Sex Education/Abstinence Only

Isel Reyes
SED 464
 Curriculum Topics
Comprehensive Sex
Education ● Provides information on abstinence

Curriculum ● How to engage in safer sex/preventing pregnancies

● HIV/STD education

● 11 states- abstinence in the context of comprehensive sex

education
 Three components in five weeks
Abstinence-Only ●
1. Knowing Myself
Curriculum 2. Relating to Others
3. Planning My Future
● Parent involvement
● No talk of contraceptives
● Twenty-one states are abstinence-only
 ● “Abstinence-Only education does not reduce...teen
pregnancy rates” (Stanger-Hall).
Impacts on teen ● In one study, very little difference displayed in knowledge

pregnancy & STDs ●

of STDs
Taught that abstinence is only way to prevent STDs
● “randomised control trials assessing the effectiveness of
primary prevention strategies within schools have found
that overall they were not successful in delaying sexual
initiation, nor was contraceptive use improved, nor the
number of pregnancies reduced” (Abel, Gillian,
Fitzgerald).
● “Comprehensive sex and/or STD education that includes
abstinence as a desired behavior was correlated with the
lowest teen pregnancy rates across states” (Stanger-Hall).
● “States that taught comprehensive sex and/or HIV education
and covered abstinence along with contraception and
condom use (level 1) sex education...tended to have the
lowest teen pregnancy rates” (Stanger-Hall)
 42% significantly delayed the initiation of sex
Which is more ●

effective? ● 35% decrease in sexual partners

● 48% increase in condom use

● Of the 13 studies that measured pregnancy rates, 3 found

significant positive impacts

● Of the 10 studies that measured impact on STD rates, 2 found

positive impacts
 Resources

Abel, Gillian, and Lisa Fitzgerald. “‘When You Come to It You Feel Like a Dork Asking a Guy to Put a Condom on’: Is Sex Education

Addressing Young People’s Understandings of Risk?” Sex Education 6.2 (2006): 105–119. Web.

Denny, George, and Michael Young. “An Evaluation of an Abstinence‐Only Sex Education Curriculum: An 18‐Month Follow‐up.” Journal

of School Health 76.8 (2006): 414–422. Web.

Kirby, Douglas B, B.A Laris, and Lori A Rolleri. “Sex and HIV Education Programs: Their Impact on Sexual Behaviors of Young People

Throughout the World.” Journal of adolescent health 40.3 (2007): 206–217. Web.

Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F, and David W Hall. “Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex

Education in the U.S.” PloS one 6.10 (2011): e24658–. Web.

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