Chairwoman Chang-Diaz, Chairwoman Peisch, and members of the Joint Committee on Education, thank you for giving me the opportunity to submit this testimony as a researcher. I am Sumru Erkut, an Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women. I received my doctorate in social psychology from Harvard University. Related to today's topic, I have researched the long term protective effects of female high school students' sports participation on their responsible sexual activity as young adults. I just completed a review of the projects funded by the Adolescent Family Life program that is a part of the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs and proposed topics for further research on adolescent sexuality. I am currently directing the long-term impact evaluation of a middle school sex education curriculum. I am offering my support for An Act Relative to Healthy Youth, H. 1063/S.190.
