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Abstinence-Only Sex Education Has Little Effect on Teen Behavior, Analysis Says; HHS Questions Findings

Abstinence-only sex education programs — which prohibit discussion of contraception or condoms, except to point out failure rates — have little long-term impact on teenagers' sexual behavior, according to an Advocates for Youth analysis of state evaluations of 10 abstinence-only federal initiatives that was released on Tuesday, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 9/30). The analysis, titled "Five Years of Abstinence-Only-Until Marriage Education: Assessing the Impact," was based on evaluations from programs in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington state — the only state evaluations of the Title V initiative available to date. Of the 10 state programs, none showed "long-term success in impacting teen sexual behavior," and only one showed "short-term success in delaying the initiation of sex," according to an Advocates for Youth release. "Some of the evaluations indicate that abstinence-only programs may have a negative impact on young people's willingness to use contraception or condoms once they do become sexually active," Debra Hauser, author of the report, said (Advocates for Youth release, 9/28).

HHS Reaction

Assistant HHS Secretary for Children and Families Wade Horn, who oversees abstinence education programs, said that the analysis "runs counter to a number of scholarly research studies." Horn said that data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health — which interviewed 15,000 young people between 1995 and 2001 — found that adolescents who pledge to remain abstinent until marriage have fewer sexual partners and are less likely to experience teen pregnancy, give birth outside of marriage and engage in unprotected sex than those who do not make a pledge, CQ HealthBeat reports. The data cited by Horn about the longitudinal study came from a Heritage Foundation analysis of the study, which was released on Sept. 21, according to CQ HealthBeat (CQ HealthBeat, 9/30).

Sexual Behavior Report

Advocates for Youth on Tuesday also released a report about sexual behavior among high school students, titled "Trends in Sexual Risk Behaviors among High School Students - United States, 1991 to 1997 and 1999 to 2003." The group contracted with an independent statistician to analyze CDC data on the subject. The findings include:

• The proportion of high school students who reported ever having sex dropped 11% between 1991 and 1997, and there was no statistically significant change from 1999 to 2003.
• Between 1991 and 1997, there was a statistically significant decline in the proportion of male and African-American high school students who reported current sexual activity, but the trend did not continue from 1999 to 2003.
• Condom use among sexually active young people increased 23% from 1991 to 1997, and it increased 9% between 1999 and 2003.
• The prevalence of students who said they had four or more sexual partners declined by 14% from 1991 to 1997 but remained unchanged from 1999 to 2003 (Advocates for Youth release, 9/28).