How To Evaluate the Effectiveness of Chastity/Abstinence Programs
By Karen Young

The vigorous debate over sex education has largely centered around the content of various programs. For many decades now schools have been responsible for teaching comprehensive sex education. In most school districts this means distributing condoms and promoting the message of safe sex or rather safer sex. Comprehensive sex education was implemented to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies as well as the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or infections (STIs).

Have the programs met these goals? The teen pregnancy rate has levelled out but STI rates have skyrocketed to epidemic proportions. According to Health Canada “Chlamydia, the most commonly reported bacterial STI in Canada, has increased by 60% from 1997 to 2002 … over half of the reported cases of Chlamydia are in the 15-29 year old age group.”1 This is extremely alarming. Chlamydia can be treated and cured, but if left untreated it can lead to Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). PID “can cause permanent damage to the fallopian tubes, uterus, and surrounding tissue. This damage can lead to chronic pelvic pain, infertility, and potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy.”2 Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is another prevalent STI. According to The Centre for Disease Control every year 6.2 million North Americans will contract a new genital HPV infection.3 This virus has been linked to over 99% of all cases of cervical cancer.

As statistics rise, the clamour increases for better and more comprehensive sex education. Surely 30 years of failure is enough. It is time to seriously consider a different approach—chastity/abstinence education.

Unfortunately, sexual and reproductive health promoters such as Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada (PPFC) have closed the door on chastity/abstinence education, despite their claim to “ensure that people have access to unbiased and reliable information and services.”5 An article on their website states that “Abstinence-only education programs are not effective and run contrary to all health promotion principles … Abstinence-only programs try to scare and shame teens, teaching only the negative consequences of sexuality without telling young people what they can do to stay safe and healthy.”6

This is a ridiculous and unproven assessment. There are many different programs and some are more effective than others. If we are going to give chastity/abstinence education programs a fair chance to prove they can be effective, we must examine and evaluate the options.

EVALUATING THE OPTIONS

Evaluating the effectiveness of chastity education is extremely difficult. There are so many different programs and a variety of approaches. For example, there is abstinence education, abstinence only, abstinence plus and chastity education. This means that parents and educators not only need to be up on the “lingo,” but they need to be aware how each program interprets the phrase. This requires great care. Our children and students deserve programs that:
- build them up as unique and precious individuals created in the image and likeness of God
- teach them to respect themselves and others and the value of saving their sexuality for their future spouse
- teach them to celebrate rather than fear, their sexuality.

Chastity education at its best teaches our children that sex is a gift and that practicing chastity is not about saying NO to sex, but rather is saying YES to sex but not until marriage. The way we present that message can have an incredible impact on how our young people view others, themselves and their own sexuality.

Many mainstream educators and sexual health promoters are dismissive of any program that does not include an emphasis on condom use. This means that as concerned parents and educators we must and need to be the first to admit that there are chastity/abstinence programs that are not effective and actually cause more harm than good by instilling fear, promoting sexual activity outside of sexual intercourse and even promoting condoms as an option for those young people who may decide they do not want to practice the lifestyle being promoted.

How do we find programs that allow our children to truly come to understand, respect and value their sexuality and the sexuality of others? Research on abstinence programs is spotty and is particularly lacking in long-term studies. Recently however several studies have been conducted in conjunction with U.S. President George W. Bush’s decision to pour millions of dollars into abstinence-only education.

Many of the most promising chastity/abstinence programs available in North America have been developed in the United States. In January 2005, the Abstinence Clearinghouse reported that a recent study in Texas showed that students enrolled in abstinence-only education programs were more likely to abstain from sexual activity. The report found that 28% of ninth grade females who had been enrolled in abstinence-only education were sexually active compared to 31.7% of youth as reported in a 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance in Texas. For ninth grade boys, 24% of those enrolled in abstinence-only education reported having been sexually active compared to 45.5% of youth reported in the 2003 report. For tenth grade boys, 39% of those who had completed the abstinence-only education program reported ever having been sexually active compared to the 56.6% as reported in the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance in Texas.7

Another promising study emerged in 2002 out of Ohio. In this study of 12 and 13 years olds in Cleveland, Ohio, it was found that the abstinence program ‘Operation Keepsake’ “reduced the rate and onset of sexual activity by roughly two-thirds relative to comparable students in control schools who did not participate in the program. In addition, the program reduced by about one-fifth the rate of current sexual activity among those with prior sexual experience.”8

A program’s effectiveness cannot be based solely on its ability to reduce the onset of sexual activity or the rate of teenage pregnancies. These are important, but it is equally important that our students are not exposed to programs that produce results through instilling fear. Teaching students the consequences of early sexual activity and sexual activity outside of marriage is essential, but great care must be taken to ensure that students choose chastity for the merits of the lifestyle. Instead of teaching our young people to experiment and indulge their emerging sexual desires, we should teach them self control. Instead of encouraging our youth to exploit others and themselves for their own sexual gratification, we must teach them how to respect themselves and others.

