Are Abstinence Programs Effective?
When I was a little girl, I never understood where babies really came from. I was told that they were delivered by a stork to families that were ready to become parents. After a while, I stopped believing that story and later started questioning how it all really works. I could never get a straight answer from anyone. No one ever wanted to explain or even discuss what really goes down. All I kept getting told was having children at a young age was wrong and to not worry about this until I was old enough to understand the whole process, or better yet, not until I got married. I still was not satisfied by the answers I was given, so finally my mom shared a few things with me but later said, “Not to worry about all of this eventually you will learn the story about the birds and the bees in school.”
As I got older I knew that babies came from their mothers and that men had some part in the process. I understood that some people were waiting to start a family, while others jumped right in. I knew that the waiting process to start a family had a big word that was called abstinence. For me, at that time could not even pronounce or even begin to comprehend the meaning of the word. Later, I realized that abstinence meant that couples wait until they are married to have sexual intercourse to start a family within the right time during their marriage. Referring to what my mother used to tell me, I started to wonder when the time would come until I could actually learn about the whole process, the proper methods, and to be able to experience both programs that our school had to offer. I know weird, but hey, when I want to know I really want to know. From eavesdropping I learned that there were different programs that children and teenagers could attend to help inform them about safe sex including contraceptive methods, and the true meaning of abstinence.
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During my last two years of middle school was when it all happened, sex education, which included abstinence until marriage and just plain safe sex methods. The first two years was just introducing us to the “real big deal”. During 9th and 10th grade were the years where it all began to make sense. Not just sex this and sex that, but learning how to remain abstinence when being peer pressured.
I knew that I needed to know more about what the programs discuss, why it is important to attend these programs, how effective are the programs, and how they influence children and teens. From this list, and my curiosity I was able to form my research question: Are abstinence programs effective?
My search did not take me as long as I thought it would. It only took me about two weeks to complete my search to get enough reliable facts to be able to support my research question thoroughly. According to Merriam-Webster the true definition of the word abstinence is a voluntary forbearance especially from sexual intercourse (Merriam-Webster).
After surfing through hundreds websites I decided to start off my research by reading an article from the website called Teen Guide-CFOC News. I thought this would be a great start towards my search because it gave me a percentage on how many teenagers that are not sexual active. Based on the 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) data, over half (54.4%) of all students in grades 9-12 indicated that they had not had sexual intercourse (Teen Guide-CFOC News).
A couple of websites provided with the same information about the exact names of the two programs that are held in most schools in the United States. The two programs are called Effective Abstinence and Comprehensive Sex Education. Effective Abstinence program is where they just discuss abstinence- until- marriage. Comprehensive sex education is the best of both worlds. This particular program discusses consistent condom use as well as how to use it properly. During this program they still touch base on being abstinent, but they focus more on proper methods. According to the Institute for Research & Evaluation the suggest that the effect programs should impact on teens’ behavior should last for a substantial period of time, at least 12 months following their program participation, impact should be based on the entire group of program participants and not just on subgroups, and impact the teen behaviors that have been proven to be protective: sexuality education Sex Abstinence Sexual">sexual abstinence or consistent condom use (National abstinence education Foundation).
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Education of Sex in Schools Sex is something that almost everyone will experience before they die. It is a subject that has been debated about for years. From the debate over birth control to the outbreak of aids. With all this history behind us, sex is becoming even more of an issue. With the new outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases and the fact that sexually active persons are becoming ...
“The Comprehensive sex education” (CSE) is a term applied to programs that purport to teach both abstinence and condom use as a central part of the curriculum (National Abstinence Education Foundation).
The comprehensive sex education is the most common program in schools. I also decided to do use the school’s EBSCO database to get facts from online journals to once again support my research question with great detail, while still being reliable.
