Does Abstinence Education Matter?

HHS Releases Abstinence Study

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has now released the full results of a government study that gives insight into how parental attitudes and social norms are key to promoting abstinence before marriage, rather than sex-ed programs. The Department of HHS had been criticized for releasing only the seven-page executive summary of the study's final conclusions.

The 196-page report titled, "The National Survey of Adolescents and Their Parents: Attitudes and Opinions about Sex and Abstinence," comes as critical funding for abstinence programs is set to end Sept. 30 — after the U.S. Congress and the administration canceled all abstinence-centered program grants for the FY2010 budget. Up until now, cash-strapped states reportedly have been "on the fence" about applying for federal abstinence-only sex education program funds. States have until Aug. 30 to apply.

The abstinence study, which was completed in February of 2009, and was based on interviews with 1,000 matched adolescent-parent pairs, indicated that:

- Seventy percent of parents agreed with the statement: "It is against your values for your adolescents to have sexual intercourse before marriage."
- Seventy percent of parents agreed with the statement: "Having sexual intercourse is something only married people should do."
- "While the majority of adolescents surveyed oppose pre-marital sex in general and for themselves, on average adolescents expressed less conservative general views about sex and abstinence than their surveyed parents."

Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, was elated by the release of the study, but said, "We are greatly concerned that the sex education policy being implemented by this administration does not reflect the values of what most parents and teens clearly want." For the complete report go to The National Survey of Adolescents and Their Parents. [LifeNews.com, CitizenLink.com]