Feb 2, 2010 / 22:16 pm
A “non-moralistic” abstinence-only sex education for pre-teens may be effective in delaying sexual activity and reducing pregnancy and venereal disease, a new study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine says. Defenders of abstinence education said the study vindicates their efforts.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, is the first to demonstrate that an abstinence-only education reduced the percentage of adolescents who reported sexual activity over a long period, two years after the education, Science Daily reports.
The controlled study involved 662 African American students in grades 6 and 7. Students were randomly assigned to an eight-hour abstinence-only intervention, an eight-hour safe-sex-only intervention, an 8- or 12-hour combined abstinence and “safer-sex” intervention, or an 8-hour health-promotion control group.
There was a 33 percent reduction in self-reported sexual intercourse from the abstinence-only group, compared to the control group. Of those sexually active in the study, there were fewer reports of recent sexual activity compared to the control participants.