The next week I did more research on the school’s EBSCO database. I knew that I needed to learn more about abstinence programs. That way I was able to more explain my thoughts and ideas in a more complete manner. I found one article from an academic journal that stood out the most to me. This article stood out to me because it discussed the two programs that I am researching to be able to answer my research question. In the year of 1996, under President Bill Clinton, was that the abstinence-only-until-marriage industry scored one of its largest victories when, under Title V Section 510 of the Social Security Act (Patrick Malone, and Monica Rodriguez).
The Essay on Comprehensive Sex Education Programs
... Kirby, 2007). III. Comprehensive sex education programs decrease the rate of unplanned teen pregnancy. A. Comprehensive sex education programs are more effective than abstinence-only education programs at preventing unplanned ... Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). B. Thesis statement: Research suggests that comprehensive sex education programs should be implemented in public schools because they ...
There have always been arguments between the supports of the two different programs According to the article from Human Rights the two programs are being argued from an ethical standpoint and from an effectiveness standpoint (Patrick Malone, and Monica Rodriguez).
As I began to read further I found information about the two programs I talked about earlier in my paper. I found that this quote helped me understand the difference in a more clear concise way.
Comprehensive sexuality education, according to the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education from the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) “should be appropriate to the age, developmental level, and cultural background of students and respect the diversity of values and beliefs represented in the community. Comprehensive school-based sexuality education complements and augments the sexuality education children receive from their families, religious and community groups, and healthcare professionals.” This includes teaching not only about abstinence, but also contraception, including emergency contraception; reproductive choice; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), and questioning issues; as well as, of course, anatomy; development; puberty; relationships; and all of the other issues one would expect to be covered in a traditional sexuality education class. (qtd in Comprehensive Sex Education vs. Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs) The supporters of the other program, Abstinence- only, believe that the students should be taught not to have sex at all. They also believe that there should not be any safe sex teaching. These supporters emphasize that remaining abstinent is the best and only way.
The last week of my search I did not focus on how the programs are different from one another or not even about the programs. I decided to research about the effects it has on the students that way I am able to answer my research question with great detail.
Sources say that Abstinence only programs have repeatedly showed effectiveness for middle and high school students.
According to Montgomery College Education they concluded that abstinence education is essential to reducing out-of-wedlock childbearing, preventing sexually transmitted diseases, and improving emotional and physical well-being among the nation’s youth. True abstinence education programs help young people to develop an understanding of commitment, fidelity, and intimacy that will serve them well as the foundations of healthy marital life in the future. (qtd Montgomery College Education)
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The first article I chose is called “Case Study in Threats of Workplace Violence From a Non-Supervisory Basis. The case study explores ethical and legal issues concerning employees who bring weapons to work and the psychological effect of that on other employees (Taylor & Zeng). Another thing that is examined in this case study is peer bullying and threats of workplace violence. The ...
From this information I concluded that abstinence only education is the best way to go because from this article it seems that it has prevented everything possible that could go wrong in teenage years. On the other hand Comprehensive Sex education not only discusses abstinence is the best way to go but also safe sex methods. Knowing that some teens are not going to listen and go out and experience sexual intercourse they too need to know safe methods. The results on how effective this program is still unknown because there is not enough data and information to completely conclude how effective this program is. To me, this is the best method for current teens to learn due to the media, and what their friends and peers are doing.
After doing plenty of research from websites and online journals I felt that I could answer my research question to my best ability. I concluded that the most effective program is abstinence only, but comprehensive sex education has its advantages as well. From all the information and facts I gather I can say that yes, abstinence programs are effective.
I learned that writing a research paper can be quite interesting and fun if you pick a topic that you are actually interested in. From the whole process I learned how to form a true research paper that not only gives factual information but still makes it interesting by telling a story. I think my major success from this paper is being able to answer my research question thoroughly while still making it easy for my readers to comprehend. For me, I know that I need to make my topic as clear as possible that way I can write a paper that everyone can comprehend. From learning how to write this I-Search paper I know that later down the road I will be to do well on my other research papers making them as clear as possible. Not just factual information but telling a story as well.
