The Impact of Sex Education Policy in Iowa Using Synthetic Control

• In Event: 16.059 - Poster Session 2
  In Poster Session: 16.059-6 - Division L Section 7 Poster Session

Abstract

Using sex education policy as an example, this project explores the ways that education policy and health policy intersect to impact outcomes in both education and health. This project specifically examines the impact of state policy changes to sex education on health and education outcomes. I examine state-level data across the country to construct a synthetic control for Iowa – a counterfactual Iowa in which comprehensive sex education was not adopted. This allows me to examine if Iowa’s state-level policy change to provide more comprehensive sex education led to better health outcomes as well as educational outcomes for a variety of subgroups including race and ethnicity, socio-economic status, and the interaction of the two.

Author

• Brooke Midkiff, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill