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Federal study says abstinence only sex ed works better
Topic Started: Feb 2 2010, 05:25 PM (349 Views)
Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Quote:
 
Study: Teaching Abstinence Works Better Than Sex Ed

Mara Gay

(Feb. 2) -- What if abstinence-only programs actually work?

That's the question facing educators this week after a groundbreaking study found that students who take classes emphasizing abstinence are less likely to have sex than those who take classes teaching safe sex.

Although the effectiveness and virtues of sex-ed versus abstinence-only curricula have long been the subject of fierce debate in American schools, the federal study, published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, is the first of its kind to suggest that programs encouraging students to abstain from having sex altogether are successful.

Just under half of the students in the study who received sex-education classes that included information about contraceptives went on to have sex in the next two years. But only one out of three students in the study who received abstinence-only education did.

Researchers say the long-term study, which followed 662 African-American public middle school students between 2001 and 2004, is significant. John Jemmott, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who headed the study, told The Washington Post, "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."

Valerie Huber, the director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said in a phone interview Tuesday that the study should be "a policy-changing article."

Huber said she hopes President Obama and Congress will make a "course correction" on funding for abstinence-only programs. "The study shows abstinence really is much more than a 'say no' message," she said. "There needs to be a very targeted and specific abstinence approach that is funded separately from so-called comprehensive or safe sex funding."

The study, interestingly enough, comes at a time when teen pregnancy rates are up for the first time in a decade, and many liberal and abortion rights groups say the eight years of increased funding for abstinence-only programs during the Bush administration are to blame. President Barack Obama has pledged $114 million to address teen pregnancy but cut $170 million in funding for abstinence-only education last year after scores of studies showed such programs to be ineffective. Melody Barnes, the White House's domestic policy adviser, told USA Today that the decision to make the cuts simply "reflects the research."

But not everyone thinks it's fair to blame President George W. Bush and abstinence-only education for the increase in teen pregnancy. At Newsweek, Sarah Kliff points out that abstinence-only funding rose during the Clinton years as well, when the teen pregnancy rate actually dropped by 3 percent. "Particularly between 1997 and 1998, when the funding of abstinence-only education increased tenfold, there should have been some indication of an uptick," Kliff writes. "But there wasn't."

It's not yet clear whether these latest findings will change the way sex education is taught in the country's schools.

In Catholic schools at least, little will change. Joe Kohn of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit said the latest study simply reaffirms the abstinence-only curriculum found in Catholic schools. "One thing I can say is, when it's practiced, the policy of abstinence is effective 100 percent of the time," he said. He added that the Detroit archdiocese does teach about "various contraceptives and contraceptive methods" but "does not encourage them."

But the abstinence-only program in the study was not religious, as many similar programs are, and did not vilify condom use. James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, which promotes comprehensive sex-ed programs, said that was an important distinction that separates the program in the study from those advocated during the Bush years.

"The bottom line is, we're just coming out of a $1.5 billion investment in really, really bad abstinence-only programs," Wagoner said Tuesday in a phone interview. He said the abstinence program in the study did not include "misinformation" about sex or contraceptives, for example.

What is clear is that experts and groups that had once thought abstinence-only education to be a fool's errand are taking a second look. Abstinence-only programs may be more useful than researchers originally thought. Sarah Brown, head of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, told The Washington Post that the study was "game-changing."

Even Wagoner, who charges that studies by conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation advocating abstinence-only programs are akin to having "Santa Claus write something from the North Pole," found the federal study compelling. "This is a legitimate study from a legitimate researcher," he said. "So those of us who believe in legitimate research have to pay attention."

Wagoner still wants comprehensive sexual education in the country's schools, however. He notes that 23 percent of students in the study were already sexually active before the abstinence-only program even began. "Don't you want to make sure they have the education to protect themselves?" he asked.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Big John
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Senior Carp
we're doomed.

Next study will say High Fructose Corn Syrup makes you lose weight!





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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
So in other words you don't believe it, but then again you have nothing to refute it with. O-tay, Bu'wheat. :lol:
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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brenda
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..............
Yes, I read this yesterday in The Washington Post. It's not the result we were told to expect, so I'm curious now what will happen in school districts.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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Big John
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Did you know that Buckwheat from Little Rascals became Muslim and changed his name to Kareem of Wheat?





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Ayatollah Khamenei
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Big John
Feb 2 2010, 07:36 PM
Did you know that Buckwheat from Little Rascals became Muslim and changed his name to Kareem of Wheat?
Ilhas bedati.
Allah'u Akhbar!
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Big John
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I thought the science pointed to increased teenage STDs and pregnancies, but I'm at the library right now studying scarlatti, Schutz, Strozze, Carissimi and other Italian/German Baroque composers. . .

The teacher asked "does anyone know who barbara Strozze was?

I said "Wasn't she in "Funny Girl?" :D





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Frank_W
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I'm pretty sure that the decrease in teen pregnancies for many years, was the availability of contraceptives, even though that idea wasn't real popular with a lot of parents of teenage girls. What's disturbing, is that in the past couple of years, teen pregnancy is on the rise, again.

Obviously, something's f'cked up.
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
Frank_W
Feb 2 2010, 07:49 PM
...in the past couple of years, teen pregnancy is on the rise, again.

Obviously, something's f'cked up.
The teenage girls.
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QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
Yeah, I'm curious.

If abstinence-only education results in fewer teenagers having sex, that's good.

But, there are still some having sex. Are they more likely to get pregnant? Are they more likely to get STDs?

Without knowing the pregnancy rates, and the STD rates, of abstinence-only programs vs. sex ed programs, it's hard to make a judgment just on the fact that fewer teenagers are having sex.

It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Good point. It's not just the sex, it's the consequences.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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lb1
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Sex education and handing out condoms came from the same quarter that global warming came from, what would you expect.

lb
My position is simple: you jumped to an unwarranted conclusion and slung mud on an issue where none was deserved. Quirt 03/08/09
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PhJ
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somehow, I don't think abstinence only programs are the solution..

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image


(source: Adolescent Sexual Health in Europe and the U.S.—Why the Difference? )
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
lb1
Feb 3 2010, 04:27 AM
Sex education and handing out condoms came from the same quarter that global warming came from
The sun?


As a Brit, like most schoolboys the majority of my sex education came from The Sun..
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
PhJ
Feb 3 2010, 04:45 AM
somehow, I don't think abstinence only programs are the solution..

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image


(source: Adolescent Sexual Health in Europe and the U.S.—Why the Difference? )
No kidding - Americans need to start acting like Europeans and watching sophisticated movies that take away their urges. Let's face it, standing around in a shopping mall all day eating McDonalds - after a while you're just going to boink someone to break the monotony.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Copper
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Shortstop
Frank_W
Feb 2 2010, 07:49 PM

What's disturbing, is that in the past couple of years, teen pregnancy is on the rise, again.


http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/infosheets/infosheet_teen_preg.htm#factors

Quote:
 

Factors Accounting for the Recent Decline in Teen Pregnancy

NCHS' 2002 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) shows trends in behaviors underlying the reductions in U.S. teenage pregnancy rates through the early 2000s. During 1995 to 2002, the percent of female teens who had ever had intercourse declined significantly (among ages 15-17) or was stable (among ages 18-19). During the same time period, the percent who used contraception at last sex rose from 71 to 83 percent. According to recent data on high school students from CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (2007), increases in contraceptive use and decreases in sexual activity stopped after 2001. These may be among the factors accounting for the upturn in teenage birth rates in 2006. Findings from Cycle 7 of the NSFG (available in late 2009) are expected to help explain the most recent trends and variations in pregnancy rates and the behavioral, social, and economic factors that account for them.


The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
I blame bush.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
Thanks, Copper.
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
John D'Oh
Feb 3 2010, 07:22 AM
I blame bush.
Even Larry and Mik can't argue with that one.
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Buncha pie-eyed kids.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Renauda
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HOLY CARP!!!
lb1
Feb 3 2010, 04:27 AM
Sex education and handing out condoms came from the same quarter that global warming came from, what would you expect.

lb
Probably more disorders of the appetite.
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