Parental emotions in the context of culturally conflicted secondary school sex education in England.

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Title: Parental emotions in the context of culturally conflicted secondary school sex education in England.
Authors: Mukoro, Jude1 (AUTHOR) judemukoro@gmail.com, Setty, Emily1 (AUTHOR), Hemming, Peter1 (AUTHOR)
Source: Intercultural Education. Aug2026, Vol. 37 Issue 4, p445-463. 19p.
Subject Terms: *Emotion regulation, *Sex education, *Secondary schools, *Multicultural education, *Parent attitudes, *Culture conflict, British people, Face-to-face communication
Geographic Terms: England
Abstract: Sex education in England's secondary schools remains a site of cultural conflicts. While existing research has examined parental attitudes and resistance, little attention has been given to the emotional experiences of parents navigating cultural conflicts in this area. This qualitative study addresses this gap by exploring the emotions and emotion regulation strategies of 12 parents with differing cultural, social, and familial contexts through semi-structured interviews. Grounded in an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, the findings reveal three key emotional clusters: (1) positive alignment (trust, satisfaction), (2) negative distress (anxiety, powerlessness, moral outrage), and (3) ambivalence (pragmatic tolerance, reluctant acceptance). Parents' emotional responses were shaped by perceived cultural dissonance, institutional marginalisation, and identity threats, with communication emerging as a central regulatory strategy to manage conflict. The study contributes to the sociology of emotions by demonstrating how parental affect is socially constructed, performed, and regulated within contested educational spaces. It also advances policy discourse by advocating for emotion-informed, culturally responsive approaches to sex education that prioritise communication. By centring parental emotions, this research offers a nuanced understanding of the affective dimensions of cultural conflict in education, with implications for fostering more inclusive school-parent partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Intercultural Education is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: Parental emotions in the context of culturally conflicted secondary school sex education in England.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Intercultural+Education%22">Intercultural Education</searchLink>. Aug2026, Vol. 37 Issue 4, p445-463. 19p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Emotion+regulation%22">Emotion regulation</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sex+education%22">Sex education</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Secondary+schools%22">Secondary schools</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Multicultural+education%22">Multicultural education</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Parent+attitudes%22">Parent attitudes</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Culture+conflict%22">Culture conflict</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22British+people%22">British people</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Face-to-face+communication%22">Face-to-face communication</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22England%22">England</searchLink>
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  Data: Sex education in England's secondary schools remains a site of cultural conflicts. While existing research has examined parental attitudes and resistance, little attention has been given to the emotional experiences of parents navigating cultural conflicts in this area. This qualitative study addresses this gap by exploring the emotions and emotion regulation strategies of 12 parents with differing cultural, social, and familial contexts through semi-structured interviews. Grounded in an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, the findings reveal three key emotional clusters: (1) positive alignment (trust, satisfaction), (2) negative distress (anxiety, powerlessness, moral outrage), and (3) ambivalence (pragmatic tolerance, reluctant acceptance). Parents' emotional responses were shaped by perceived cultural dissonance, institutional marginalisation, and identity threats, with communication emerging as a central regulatory strategy to manage conflict. The study contributes to the sociology of emotions by demonstrating how parental affect is socially constructed, performed, and regulated within contested educational spaces. It also advances policy discourse by advocating for emotion-informed, culturally responsive approaches to sex education that prioritise communication. By centring parental emotions, this research offers a nuanced understanding of the affective dimensions of cultural conflict in education, with implications for fostering more inclusive school-parent partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Intercultural Education is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1080/14675986.2026.2652741
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        Text: English
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      – SubjectFull: Secondary schools
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      – SubjectFull: England
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      – TitleFull: Parental emotions in the context of culturally conflicted secondary school sex education in England.
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              Text: Aug2026
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