Abstinence Education Effective, Study Finds

[King's Rook's Pawn]

[url="http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/culture/education/2890-abstinence-education-effective-study-finds"]Abstinence Education Effective, Study Finds[/url]

[quote]A study released February 1 by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is giving proponents of abstinence-only sex education programs reason to cheer. The federally funded project, published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, found that abstinence education models are more effective than their comprehensive sex education counterparts in encouraging pre-teens from having sex.

In the study, 662 African-American sixth and seventh grade students were split into random groups for participation in Saturday “interventions” programs, with one group attending a session that promoted an abstinence-only message, another attending a session that focused on a “safer sex” message, another attending a session that combined a message of abstinence and safer-sex, and a control group that received a health promotion message.

Results of the study appear to confirm that when kids receive a message focused on abstinence, a majority are more likely to say no to sex. Researchers found that within two years after the programs, only one-third of the students participating in the abstinence-only program reported having sexual intercourse, while more than half of those participating in programs with the safer-sex message (which promoted condom use) said they had sexual intercourse.[/quote]

This is a positive article for abstinence education. I'm unsure as to whether or not these abstinence programs are the most effective way to go, but I reject the conventional wisdom that dumping condoms on teens is a worthwhile exercise.

[MithLuin]

I am a high school teacher - I see what happens when teens have to deal with the consequences of having sex at a young age. I am all for education , but I think the real issue is promoting decision making and awareness of consequences. Teens just do stuff, and assume everything will be just peachy. Then they find out later...maybe not so much.

I have talked to a student the day she was diagnosed with herpes. She was in tears, very upset...and while she didn't say this to me, she told one of my colleagues, "but we used a condom." Uh-huh...and that won't protect you from this; skin-to-skin contact is all it takes.

Too many young teenage girls are being used by 20-something men. These girls have no father figure and are hungry for love and attention...and this is what they end up with.

Even if condoms were 99% effective (used by teens, they really aren't) that would mean that they'd fail 1 in a 100 times...that's quite often when you think about how many sexually active teens there are out there. A 'safer sex' only message does nothing to discourage sexual activity among teens, and gives them very limited tools to reduce the physical impact (let alone other consequences).

Abstinence-only programs tend to focus on your worth and value as a person, about making commitments for the future...these are messages that young people need to hear. And some honest education about STDs and pregnancy aren't amiss. Teaching a kid how to use a condom is of [i]very[/i] limited value. Teaching that same person to say "no" to pressure to engage in sex is worth more in the long run for their health as a person.

(And yes, I was able to say all of that without once referencing my Catholic beliefs - this stuff just makes sense )

[Resurrexi]

Even if abstinence education were not effective, I would still not support the use of non-abstinence education.

[JimR-OCDS]

The report was flawed because it only studied these teens for two years. A follow up study showed that the majority of these
teens eventually became sexually active. The follow up study failed to see if the group had any unwanted pregnancies as a result.

There has to be a combination of education, abstinence is just one part.


Jim

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='JimR-OCDS' date='06 February 2010 - 03:11 PM' timestamp='1265487086' post='2052096']
There has to be a combination of education, abstinence is just one part.
[/quote]

It is very, very, wrong and evil to introduce teenagers to contraception.

[tinytherese]

I volunteered to help at an abstinence education organization which teaches in middle schools. What I liked about them was that they taught kids, not neccessarily just about sex, but long-term decision making. This not only would help them in terms of saving themselves for marriage, but also avoiding behavior such as drinking, doing drugs, and just plain making bad decisions in relationships with family and friends.

We also need to understand that we don't just need abstinence education in schools, but it takes many people to show teens the beauty and worth of chastity. Many kids don't live in homes where their parents, siblings, or other relatives are being pure. Other kids come from broken homes and think that marriage just plain doesn't work and love doesn't last. Not to mention the kinds of friends that kids have can really make a difference. I know from experience that it can be harder to stay pure when you have friends with different values. Sometimes kids are not even pressured by their friends or dates to do it, but are tempted to do so with their influences. We also need a change in the media. Sheesh how much sexual stuff do kids see on t.v. even on supposedly family oriented shows and movies. (Sometimes even G or PG movies can have inappropriate moments in them.) My mom also got tired of the trash on the radio stations, so she decided to listen to the Christian station in town for a better environment for people to sit in.

[Winchester]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='06 February 2010 - 03:06 PM' timestamp='1265486813' post='2052093']
Even if abstinence education were not effective, I would still not support the use of non-abstinence education.
[/quote]
Excellent resistence to pragmatism. I applaud you. Too often people point to favorable outcomes to prove the morality of a position.

[King's Rook's Pawn]

[quote name='JimR-OCDS' date='06 February 2010 - 03:11 PM' timestamp='1265487086' post='2052096']
The report was flawed because it only studied these teens for two years. A follow up study showed that the majority of these
teens eventually became sexually active. The follow up study failed to see if the group had any unwanted pregnancies as a result.[/quote]

??? What follow up? The article says this was released on February 1st. The report doesn't appear outdated.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Winchester' date='06 February 2010 - 02:23 PM' timestamp='1265487830' post='2052105']
Excellent resistence to pragmatism. I applaud you. Too often people point to favorable outcomes to prove the morality of a position.
[/quote]
Porkins!

