The Impact of Abstinence Education: What Does the Research Say?

Overview & Synopsis

There has long been controversy in this country about the implementation of school-based sexuality education. In recent years, however, the controversy has centered on abstinence education. Critics of abstinence education programs seem to have three major concerns relative to abstinence education programming: (1) promotion of religion; (2) provision of inaccurate information; and (3) ineffective programming. The focus of this article is on the charge that abstinence education programs are ineffective in reducing risky sexual behavior among teens. Since the federal government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on programs that must meet the a-h definition of abstinence education this is an important public policy issue. This article includes a review of published evaluations of abstinence education programs (limited to evaluations that addressed behavioral outcomes), commentary on aspects of Doug Kirby's analysis of the effectiveness of abstinence programs, as well as commentary on Robert Rector's defense of the effectiveness of abstinence programs. Additionally, other evaluation issues are addressed, such as apparent opposition to evaluation efforts, concerns with the evaluations of state abstinence education programs, concerns with federally funded evaluation efforts, and evaluation requirements of federal funding agencies. (Contains 1 table.)