Abstinence programs

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[http://oversight.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/example_abstinence.htm anti]
 
  
  
*John S. Santelli, MD, MPH, Laura Duberstein Lindberg, PhD, Lawrence B. Finer, PhD and Susheela Singh, PhD.Explaining Recent Declines in Adolescent Pregnancy in the United States: The Contribution of Abstinence and Improved Contraceptive Use.January 2007, Vol 97, No. 1 | American Journal of Public Health 150-156. Article looking at contraception and teen pregnancy rates.
 
*Joshua R. Mann, MD, MPH and Curtis Stine, MD.THE ROLES OF ABSTINENCE AND CONTRACEPTION IN DECLINING PREGNANCY RATES. June 2007, Vol 97, No. 6 | American Journal of Public Health 969. Letter regarding contribution of abstinence and contraception to declining teen pregnancy rates.
 
* John S. Santelli, Laura Duberstein Lindberg, Lawrence B. Finer, and Susheela Singh
 
SANTELLI ET AL. RESPOND
 
Am J Public Health, Jun 2007; 97: 969 - 970.  Response to first letter
 
  
 
*Reborn a virgin: adolescents' retracting of virginity pledges and sexual histories.Rosenbaum JE.American Journal of Public Health. 96(6):1098-103, 2006 Jun. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents who initiate sexual activity are likely to recant virginity pledges, whereas those who take pledges are likely to recant their sexual histories. Thus, evaluations of sexual abstinence programs are vulnerable to unreliable data. In addition, virginity pledgers may incorrectly assess the sexually transmitted disease risks associated with their prepledge sexual behavior.
 
*Reborn a virgin: adolescents' retracting of virginity pledges and sexual histories.Rosenbaum JE.American Journal of Public Health. 96(6):1098-103, 2006 Jun. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents who initiate sexual activity are likely to recant virginity pledges, whereas those who take pledges are likely to recant their sexual histories. Thus, evaluations of sexual abstinence programs are vulnerable to unreliable data. In addition, virginity pledgers may incorrectly assess the sexually transmitted disease risks associated with their prepledge sexual behavior.
  
 
*Scientific American. 296(1):30, 2007 Jan.
 
*Scientific American. 296(1):30, 2007 Jan.

Revision as of 00:25, 12 July 2007

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Abstinence programs are governmental mandates requiring the teaching of sexual abstinence in preference to proven sex education techniques. There are also mandates affecting international HIV/AIDS funding programs, but these are not addressed here.

Contents

Origins and Policies

There has been much debate in the U.S. about how to combat teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In general, religious conservatives favor either leaving any education out of the schools, or implementing so-called "abstinence-only" programs. Liberals tend to favor more comprehensive sex-education. But what actually works?

Starting in 1996, the U.S. has been increasing funds directed towards abstinence education. To qualify for funding, programs must meet the so-called "A-H" criteria, the first of which states that a program must "[h]ave as its exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity."[1] A later statute commissioned a scientific evaluation of the efficacy of four typical and common abstinence programs.[2]

Efficacy

A report by the conservative Heritage Foundation issued in 2002 cites the efficacy of abstinence programs. Examination of the references shows references that contain preliminary data [3], are small in scale and scope, or lack statistical significance. There also appears to be an over-reliance on a single author and a single institute [4].

In a 2004 report commissioned by Democrat Henry Waxman, funded programs were examined for scientific accuray. These programs are funded by the federal government under the Title V "A-H" criteria, but are not otherwise examined for accuracy by the federal government. A majority of the programs were found to contain serious inaccuracies. For example, condom effectiveness was routinely dismissed, often by citing discredited studies.[5] Programs often contained inaccurate information about abortion, including that abortion causes sterility in 10% of cases.[6] The Waxman Report contains further details of frank distortions and lies.

The house oversight committee has charged the Bush administration with favoring politics over science in choosing abstinence programs. Testimony from bipartisan officials in July 2007, including four current or former Surgeons General, accused government officials of pressuring them to misrepresent science, including sex education, for political purposes.[7]

The most recent evidence comes in a large-scale study commissioned by the federal government and released in early 2007. The executive summary states that "[f]indings indicate that youth in the program group were no more likely than control group youth to have abstained from sex and, among those who reported having had sex, they had similar numbers of sexual partners and had initiated sex at the same mean age." [8]

References

  1. Christopher Trenholm,Barbara Devaney,Ken Fortson,Lisa Quay,Justin Wheeler,Melissa Clark. Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs. Final Report, April 2007. Submitted by statute to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
  2. United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform—Minority Staff, Special Investigations Division (December 2004). The content of federally-funded abstinence-only education programs (PDF)
  3. Stan E. Weed, Title V Abstinence Education Programs: Phase I Interim Evaluation Report to Arkansas Department of Health, Institute for Research and Evaluation, October 15, 2001
  4. Stan E. Weed, The Institute for Research and Evaluation
  5. Susan Weller, A Meta-Analysis of Condom Effectiveness in Reducing Sexually Transmitted HIV, Social Science and Medicine, 1635–44 (June 1993).
  6. cf 2
  7. http://oversight.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/example_abstinence.htm anti
  8. cf 1

Appendix I: A-H Definition of Abstinence Education for Title V, Section 510 Programs

A: Have as its exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity
B: Teach abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school-age children
C: Teach that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems
D: Teach that a mutually faithful, monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity
E: Teach that sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects
F: Teach that bearing children out of wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child’s parents, and society
G: Teach young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increases vulnerability to sexual advances
H: Teach the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity

Research (temporary)

  • Reborn a virgin: adolescents' retracting of virginity pledges and sexual histories.Rosenbaum JE.American Journal of Public Health. 96(6):1098-103, 2006 Jun. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents who initiate sexual activity are likely to recant virginity pledges, whereas those who take pledges are likely to recant their sexual histories. Thus, evaluations of sexual abstinence programs are vulnerable to unreliable data. In addition, virginity pledgers may incorrectly assess the sexually transmitted disease risks associated with their prepledge sexual behavior.
  • Scientific American. 296(1):30, 2007 Jan.
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