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Page 2 of 5 Below you can clearly see the declining sexual activity rates amongst the nation’s teens. Notice that the decline starts at the same time abstinence education started making inroads into American culture and the largest gains were made after Abstinence education received Federal funding through Title V (1996). Teen intercourse rates have increased from the early 1970s (comprehensive/condom education introduced into public education) until 1991 (grass roots privately funded abstinence programs started in civic and public forums) with even steeper declines occurring from 1996 (Title V funding) onward. Teen intercourse rates are now lower (as a percentage of teen population) than they were in 1976. Could a philosophy that states: “you’re going to have sex anyway so here is how you use a condom.” (Comprehensive sex Ed) be responsible for a decline in teen sexual activity? This chart can be located from the following link. Which is, by the way, from the CDC. (Center for Disease Control) Additionally, all statistics and studies quoted on this site or from peer reviewed original sources. apps.nccd.cdc.gov United States Center for Disease Control National Youth Survey Data Youth Online: Comprehensive Results United States All Years
Percentage of students who ever had sexual intercourse Variance: 95% Confidence Interval Standard Error None UNITED STATES ALL YEARS
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS WHO EVER HAD SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
YOUTH RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEY | Sex | T otal | F emale | M ale | Year | | | | | 2005 | | 46.8 (±3.3) | 45.7 (±3.6) | 47.9 (±3.4) | 2003 | | 46.7 (±2.6) | 45.3 (±2.6) | 48.0 (±3.3) | 2001 | | 45.6 (±2.3) | 42.9 (±2.8) | 48.5 (±2.7) | 1999 | | 49.9 (±3.7) | 47.7 (±4.1) | 52.2 (±4.0) | 1997 | | 48.4 (±3.1) | 47.7 (±3.7) | 48.9 (±3.4) | 1995 | | 53.1 (±4.5) | 52.1 (±5.0) | 54.0 (±4.7) | 1993 | | 53.0 (±2.7) | 50.2 (±2.5) | 55.6 (±3.5) | 1991 | | 54.1 (±3.5) | 50.8 (±4.0) | 57.4 (±4.1) |
Abstinence Education is obviously a logical, medically accurate response to the problem of teen pregnancy, STDs, and sexual behavior. It is now validated by a decline in teen sexual behavior and several (over 12) peer reviewed studies (following)
| Evidence That Abstinence Education Works |
| Not Me, Not Now. Not me, Not Now is a community wide sexual abstinence intervention targeted to 9 to 14 year olds in Monroe County, New York, which includes the city of Rochester. The Not Me, Not Now program devised a mass communications strategy to promote the abstinence e message through paid TV and radio advertising, Billboards, posters, distributed in schools, educational materials for parents, an interactive Web site, and educational sessions in school and community settings. The program sought to communicate five themes: raising awareness of the problem of teen pregnancy, increasing an understanding of the negative consequences of teen pregnancy, developing resistance to peer pressure, promoting parent-child communication, and promoting abstinence e among teen. Not Me, Not Now was effective in reaching early teen listeners, with some 95 percent of the target audience within the county reporting that they had seen a Not Me, Not Now ad. During the intervention period, the program achieved a statistically significant positive shift in attitudes among pre-teens and early teens in the county. The sexual activity rate of 15-year-olds across the county (as reported in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) dropped by a statistically significant amount from 46.6 percent to 31.6 percent during the intervention period. Finally, the pregnancy rate for girls aged 15 through 17 in Monroe County fell by a statistically significant amount, form 63.4 pregnancies per 1000 girls to 49.5 pregnancies per 1000. The teen pregnancy rate fell more rapidly in Monroe County than in comparison counties in upstate New York in general, and the difference in the rate of decrease was statistically significant.(1)
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