Abstinence Programs Are Having an Effect

The federal government only began funding abstinence-based sex education relatively recently, as part of the 1996 welfare reform. The feds did something unusual when they funded abstinence education; a long-term study of the program was simultaneously authorized to track whether the programs made a positive difference in teenagers' lives, as proponents expected.

A Department of Health and Human Services-funded study, started in 1998, tracked 2,310 students; 60 percent were assigned randomly to an abstinence-based program, and the rest were assigned to control groups. The results are now in: Teens in abstinence programs are more likely to hold strong views in favor of sexual abstinence and against out-of-wedlock sexual relations than their counterparts who were not enrolled in abstinence-based programs. Those enrolled in the programs also were far more likely to understand the negative consequences of sex outside of marriage.

The point of abstinence education is to provide a clear counterweight to a sex-infused popular culture and to influence teens' attitudes for the better. Actual proof of its long-term effectiveness will come in the demographics of out-of-wedlock births and abortions.

In their limited mission of changing attitudes, abstinence education appears to be succeeding.

The Intelligencer