Nearly half of the 19 million new sexually transmitted diseases reported each year occur in young people ages 15 to 24, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2010, young people ages 13 to 24 accounted for 26 percent of all new HIV infections in the United States. Most at risk are young people who share certain demographic characteristics. For example, regardless of income level, black and Latino/a adolescents are disproportionately affected by HIV infection and other STDs and have higher rates of pregnancy than white adolescents. Compared with HIV infections in the general population, HIV infections among young men who have sex with men continue to be excessively high, especially in communities of color.
But there is hope. Research shows that when students' school environments are supportive and their parents are engaged in their school lives they are less likely to become involved in substance abuse, violence and other behaviors associated with HIV and STD risk. Safe and supportive school environments are especially important for students at disproportionate risk of HIV/STD — such as young men who have sex with men, who often experience increased bullying and harassment.
For these reasons, the CDC's Division of Adolescent Health (DASH) program for promoting adolescent health through school-based HIV/STD prevention has set establishing safe and supportive school environments as one of its core approaches with three key strategies:
- Preventing bullying, sexual harassment, and electronic aggression.
- Improving school connectedness.
- Promoting parent engagement in schools.
APA is a partner in this program through the Safe and Supportive Schools Project, which is housed within the LGBT Concerns Office in APA's Public Interest Directorate. The project is funded by a $1.35 million, five-year cooperative agreement between CDC and APA that began in 2013. The project seeks to build the capacity of 19 state departments of education that are also funded by CDC-DASH under the HIV/STD prevention program. The goal is to help build safe and supportive school environments for all students and for groups of students at greater risk of HIV, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, in 285 school districts across the country.
As part of this effort, APA trains the state departments of education on research-based ways to prevent bullying, sexual harassment and electronic aggression, as well as ways to improve students' feelings of connectedness to school and supportive adults. APA emphasizes parent engagement in schools. Research suggests that positive parenting influences adolescents' sexual risk behavior and that students benefit when schools partner with parents to support parenting; encourage open, two-way communication; involve parents in decision-making; and help parents support learning at home.
Some of the ways APA has helped the state departments of education and their 285 school districts this year include:
- Hosting a professional development institute for leaders from 19 state departments of education on how to improve school-based HIV/ STD prevention programs.
- Facilitating a national webinar for state and school district leaders about strategies to engage parents in school health efforts.
- Training more than 100 school psychologists, counselors, nurses, social workers and teachers from Delaware, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., using APA's Respect Workshop curriculum. The workshop teaches school professionals strategies to decrease risky behaviors among LGBT youth, promote healthy outcomes and establish an LGBT-inclusive school climate.