[Happy_Catholic]

Kids these days can find any information about sex they want, they just have to Google it. They turn on TV and see sex as a normal part of being popular. They watch music videos and see being a skank as glam. They talk to their friends and everyone admits to having sex so as to not be left out. Society has made sex something to desire and the sooner the better.

These kids have no self-esteem, they view sex as the only way they can find love, the only way they can be special. Saying "don't have sex" or "if you have sex wear this condom and take this pill and here's the number for teh local abortion mill", this won't help. Kids need to be educated about more then just the consquences of sex, they need to be taught to have a good opinion of themselves so they don't seek affirmation from their peers in sexual congress.

When I did my training I went with a public health nurse into a secondary school and I got to listen to young girls, the youngest 12, in tears, because she thought she could be pregnant, she had sex at 2 in the morning on a Friday night, drunk and at the house of her much older boyfriend. She knew about safe sex, she had access to condoms, she had already had three doses of the ECP on other occasions. Her friends had brought her in, and they too, just as young, were also after the ECP. The whole time I was thinking "where were her parents? why aren't they doing their jobs?"

So many parents these days seem to be lazy in regards to educating their children. They think the state will just flick some condoms at their teens and if they get pregnant the state will pay for their abortions and the parent will never even know.

Parents have to own a lot of this mess too.

This was at a public school. A public school with a really intensive safe sex programme.

Yeah, Catholic school kids will have sex and they will use contraception, but it seems to me, from my practice that more and more kids who are getting into trouble with pregnancy and STDs are those who were taught the "safe sex" message only.

The safest sex? No sex.

Edited February 7, 2010 by Happy_Catholic

[JimR-OCDS]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='06 February 2010 - 04:13 PM' timestamp='1265487205' post='2052097']
It is very, very, wrong and evil to introduce teenagers to contraception.
[/quote]


Spoken like a person who has never raised teenage girls.

Jim

[JimR-OCDS]

[quote name='King's Rook's Pawn' date='06 February 2010 - 05:18 PM' timestamp='1265491130' post='2052138']
??? What follow up? The article says this was released on February 1st. The report doesn't appear outdated.
[/quote]


Sorry, not a follow up, an analysist by the researchers themselves.

[quote]
Ms. LAUREN SCHER (Concentric Research & Evaluation): This study in particular is looking at one particular intervention. You can't take this study and say, see, abstinence until marriage works because this is not an abstinence-until-marriage program. WILSON: Such programs were prominent during the Bush administration. But they are no longer being funded by the federal government. While the new abstinence-only program worked with younger teens, Scher says it's important to note that when the researchers caught up with most of the teens two years later, many had become sexually active. It would've been better, she says, if the researchers had followed the teens to see when and if they became pregnant. [url="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123287773"]http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123287773[/url]
[/quote]

Its important to understand the entire study, which wasn't limited to just the part of the report being touted by various groups.

Jim

[MithLuin]

Because the only reason to teach teenagers abstinence is to avoid teen pregnancy? While it is true that teens tend to be very fertile, the value of these programs (as outlined by various posters) is to teach young teens decision-making. The hardest thing to get a teen to do is to take consequences seriously. They live in the moment, with a lot of denial and 'it would never happen to me.' You have to combat that no matter what approach you take to sexuality. Abstinence programs (well, good ones anyway) tackle that head-on.

My parents raised 3 teenage girls. They allowed us to date. I had a steady boyfriend from the time I was just shy of 16 until I was 21. (Oh, and he was 2 1/2 years older than me.) My sister likewise dated a guy starting at the age of 18 until they got married at the age of 25. My other sister dated on and off, casually, until she entered the convent. Never once did my parents suggest that any of us get the pill. Never once did they buy us condoms or instruct us in how to use them. My mother was very good about talking to us openly and frankly about sex, the female body, etc. My sister had a conversation with my dad about how married couples decide when to have sex before she got married. This was [i]not[/i] a household where sex was some big taboo secret. And yet...the need for artificial contraception was non-existent. I know they had conversations with my brothers about being responsible, making it clear that you couldn't walk away from a girl if she was pregnant with your kid, but again...they didn't buy them condoms.

I have several cousins who became pregnant as teens or out of wedlock. It's not usually an issue of ignorance, but more of recklessness, sometimes exasperated by drug and alcohol use. I will also say that having a baby is [i]not[/i] the end of the world, even if it is a major challenge.

No one questions that abstinence-until-marriage is the [i]best[/i] way to avoid pregnancy, STIs, and severe heartbreak (ie, getting used). People merely scoff at the idea that anyone will bother to do that. If an abstinence program delays the age of first sexual experience, that is considered to be a real and measurable impact, which is what this report shows. These programs are [i]supplemental[/i] to whatever education the parent(s) provide.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='JimR-OCDS' date='07 February 2010 - 08:01 AM' timestamp='1265551290' post='2052438']
Spoken like a person who has never raised teenage girls.

Jim
[/quote]
Spoken like a person who prefers martyrdom to hell would be more accurate.

[tinytherese]

It seems as if our world just doesn't have faith in young people. I can't count all of the times I've heard people say that what with teens having "raging hormones" that they just can't congtrol themselves and will just do it anyway so just teach them about safe-sex. With this kind of mentality, no wonder why not as many teens and young adults are pure. We've got to show kids that they do have control of what happens to them, that they are capable of controlling themselves if they tried to and got the support and help that they need to do it. Its better than enslaving kids to their passions.