“When You’re a Baby You Don’t Have Puberty”

Basic knowledge of human reproduction can help youth prepare for puberty and make later classes focused on advanced reproductive health topics manageable. With the intention of potentially informing the creation of learning materials, we conducted a needs assessment among children ages 7 to 12 in our suburban Chicago community to ascertain their current understanding of, and beliefs and misconceptions about, human reproduction, and to determine their needs for additional reproductive health education. We held qualitative focus group interviews with local children. Participants primarily reported learning about these topics from their parents prior to receiving school-based education in fifth grade. Their level of understanding 1Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA 2Education Development Center, New York, NY, USA 3Paradigm Research & Consulting, Jackson Heights, NY, USA 4Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA Corresponding Author: Lisa B. Hurwitz, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Room 2-168, Evanston, IL 60208-3545, USA. Email: [email protected] 642323 JEAXXX10.1177/0272431616642323Journal of Early AdolescenceHurwitz et al. research-article2016 at NORTHWESTERN UNIV LIBRARY on April 19, 2016 jea.sagepub.com Downloaded from 2 Journal of Early Adolescence was relatively low. They had little knowledge of internal sexual organs, expressed a range of beliefs about conception ranging from inaccurate to accurate but incomplete, and voiced concerns about transitioning into adolescence. This suggests a need for additional resources that provide comprehensible descriptions of reproductive health processes and mitigate puberty-related concerns.