We know from anti-smoking and drug awareness programs that the more exposure students have to a message, the more likely the program is to succeed in reducing unwanted behaviour. If we are to learn anything from these programs it should be the need to constantly and continually expose our children to the message of chastity. Simply having a guest speaker once a year is not enough. We need ongoing education that repeats a consistent and positive message of chastity. Chastity/
abstinence education should be more than teaching children how to say no to sex. It must build self-esteem and self-worth, and nurture a deep sense of respect for sexuality.

In finding effective chastity/abstinence programs we need to understand what makes sex education programs successful. In 2001, Douglas Kirby, in a report sponsored by the National Campaign Against Teen Pregnancy in the United States noted: “that most successful curricula-based programs have ten characteristics in common. 1) focus on specific behavioural goals; 2) are based on theoretical approaches; 3) deliver clear messages about sexual activity and/or contraceptive use; 4) provide basic information about risks associated with teen activity and methods to avoid pregnancy or STDs; 5) address social pressures toward having sex; 6) provide activities to practice communication and refusal skills; 7) incorporate multiple teaching methods and personalize information to individual needs; 8) are tailored to participants’ age-level, culture, and level of sexual experience; 9) are long enough to cover all information and activities; and 10) provide appropriate training for teachers or peer leaders who are committed to the program.”9

As parents, educators and concerned citizens we also need to be encouraged by the findings of Kay Hymowitz who pointed out in a 2003 article, that “teenagers are open to the abstinence message when teachers are clear about their message and appear committed to kids’ well-being.”10 Interestingly, “adults are more likely to be skeptical of abstinence than teens.”11 This means that we must never compromise chastity/abstinence education merely because parents are skeptical that teens will not be receptive to the message.

Finally, we must have hope. A hope that springs from the fact that while “comprehensive sexual education promises pleasure … abstinence education pushes honour – and a surprising number of kids seem interested in buying.”12

Karen Young is LifeCanada’s office Manager and former member of the Challenge Team, an organization of young people that was commited to chastity education.

1 Public Health Agency of Canada. 2002 Canadian Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Surveillance Report: Pre-Release, 2002. < http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/std-mts/stddata_pre06_04/index.html> accessed on April 2, 2005.
2 Department of Health and Human Services, USA. Chamydia Fact Sheet, 2005. < http://www.cdc.gov/std/healthcomm/fact_sheets.htm> accessed on April 5, 2005.
3 Department of Health and Human Services, USA. Genital HPV Infection Fact Sheet, 2005. < http://www.cdc.gov/std/healthcomm/fact_sheets.htm> accessed on April 5, 2005.
4 Bosch FX, Manos MM, Munoz N, et al., for the International Biological Study on Cervical Cancer (IBSCC) Study Group. “Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus in cervical cancer: A Worldwide perspective. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 1995 (87): 796-802.
5 Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada, 2005 <http://www.ppfc.c a/ppfc/content.asp?articleid=86> accessed on April 5, 2005.
6 Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada. Despite Evidence, Comprehensive Sexual Health Education Undergoes Scrutiny, 2004. < http://ppfc.ca/ppfc/content.asp?articleid=354> accessed on April 5, 2005.
7 Abstinence Clearinghouse. “Texas A&M Study Show Abstinence Education Works: Students More likely to Abstain.” Press Release (January 31, 2005). http://www.abstinence.net/library/index.php?entryid=1814 accessed on February 28, 2005.
8 Rector, Robert. (2002). “The Effectiveness of Abstinence Education Programs in Reducing Sexual Activity Among Youth.” The Heritage Foundation Backgrounder 1533: 1-9.
9 Douglas Kirby. Emerging answers: Research findings on programs to reduce teen pregnancy. Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2001.
10 Kay S. Hymowitz. “What to tell the kids about sex.” Public Interest, 2003 (153):3-18.
11 Ibid
12 Ibid