A recent study says that abstinence programs are effective at delaying sex among youth. The study was published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of abstinence-only prevention programs and their effectiveness in kids lives. The study focused on urban public schools and it looked at 662 African American students in grades 6 and 7. One-third of pre-teens who were part of an eight hour abstinence lesson were sexualy active after two years of the class.
The participants' mean age was 12.2 years; 53.5% were girls; and 84.4% were still enrolled at 24 months. Abstinence-only intervention reduced sexual initiation…The model-estimated probability of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up was 33.5% in the abstinence-only intervention and 48.5% in the control group. Fewer abstinence-only intervention participants (20.6%) than control participants (29.0%) reported having coitus in the previous 3 months during the follow-up period... Abstinence-only intervention did not affect condom use. The 8-hour and 12-hour comprehensive interventions reduced reports of having multiple partners compared with the control group. No other differences between interventions and controls were significant.
It’s good to know kids are considering waiting but why was the study only done at urban schools? Why did it only look at African American kids? I don’t like how the study has no diversity in it. I’m pretty sure it’s not only black kids in rural areas having sex. The Washignton Post quoted John B. Jemmott III, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who led the federally funded study "I think we've written off abstinence-only education without looking closely at the nature of the evidence, our study shows this could be one approach that could be used."
There is no doubt that the abstinence programs can work, but can these programs work in suburban areas?
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