Abstinence: health effects and behavioral practices

Abstinence

Sex education became a popular mode of addressing the problem of teenage pregnancy when the issue turned into a pressing and alarming concern. However sex education failed to achieve the purpose. Abstinence is found to be the only real and substantial approach to handling the problem when it became clear that other approaches that failed to produce the desired result. The rising number of teenagers engaged in pre-marital sexual activity is a cause of concern for every parent. This is both due to increased health risks and unwanted pregnancies. It is believed that a school's adoption of abstinence-based sex education is more effective than traditional curriculum but this claim is rather controversial in nature. Sex education has not been able to control the growing rise in teenage pregnancies among students who are not attending any abstinence-based program. Kasun (1994) notes: "Proponents of sex education argue that government family planning increases the use of contraceptives. It does, but it is most effective at encouraging higher rates of sexual activity, teen pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases."

The reason traditional sex education is criticized is because teaching students about safe sex makes them believe that as long as they are using contraceptive, engaging in sexual activity is acceptable and safe. ("Sexual Health Update," 1999) But that sadly is not the truth. There is medical evidence indicating that abstinence and not safe sex is the only reliable method of avoiding pregnancies. In one article (Khouzem, 1995) compared the effectiveness of sex-education programs in schools and found that schools with abstinence-based program had better results. These programs were more effective in preventing teenage sexual activity and pregnancies. Khouzem The Teen-Aid abstinence education curriculum has been widely used in Washington's city of Edinburgh for 5 years. Every year a report is released that assesses the effectiveness of abstinence programs in reducing "risky behavior and attitudes." It was found that this program had a better a statistically significant effect (p =.000) on the sexual activity of participants. It decreased the sexual activity among non-virgin teenagers and prevented engagement in any kind of sexual behavior in virgin teenagers. (Tanas, 1998).

School authorities of San Marcos, California, also implemented the same kind of program for their students in the junior high. (Teen-Aid; Richard, 1989) This district once had the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the U.S. During 1983-1984, this district saw one in five teenage girls become pregnant (Richard, 1989). In 1984-85, San Marcos Junior High reported 147 pregnancies each year two years before this program was implemented. Within two years, rate had gone down to only 20 pregnancies (Richard, 1989).

School district in Lamar, Missouri had similar abstinence program. More than 500 students were enrolled in the Sex Respect: The Option of True Sexual Freedom program (Mast, 1986). With two years of this program, the effect was highly significant and profound as none of the students became pregnant. Project Research (Kirby, 1989) had studied the effectiveness of Sex Respect curriculum for several years. In the Sex Respect pilot program, 1800 students had participated and out of these 36% had condoned sexual activity before starting this program. After the program only 18% held the same belief. And on completion of the program 58% agreed that waiting till marriage for sex had more benefits while only 35% had condoned this belief before the program. (Kirby, 1989; Richard, 1989) Another abstinence-based program for junior high students Me, My World, My Fortune (Kirby, 1989) was also adopted in some schools. The impact of this program was similar to the effects of the Sex Respect curriculum on students' attitudes towards sexual activity.

Another abstinence-based program called Postponing Sexual Involvement (PSI) was evaluated at the Emory University School of Medicine. This evaluation indicated that enrollees were 5 times more careful about sex than others. The PSI curriculum was more focused on building assertive skills that taught students "how to say no." (Howard & McCabe, 1990). PSI forms the core component of a wider program called the Education Now and Babies Later program. Many schools in the country are currently using this popular and widely appreciated program. (Vessey, 1996).

Another known abstinence program being used in the U.S. And some other countries is called Teen Sexuality Teaching with Adult Responsibility (STAR). It was reported Lickona (1993) that by 1993, this program was being used by more than 5,000 teenagers in the country. "Very few" teenagers among the participants became sexually active and many completed stopped engaged in sexual intercourse after the program. An abstinence rate of 92% was reported among students who were not sexually active at the beginning of another program called 'Loving Well'-a literature-based program.

Similarly Elayne Bennett, a faculty member of the Georgetown University Development Center, developed another abstinence program in 1987. This was called Best Friends and it focused on character building of young girls in public schools. Girls would enroll in this program during 6th grade and continue till they graduated. In an independent evaluation of the program in 1995, participants in the program were compared with their classmates who had not participated in the program. The results were highly encouraging. Compared to 26% of the girls who had not participated in the program and became pregnant, only 1% of the participants had conceived. As for sexual activity, 63% of the non-participants were engaged compared to only 5% of Best Friends participants (Charen, 1998).

The Journal of the American Medical Association also published the results of two important studies on abstinence education (Resnick et al., 1997; Vincent, Clearie, & Schluchter, 1987). One of the studies focused on the high-risk area of South Carolina where a significant decrease was reported as abstinence education was received. (Vincent et al., 1987). Resnick et al. (1997) reported results from another study that was in favor of $50 million federal Title V abstinence-only education program. This study was called Add Health and results were collected from a written survey of more than 90,000 adolescents. Add Health reported that, "adolescents who reported having taken a pledge to remain a virgin were at significantly lower risk of early age of sexual debut" (Resnick et al., 1997, p. 830). The study concluded that strong parent and family influence played a major role in protecting teenage girls. (Resnick et al., 1997).

Interestingly the research confirmed the vague idea that teenage pregnancies had decreased as the result of abstinence. It also found that abstinence was rediscovered by youth and engaging in sexual intercourses had come down to 48% in 1997 from 54% in 1995 (Centers for Disease Control, 1998). Kasun (1994) reported: "Both teach that abstinence is the healthiest lifestyle and discuss the emotional risks of premarital sex, as well as the risk of disease. A study of Illinois students enrolled in a Sex Respect course found that before the program, 60% of the students agreed that abstinence was the best way to avoid pregnancy. After the program, 80% of the students favored abstinence."