Abstinence lessons help delay sexual activities in children -- study

The study involving more than 600 African American children between the ages of 11 and 15 found that sexual activity was reduced by almost a third in children after they were given a lesson on abstinence as compared to those who received no sex education.

Delaying sexual activity in teens
“It is extremely important to find an effective intervention that delays sexual activity; the younger someone is when they have sex for the first time, the less likely they are to use condoms,” said Dr John Jemmott, professor of Communication in Psychiatry and of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Abstinence-only interventions may have an important role in delaying sexual activity until a time later in life when the adolescent is more prepared to handle to consequences of sex.

“This can reduce undesirable consequences of sex, including pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections like HIV/Aids,” he added.

Sex education beneficial in all forms
The study, reported in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, also revealed that sex education works in all forms, helping to reduce the sexual activity in children by some 20 percent and reducing the cases of multiple sexual partners by almost 40 percent.

However, the studies says, the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in children could not be averted with sex education as it did not seem to have any influence on the use of condoms or other birth control when the youngsters had sex.

Bush and Obama administrations’ differing stand on sex-education programs
While the Bush administration pumped millions of dollars as federal funding for abstinence-only programs, without any knowledge of their influence on the young minds, Obama administration has cut down the funding, saying that the money will be provided only for the interventions that are found to work.

“We want to give young people the facts so that they can stay safe and healthy. There is no evidence that abstinence education is effective and even the authors of this report don’t indicate teaching abstinence is the best approach,” said a spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

It is said that limiting sex-education to abstinence-only programs might not prove beneficial; a wide-ranging approach is required, with abstinence as one module.