parent sample, the factor related to Sexual Decision-Making and Life Skills accounted for the largest percentage of variance (31%). Conversely, in the Midwest teacher sample, Family Life and Personal Growth emerged as the largest factor (30%). In the Northeast sample, Sexual Decision-Making and Life Skills was the sole large factor, accounting for 32% of the variance. The remaining goal dimensions consistently constituted minor factors, typically ranging from 4% to 9% of the variance.

The short form of the FLSE-GQ-II was constructed directly from these findings. Its five scales correspond precisely to the common goal dimensions and include only items that demonstrated factor loadings of 0.5 or greater in both the parent and teacher analyses, ensuring structural consistency.

Instrument

Test Type: Needs Assessment / Attitude Scale

Format: Two versions are available. The long form consists of 60 goal items, and the short form consists of 20 goal items. Both use a 5-point Likert-type response format ranging from Very Unimportant (1) to Very Important (5).

Language Available: English

Population Group: School Personnel (Teachers, Administrators) and Community Members (Parents).

Age Group: Adults (Administered to parents of elementary and high school children, and teachers).

Population Details: The instrument has been validated using four major samples, including 337 elementary and high school teachers, 248 parents of elementary and high school children in the Midwest, and 175 high school teachers and 157 parents of high school children in the Northeast.

Test Methodology: Self-report questionnaire. Completion time for the long form is approximately 30 to 40 minutes for parents, and slightly less for teachers. Scoring the long form typically involves subjecting all 60 importance ratings to a principal components factor analysis. The short form is scored by summing responses for items corresponding to the five goal dimensions and dividing by the total number of scale items for that dimension.

Keywords

Likert-type response format, Reliability, Cronbach alphas, Principal components factor analysis, Secondary Prevention, Family Life Education, Public Health, Attitude Measurement, Abstinence-based sex education.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (Senior Author Steven Godin)

Correspondence Address: Steven Godin, Department of Health Studies, East Stroudsburg University, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Family Life Sex Education Goal Questionnaires were copyrighted in 1985, 1994, and 2006. Electronic copies of the questionnaire, which include an optional demographic questionnaire, are available by contacting the senior author, Steven Godin. Information regarding usage fees and specific permissions for academic or commercial use must be obtained directly from the corresponding author.

Reference’s

• Alford, S. (2003). Science and success: Sex education and other programs that work to prevent teen pregnancy, HIV & sexually transmitted infections. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth.

• Alford, S. (2008). Science and success. Second edition: Programs that work to prevent teen pregnancy, HIV & sexually transmitted infections. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth.

• Frank, S., Godin, S., Jacobson, S., & Sugrue, J. (1982, August). Respect for diversity: Teachers’ goals for a family life sex education program. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

• Godin, S., Frank, S., & Jacobson, S. (1984, March). Respect for diversity: Parents’ goals for a family life sex education program. Paper presented at the Midwestern Conference of the National Council on Family Relations, Des Moines, IA.

• Government Accountability Office Report. (2006). Abstinence education: Efforts to assess the accuracy and effectiveness of federally funded programs (Report GAO-07-8). Washington, DC: Author.

• Kirby, D. (2001). Emerging answers: Research findings on programs to reduce teen pregnancy. Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

• Kirby, D., Laris, B. A., & Rolleri, L. (2005). Impact of sex and HIV education programs on sexual behaviors of youth in developing and developed countries. (Youth Research Working Paper, No. 2). Research Triangle Park, NC: Family Health International.

• McKeon, B. (2006). Effective sex education. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth.

• Razzano, K., & Godin, S. (2006). A new paradigm in sexuality education in Pennsylvania: A descriptive analysis. Pennsylvania Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 76(3), 17–29.

• Scales, P. (1983). The new opposition to sex education: A powerful threat to a democratic society. Journal of School Health, 5, 300–304.

• Waxman Report. (2004). The content of federally funded abstinence-only education programs. Washington, DC: United States House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform, Minority Staff, Special Investigations Division.

