Are `abstinence only` programs effective?

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`Abstinence Only ' Programs

In 1996 , the Department of Health and Human Services was told to create and implement a national strategy to reduce teen pregnancy rates , and this provision was authorized and implemented by Title V of the Personal Responsibility and Work Responsibility Reconciliation Act of 1996 . It established a policy designed to encourage the development of national abstinence-only education programs . Beginning in 1998 , a program was added to the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant requiring that 50 million be allocated annually

to states for the implementation of state-operated abstinence education programs for the fiscal years 1998-2002 . As a result , the past decade has seen a dramatic increase in the percentage of school districts that teach abstinence as the only way to prevent pregnancy and STD transmission , per the Title V provision requiring programs receiving abstinence education funds to teach an unambiguous abstinence message ' and prohibiting these programs from endorsing or promoting contraceptive use ADDIN EN .CITE Klein20073 336Susan S KleinHandbook for Achieving Gender Equity Through Education2007 New JerseyRoutledgehttp /books .google .com /books ?id y0OCnSMf-foC pg PA414 dq abstinence only programs as_brr 3 sig Pu9gl6vtFNVNk2MY1Mjvh6fTcg E PPA415 ,M1 (Klein

What to Learn from the Program

Abstinence-only programs focus on changing community values , norms , and behaviors toward adolescent sexual activity , pregnancy , and childbearing to support the delay of these behaviors until adulthood or marriage Many programs have as their foundation an abstinence-only curriculum supplemented with other services and youth development programs to strengthen parent-child communication and teach life skills and strategies that youth can use to negotiate their way out of problematic situations dealing with sex and other risk behaviors . These programs also help youth improve peer communication about delaying sexual intercourse , offer adult and peer mentors after school and during other critical hours that may be supervised , and , in general , promote an ideological framework to combat images and messages in the media and other outlets that might be perceived as supporting non-marital or sexual activity ADDIN EN .CITE FineMichelle FineLois WeisSilenced Voices and Extraordinary Conversations : Re-Imagining Schools2003Ne w York and LondonTeachers College Presshttp /books .google .com /books id 6XsKGOe26EYC pg PA135 dq abstinence only programs as_brr 3 sig 6s2qhrXtdHocH0SI_DorYMXLMYk (Fine and Weis

The Program 's Effectiveness

A few school- and community-based abstinence-only programs have reported lower pregnancy rates at program exit for their participants relative to students in the same school or community who did not participate . However , many of these types of evaluations have tended not to be empirically rigorous . Few scientifically thorough evaluations have been conducted to measure the influence of abstinence-only programs on delay of sexual initiations and pregnancy , so there is little empirical research identifying the components of these programs that might have the strongest impact on these behaviors . This issue is particularly important when comparing comprehensive abstinence-only programs with sexuality and contraceptive education programs that are also comprehensive but whose message both supports abstinence and educated youth about contraception ADDIN EN .CITE Romer20032 226Daniel RomerReducing Adolescent...