BMJ  2007;334:867 (28 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.39195.364792.DB

News

Abstinence education has no effect on US teenagers' sexual activity

Janice Hopkins Tanne

New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Although the United States spends about $88m (£44m; {euro}65m) a year teaching teenagers to abstain from sex outside marriage, young people in the programmes are just as likely to have sex as those who don't receive counselling, a new study says.

Teenagers who received abstinence education did not delay sexual activity any longer than those in a control group. When they became sexually active they had the same number of partners and were as likely to use condoms or other contraceptives as those who had not been counselled.

Sharon Camp, president and chief executive officer of the Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive issues, said, "This rigorous, well designed study adds to and confirms previous research findings that abstinence only education programmes are ineffective and a waste of taxpayer dollars." She called for more comprehensive programmes that not only teach abstinence but also provide information on contraception and safe sex.

Federal . . . [Full text of this article]


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A less negative light on abstinence
Trevor G Stammers
bmj.com, 14 May 2007 [Full text]
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