Behind the Headlines: Abstinence, Sex Ed & Teen Pregnancy

On February 2, the headlines ranged from "Abstinence-only programs might work, study says" (The Washington Post) to "Study Finds New Abstinence-Only Program Works" (Fox News)—but behind the headlines, the story is more complex.

First, some context: for the first time in a decade, teen pregnancy rates have started to rise and abortion rates are up slightly, according to the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute. The nation's teen pregnancy rate rose 3 percent in 2006—to a rate of 71.5 pregnancies per 1,000 teens, up from 69.5 the year before. The Institute argues that the significant drop in teen pregnancy rates in the 1990s was overwhelmingly the result of more and better use of contraceptives among sexually active teens.

The cause of the increase is the subject of debate, as Washington Post staff writer Rob Stein reports, with some experts blaming abstinence-only education and others citing a range of factors, from rising poverty rates to complacency about AIDS that may be leading to "lax use of birth control."

Enter the abstinence-only research. In light of the news that teen pregnancy rates are rising, many of us are looking for news about what works—specifically, to delay teen sexual involvement and reduce teen pregnancy. The abstinence-only study appeared in an article in the February 1 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

"It is the first randomized controlled study to demonstrate that an abstinence-only intervention reduced the percentage of adolescents who reported any sexual intercourse for a long period," according to a statement by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where the study's lead researcher John B. Jemmott III is a professor.

Groundbreaking - But What does it Really Prove?

Here, it's important to get the details. Unlike abstinence-only-until-marriage classes that were promoted and funded by the Bush administration, the intervention studied was based on "principles shown to be effective in reducing the risk of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, and did not use a moralistic tone or portray sex in a negative light," according to the statement. (In fact, National Public Radio reports that the classes in this study would not have qualified for funding under the Bush administration abstinence-only guidelines.)

These abstinence-only classes "counseled children to delay sex 'until they are ready' rather than until marriage, avoided a moralistic tone, and was careful not to disparage condom use, and to help children get rid of misconceptions about contraceptives if the subject came up during discussion," Amanda Paulson writes in a February 2 Christian Science Monitor article.

That makes this curricula more comprehensive, writes student and Campus Progress blogger Kim Leung; attemps to use this to justify traditional abstinence-only education are a "misreading" of the science, she writes.

The bottom line: more research is needed. The study's creators agree. "Policy should not be based on just one study, but an accumulation of empirical findings from several well-designed, well-executed studies," lead researcher Dr. Jemmott said in the statement issued by the University of Pennsylvania.

How the Study Worked

In the study, 662 African-American 6th and 7th graders spent their Saturdays in classrooms at four participating public schools, assigned randomly to one of the following:

• An 8-hour abstinence-only program.
• An 8-hour safer-sex-only program.
• An 8- or 12-hour program that combined both.
• An 8-hour control group that just focused on non-sex related health issues.

No intervention eliminated sexual activity all together. In the two years following the intervention, the group receiving abstinence-only education were least likely to engage in sexual activity (33 percent began having sex) compared to the safer-sex-only group (52 percent), the combination (42 percent) and the control group (47 percent). More on the results.

Mothers' Education Levels - Why They Matter

Everyone agrees that teen child-bearing can cut short a girl's goals for herself, and her child. New Child Trends research, Diploma Attainment Among Teen Mothers, finds that one in three (34 percent)of young women who had been teen mothers did not earn a high school diploma or a GED, compared with only 6 percent of young women who did not give birth as teens.

More on Successful Approaches…

• Personal goals for the future along with information about contraception and clearing up myths about menstruation are among the topics covered in "Get Real" sex education for girls behind bars, a population with high rates of STDs and unintended pregnancies. The classes are taught by University of Delaware students, reports Delaware Online.
• The "Talk": Is Your School Doing It Right? The information this young writer learned in middle school has helped him make good decisions about sexual activity and safety, but he says many students in New York are not getting the information they deserve.
• Engaging Youth: On Their Turf. Young people who are most disengaged from our usual systems of care are often most in need of programs that promote positive youth development and programs that offer sex education messages and contraceptive services. From sex education classes for parents to girl scouts in public housing and an arts club for homeless teens, Health Teen Network describes six programs that work.