Senior Research Project An analysis of sex education from teenagers at Veritas Ashley George, Hannah Crabbs, Zachary Hawbaker

Introduction 450-hour International practicum at Veritas in Sighisoara Romania Target Population group: Roma M/T/W programming with teenagers The programs desire is to promote education, health, safety, and Christian faith

Glimpse of the Roma population Commonly known as “gypsies” The highest concentration of Roma people in any European place is Mures County, Romania There are different types of Roma (Integrated, Traditional, Marginalized) Veritas teen program works with mostly the Marginalized Roma

Marginalized Roma Low level of (formal) education Few job skills- Casual labor, begging, stealing Poor housing conditions, poor sanitation, poor health Large families, often “common law” marriages Alcohol abuse & Violence Victims of discrimination

Why Sex? Hypothesis: There is a general lack of sexual education amongst the teenagers at Veritas Several cases of young teenagers apart of the Veritas program had become pregnant The Veritas staff were curious to find out the ways sexual education has been addressed

Literature Review

The survey Because of certain restriction by the International Review Board (IRB) we could not create a new survey for the teenagers about this topic We chose to do secondary data analysis of research that was previously conducted by the staff at Veritas

The Results 24 students total were surveyed The basics: age, gender, and who lived at home with them 54% female/ 46% male Students ranged from the age of Mean: 17

The Results 63% of the students surveyed live at home with both parents 37% of the students surveyed live in a home with only 1 parent Nearly half of the students were born when their mothers were between the ages of 18-25

“How much do you talk about sex with adults?” 33% said they never talk about sex at school with teachers 42% said they never talk about sex with parents or adults who live with them

“How much do you learn about sex from Media?”

92% said that they do talk about sex with their friends and peers.

Analysis of the Results 80% of the teenagers surveyed responded that they have in fact been given false information about sex from their peers Teenagers are more comfortable talking to one another about sex than with an adult Sex is not addressed often by adults

Analysis of the Results But.. Sex is being talked about with teenagers in some manner, but it cannot be concluded if that is positive or negative

Roma Culture Sex is not hidden from the children and teenagers in Roma homes The larger culture in the world is encouraging sex from a young age (internet, social media, celebrities, pop culture) The sub culture of Roma is ALSO encouraging sex from a young age

Connection to Veritas It could be valuable to add the topic of sexuality into the yearly curriculum that is completed in the Adolescents Club More resources for sexual education needed for staff to help eliminate myths Movies/documentaries seem to be effective Give alternative options! Important to identify high-risk adolescents Important to challenge the males as well as females

Limitations The survey questions themselves dealt with an important topic but were rather vague Small population to draw from Language/cultural barrier in work with International populations

In Conclusion “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”- Nelson Mandela

Work Cited Berariu, E., & Moraru, A. (2010) Advertising and Sex in Romania: From Censorship to Mainstream. International Journal Of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 5(1), Coyle, K., Basen-Engquist, K., Kirby, D., Parcel, G., Banspach, S., Collins, J., & Harrist, R. (2001). Safer Choices: Reducing Teen Pregnancy, HIV, and STDs. Public Health Reports, 116(1), 82. Kalley, E., Craciun, C., Vonas, G., & Baban, A. (2011). Sexual health and sexual behavior among Romanian adolescents. Cognitie, Creier, Comportament/Cognition, Brain, Behavior, 15(1) Petrescu, E. (2009). Sexul Comercial In Romania. O problema sociala care are nevoie de solutii sociale. (Romanian) Social Work Review/Revista De Asistenta Sociala, (3/4), Tarrant, Dorothy. Personal communication. April 6, 2014 ___, Jamie. Personal communication. April 9, 2014.