Teen sex increased after abstinence program
Texas study finds little impact on sexual behavior
Updated: 2:56 p.m. ET Feb. 1, 2005

HOUSTON - Abstinence-only sex education programs, a major plank in President George W. Bush’s education plan, have had no impact on teenagers’ behavior in his home state of Texas, according to a new study.

Despite taking courses emphasizing abstinence-only themes, teenagers in 29 high schools became increasingly sexually active, mirroring the overall state trends, according to the study conducted by researchers at Texas A&M University.

“We didn’t see any strong indications that these programs were having an impact in the direction desired,” said Dr. Buzz Pruitt, who directed the study.

The study was delivered to the Texas Department of State Health Services, which commissioned it.

The federal government is expected to spend about $130 million to fund programs advocating abstinence in 2005, despite a lack of evidence that they work, Pruitt said.

“The jury is still out, but most of what we’ve discovered shows there’s no evidence the large amount of money spent is having an effect,” he said.

'More concerned about politics than kids'
The study showed about 23 percent of ninth-grade girls, typically 13 to 14 years old, had sex before receiving abstinence education. After taking the course, 29 percent of the girls in the same group said they had had sex.

Boys in the tenth grade, about 14 to 15 years old, showed a more marked increase, from 24 percent to 39 percent, after receiving abstinence education.

Abstinence-only programs, which have sprouted up in schools across the nation, cannot offer information about birth control and must promote the social and health benefits of abstaining from sex.

Pruitt said he hoped the study would bring about changes in the content of abstinence-promoting programs.

“These programs seem to be much more concerned about politics than kids, and we need to get over that,” he said.

One program technique has been to try to bolster students’ self-esteem, based on the theory that self-confident teenagers would not have sex. Those programs, which sometimes do not even mention sex, have shown no effect, Pruitt said.

Other programs that focus on the social norms and expectations appear to be more successful, he said.

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I would be straight up embarrassed if I lived in America.

I'd be interested in seeing the actual report. Maybe this article was just poorly written, but those statistics it quotes are completely meaningless. For ninth grade girls and tenth grade boys any idiot could tell you that there will be a marked increase in sexual activity. There's also a marked increase in pubic hair, big fucking deal. They ahve to make comparisons to kids who had other types of sex ed programs for the stats to have any meaning at all.

--PunkDavid

Anyone who didn't see it coming from a mile away, put your hands up.

Thought as much.

Doesn't that just mean that a couple of kids who weren't previously active became active. In the same time frame, w/o the education, maybe it would have jumped from 23% of girls to 50% of girls.

I think abstinence-only is ignorant, but those stats are pretty weak.

Pretty sure abortions are up across the country since 2000 too...

Yeah, those are seriously the weakest stats I have ever seen. It's impossible for the percentage of teens who have had sex to go down, so the only other options are to stay the same or go up, and clearly teaching abstinence isn't going to be 100% effective.

Can I live with you? For real.

Ahhh I love Americans, nobody has any morals no matter how much you claim you do.

-Sunny