A new study suggests that if done without religious overtones, abstinence-only education is more effective at delaying sexual activity among adolescence than safe sex or a combination of safe sex and abstinence.
Quote:
The ongoing debate over sex education has been rekindled by a provocative new study suggesting that teaching abstinence can delay the start of sexual activity among inner-city youngsters — if it is freed from the moralistic overtones and ideological restrictions that were the hallmark of abstinence-only programs under the Bush administration.
It would be a mistake to place too much importance on a single study of black middle-school students in Philadelphia, but the study appears to be sound and its findings are worth further exploration.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/opinion/08mon1.html
I think this study is quite interesting but one very large aspect it leaves out is whether this program has an effect on the number adolescence that perform safe sex. I believe that STIs and early pregnancies are the real issues that should be focused on and I would personally prefer to see a safe sex program that is ineffective at delaying sex but successful at encouraging safe sex over this abstinence-only program if it does not have a positive effect on condom use.
It also must be noted that this is a single study and more studies need to be performed with more detail for this method to be taken seriously.
02-08-2010, 09:43 AM
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