The Benefits Of Abstinence Of Sexual Education

According to the Center for Disease Control, 2014 marked a decrease in teen pregnancy in the United States with a rate of 24.2 per 1000 women. However, “the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations” (4). In addition, according to advocatesforyouth.org, “The percentage of the United States adult population that has been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS is six times greater than in Germany, three times greater than in the Netherlands, and one-and-a-half times greater than in France”. And while it’s easy for people to lay blame with “irresponsible teenagers” or “poor judgment”, this may be inaccurate. Most teenagers will experience some sort of sexual education in their academic careers, an education
In order to provide a clearer distinction of the two, the n abstinence only sex education, the idea is pushed that, it is only acceptable to have monogamous sex within marriage. It can be argued that abstinence sex education often doesn’t touch on subjects such as sexual behavior and sexuality. Comprehensive sexual education on the other hand, teaches about topics such as sexual orientation, masturbation, and contraceptives. There are heated debates on what type of sexual education is most effective in battling teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. According to a peer reviewed article by Kathrin F. Stanger-Hall and David W. Hall; “The level of abstinence education was positively correlated with both teen pregnancy, and teen birth rates, indicating that abstinence education in the U.S. does not cause abstinence behavior. To the contrary, teens in states that prescribe more abstinence education are actually more likely to become pregnant” (7). This article is an example of the ineffectiveness of abstinence only sexual education as well as how the quality and caliber of sexual education can have an effect on sexual health and
The study was found in the article; “COLLEGE STUDENTS SEXUALITY EDUCATION, SEXUAL BEHAVIORS AND SEXUAL BEHAVIORAL INTENT.” (2) In the study, students from four Universities in Southern Louisiana were surveyed. The students were not coerced to take the surveys and were given full anonymity. The surveys asked questions regarding sexual behavior and sexual intentions. 1168 students completed “usable” surveys, of which female’s outnumbered males 65% to 35%. Most of the students which participated were white and under the age of 23. The results showed that 13.1% never received sexual education, 14.7% had received some sort of sexual education in primary school, 49.6% in middle school, 60.6% in High School and 52.8% in college. The next thing that the survey measured was the sexual behavior of the participants. It gauged this in three categories; making out, intercourse, and oral sex. Of the 1168 students who took the surveys, 64% regularly admit to making out, 56% to sexual intercourse and 46% to oral sex. When looking at the data from the survey, it is evident that the majority of the students who said they had frequent sexual activity had some sort of sexual education, however this is expected because only 13.1% of the students tested never had sexual education. The results of the study indicated that; “Lack of sexual knowledge contributes to risky sexual