Understanding Resistance to Comprehensive Sex Education: The Role of Psychological and Sociopolitical Individual Factors

Abstract

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.