Items of the Family Life Sex Education Goal Questionnaire II

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. 1. To help adolescents feel good about their physical appearance.

   2. To help adolescents to appreciate their special qualities and personality as well as that of other boys and girls.

   3. To reduce guilt and fear about sexuality.

   4. To provide information about abnormal sexual development and behavior.

   5. To help adolescents understand how sexual development affects other aspects of personal growth and development.

   6. To provide complete information about male and female genitalia (sex organs) and other physical differences between men and women.

   7. To involve parents in selecting instruction materials and planning the curriculum of the family life sex education program.

   8. To provide information about abortion and its effects on the body.

   9. To provide information about the biology of human reproduction and birth.

   10. To discuss ways of coping with an unexpected pregnancy.

   11. To help adolescents develop skills in getting along with members of the opposite sex.

   12. To provide information about how to be good parents.

   13. To help adolescents learn to understand and communicate with each other better.

   14. To make youth aware of community services related to health and prenatal care.

   15. To emphasize the importance of the family as the keystone of American life.

   16. To help adolescents understand their responsibilities to self, family, and friends as they grow up.

   17. To inform youth of community services related to birth control and sexual decision-making.

   18. To counsel adolescents to make their own decisions about how far to go in their sexual activities.

   19. To encourage adolescents to talk more openly with their parents about sexuality.

   20. To discuss the role of the family in personal growth and development.

   21. To encourage adolescents to use contraceptives if they decide to have sexual intercourse.

   22. To discuss ways in which families work out conflicts and solve problems.

   23. To help adolescents understand people’s feelings and points of view.

   24. To educate adolescents about peer pressure and how to deal with it.

   25. To provide information about sexually transmitted infections including HIV and AIDS.

   26. To teach about abstention as a form of contraception.

   27. To encourage discussion of personal family experiences in the classroom.

   28. To provide special courses about family life and sexuality for disabled students.

   29. To encourage adolescents to think about alternatives to abortion.

   30. To bring in outside speakers to talk to youth about sexuality.

   31. To counsel boys who are expectant fathers.

   32. To correct myths and misinformation about the body.

   33. To help adolescents to view the growth changes in their bodies as normal and healthy.

   34. To discuss how the attitudes toward growth and development may be different for different ethnic groups and cultures in our society.

   35. To provide information about alternative sexual behaviors and lifestyles, such as homosexuality.

   36. To discuss abortion as a form of contraception.

   37. To provide workshops to assist parents in talking more openly with their adolescent children about sexuality.

   38. To encourage grooming and thoughtfulness about personal appearance.

   39. To counsel girls who are pregnant.

   40. To demonstrate how to put on a condom using a plastic teaching model or banana.

   41. To refer students with special needs to social service agencies.

   42. To make adolescents aware of the negative effects of sex role stereotypes.

   43. To provide information about good prenatal care.

   44. To provide information about contraceptives and how they work, and describe their effects on the body.

   45. To teach about biological changes during puberty.

   46. To provide individual counseling to students with low self-esteem or those who feel embarrassed about their bodies.

   47. To meet with parents about a child who is having difficulties with sexual issues and stresses.

   48. To teach about the different types of sexually transmitted infections or diseases.

   49. To teach about how families may differ in how they make rules and decisions.

   50. To teach students about the ways in which HIV is transmitted.

   51. To provide information about how different ethnic and cultural groups differ in sexual beliefs and behaviors.

   52. To work with outside community agencies to provide rap groups about sexuality and sexual decision-making.

   53. To help adolescents to see that most young people are going through many of the same things as they grow toward maturity.

   54. To help adolescents plan for and start working toward future goals.

   55. To provide information about the roles and challenges that go along with reaching different ages in life.‌

   56. To teach students about ways to have safer sex to reduce the risk of HIV infection.

   57. To discuss ways to help families talk more openly and improve family communication.

   58. To listen and respond to the opinions of the outside community and local interest groups in making family life sex education goals.

   59. To encourage personal hygiene.

   60. To encourage pregnant girls to stay in school and to provide special classes for them in prenatal care.