The statistics are sobering. Three in 10 girls get pregnant at least once by the age of 20. Six in 10 teens who say they've had sex wish they'd waited, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Furthermore, teens have the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases among sexually active Americans.
Sex education and abstinence-only education are meant to help reduce the number of teen pregnancies as well as the rate of infection with STDs. The two approaches are vastly different and both have their followers.
Both Ends of the Debate
Sex education has long been considered crucial. "Having the proper knowledge and understanding that we are all sexual beings is important," says Clint Bruess, professor of education at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama, and author of Exploring the Dimensions of Human Sexuality. "People need to have good, solid information on the subject."
For many years, federal funds for sex education were available just for abstinence-only instruction, explains Melissa Gilliam, MD, chief of the section of family planning in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
"It taught that there are social and psychological gains through abstinence, and that was expected of all school age children," she explained. "This was the case for years."
Abstinence programs teach that refraining from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid pregnancy out-of-wedlock and sexually transmitted diseases. This approach teaches that sexual activity outside of marriage has harmful psychological and physical effects, and it teaches teens how to reject sexual advances. At its core is the belief that social, psychological and health gains can be made if teens can abstain from sexual activity.
Comprehensive sex education covers birth control methods and how to protect oneself from getting a sexually acquired disease. Such programs take the approach that, while it's best to think long and hard before having sex as a teenager, teens also need certain knowledge of contraception and STDS in case they decide to proceed with it.
While abstinence-only ed was widely taught to young people for years, a large study from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. on the effectiveness of abstinence education programs found that they weren't really working. "It was a seminal study," Gilliam said. "Now, for the first time in awhile, some federal money is going to comprehensive sex education."
Proponents of comprehensive sex education believe that it is important to have abstinence as a component of the program. "Abstinence should be included in a sex ed program as an option," says Dennis Lin, MD, a psychiatrist who directs the psychosexual medicine program at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. "Young people need to have all the information, and then make their choice. But if you don't educate them, they will just go ahead and have sex anyway, leaving them open to potential emotional and physical harm."
An important component of sex ed is parental involvement, Bruess says. It's crucial for parents to discuss sexuality with their children rather than dodge questions. "One of the most important things parents can do for their children is to help them realize it's okay to talk about sexuality," Bruess says. "We have known for a long time that learning about sexuality and talking about it don't result in kids having more sex."
And, he adds, there is no set age at which to start. If a parent slaps a toddler's hands when he touches his genitals, even that is a form of sex education: you're telling the child it's off limits and dirty. Instead, Bruess advises, "Handle it normally and naturally. As kids get older, emphasize things like making good decisions, refusal skills, and what to do about peer pressure."
Sources
National Data. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/national-data/default.aspx
New abstinence program shows some results, shortcomings. Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.
http://www.siecus.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&FeatureID=1856&parentID=478
Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs. April 2007. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
https://emailny.nydailynews.com/exchange/RBlack/Inbox/FW:%20Mathematica%20Study.pdf.EML/1_multipart_xF8FF_2_Mathematica%20Study.pdf/C58EA28C-18C0-4a97-9AF2-036E93DDAFB3/Mathematica%20Study.pdf?attach=1
