CLEVELAND, Ohio, September 8, 2005, (LifeSiteNews.com) – A recent study, just published in the American Journal of Health Behaviour, shows that “abstinence-until-marriage” programs have produced encouraging results among middle school students in Greater Cleveland.
The study was conducted by surveying 2,069 grade seven and eight students that had participated in the school-based program called “For Keeps”, run by Operation Keepsake in Mayfield, OH. The program consists of five 40 minute sessions. The sessions stress abstinence-until-marriage, presents virginity as a “gift” that should be shared in marriage and emphasizes the dangers of teen pregnancy and sexual diseases, including HIV. Those students who were sexually active reported fewer sexual partners and sexual encounters five months later.
Reactions to the survey were mixed and will surely cause debate among sexual educators and condom advocates.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Elaine Borawski, commented in the Plains Dealer newspaper that the results were a surprise. The public health researcher at Case Western Reserve University said the federally tax funded program positively influenced sexually active adolescents. “Everyone says that kids who have had sex won’t find programs like this relevant,” said Borawski, who has reviewed Operation Keepsake’s programs in the past. “It did seem that it resonated with them more than we thought.”
While remaining cautiously optimistic, Dr. Douglas Kirby, a nationally recognized expert on sex education, was concerned that the study’s short time frame of five months reduced its strength. Still, supporters of “abstinence-until-marriage” are encouraged and are pushing for more studies.
Critics, however, like Earl Pike, executive director of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, unsurprisingly took the study’s findings to task, calling them “disturbing.” Pike stated that the government should curtail funding until a more rigorous, long term study proved that the programs work. “I wouldn’t be proud to promote that abstinence programs educate young people to avoid proven methods like condoms that we know reduce risk and save lives,” Pike said.
Pike’s comments, however, fail to take into account that curtailing the funding of the abstinence program would logically reduce the program’s effectiveness, thereby hindering an accurate assessment of its successfulness.
Globally, statistical evidence in Africa seems to support the findings of the Cleveland study. Uganda, which promotes abstinence-before-marriage programs has the lowest reported cases of AIDS/HIV while Botswana, a country that actively promotes condoms, has the highest rates.
Ugandan Abstinence AIDS Prevention Program Equivalent to a Highly Effective Vaccine, Researchers Find
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/apr/04043004.html
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