December 15, 2006

Media Stories

Researcher Hopes To Pinpoint Factors Behind Healthy Aging
The University of Connecticut Advance, December 11, 2006

University Sex Program Arouses Excitement, Dismay
Milwaukee (WI) Journal Sentinel, December 10, 2006

Op-ed: To Prevent HIV-AIDS in Teens, Teach Abstinence
The Bangor (ME) Daily News, December 9, 2006

'Tis the (Mating) Season
Townhall.com, December 8, 2006

The 'M' Word
Investor's Business Daily, December 8, 2006

Sex Education: Proponent of Abstinence Education Encourages High-School Students To Stop, Think and Then Stop
The Winston-Salem (NC) Journal, December 7, 2006

Abstinence Programme Proving Critics Wrong
The New Zealand Scoop, December 5, 2006

Revisions to Rhode Island Abstinence Curriculum Approved for Use in High Schools, State Education Commissioner Says
The Kaiser Network, December 5, 2006

Sex Ed That Promotes Abstinence is Approved
The Providence (RI) Journal, December 4, 2006 (free registration required)

Unwed Parents Becoming More Common, More Accepted
The Wichita (KS) Eagle, December 3, 2006

Marriage Benefits Children, Society
Pasadena (CA) Star News, December 2, 2006

Parents: Sex Class One-Sided
Los Angeles (CA) Daily News, December 2 2006

Where Is the Love?
The National Review, November 29, 2006

Teen Pregnancies Remain Major Concern
The Wilmington (DE) News Journal, November 28, 2006

10 Is the New 15 as Kids Grow up Faster
The Associated Press, November 26, 2006

Funding Opportunities

Health and Education Grants Program – Detroit Lions Charities
The Detroit Lions Charities is accepting applications for its health and education grants program to benefit children in the Michigan area.
Deadline for applications: December 31, 2006

Parenting Capacities and Health Outcomes in Youths and Adolescents (R01) – National Institutes of Health (NIH)
NIH invites research applications aimed at increasing the parenting skills and capacities of parents and caregivers to improve the health outcomes of their young and adolescent children.
Deadline for applications: January 3, 2007

General Grants Program - Robins Foundation
The Robins Foundation provides grants to organizations serving the Richmond, Virginia, metropolitan area. The foundation looks for programs that have a lasting impact on the lives of participants and the community.
Deadline for preliminary applications: February 1, 2007

Health, Education, and Inner-City Services Grants – Teammates for Kids Foundation
The organization is soliciting funding applications from programs that help children in the areas of health, education, and inner-city services. Funding priorities for health programs include the promotion of healthy lifestyles.
Deadline for applications: February 1, 2007

Recent Research

Changes in Formal Sex Education: 1995–2002 (December 2006) – In this journal article, published in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Volume 38(4):182–189, researchers from the Alan Guttmacher Institute examine trends in the nature of sex education received by adolescents in the United States. The authors found that in 2000, 92 percent of middle and junior high schools and 96 percent of high schools had at least one required class that taught abstinence as the best way to avoid pregnancy, HIV, and sexually transmitted diseases. While the authors favor comprehensive sex education over abstinence education, the article does include interesting data on the types of education received, broken down by various demographic variables. (The study doesn’t take into account changes since the Government implemented the Community-Based Abstinence Education Program in 2001.)

Explaining Recent Declines in Adolescent Pregnancy in the United States: The Contribution of Abstinence and Improved Contraceptive Use
The authors of this article, published in the November 2006 EPub edition of the American Journal of Public Health, study the contributions of abstinence and contraception to the decline in the teen pregnancy rate in the United States. Despite the authors’ conclusion that abstinence education is not effective, their data demonstrates that 14 percent of the reduction in pregnancies for girls aged 15 to 19, and an even greater percentage among girls aged 15 to 17, was attributable to reduced sexual activity. While this appears to be a small percentage, it is not insignificant; further, the data covers the years from 1995 to 2002 and therefore does not account for the impact of the Community-Based Abstinence Education program, implemented in 2001.

Pop’s Culture: A National Survey on Dads’ Attitudes on Fathering (2006)
This 30-page report from the National Fatherhood Initiative presents findings from a survey of 701 fathers on their attitudes toward fatherhood. Among the key findings: 81 percent of fathers agree that men generally perform better as fathers if they are married to the mothers of their children.

Births: Preliminary Data for 2005
This report from the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that the teen birth rate fell to its lowest level ever in 2005. The birth rate for adolescents from the ages of 15 to 19 in 2005 was 40 per 1,000, a decrease of 2 percent from 2004. The rate has dropped 35 percent since 1991, when 62 of every 1,000 teens were having children. The authors found that the decline in teen childbearing was especially pronounced for African Americans ages 15 to 17; the birth rate for this group fell 6 percent in 2005 and has dropped 59 percent since 1991. However, while teen births were down, the number of unmarried women having children increased.

Upcoming Events

Getting It Right: Cover Letters, Letters of Inquiry, and Concept Papers
Webinar (Internet- and telephone-based seminar) for nonprofits on developing funding applications
New England Network for Youth
11:00 a.m.–noon, January 11, 2007
Registration is currently open

Abstinence Education Evaluation Conference
"Strengthening Programs Through Scientific Evaluation"
March 19–20, 2007
Baltimore, MD – Renaissance Harborplace Hotel
Registration will open in winter 2006

Other News/Misc.

Pre-Wedding Vows To Say No: Faith-Based Organization and Abstinence Education
This document is a transcript of a plenary session at the Roundtable on Religion and Social Policy's annual conference, held December 5, 2006. The session featured Dr. Wade Horn, Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, as well as William Smith of the Sexual Education and Information Council of the United States.

Healthy Marriage and Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Demonstration Grants
This is a listing of grant recipients from the Office of Family Assistance of the Administration for Children and Families. Some abstinence education grantees may wish to work collaboratively with healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood grantees, which are grouped by region.

Measuring Program Results
Integrating Medical and Scientific Data
These two technical assistance training modules for abstinence education grantees are available from Pal-Tech, Inc.

So Sexy, So Soon: The Sexualization of Childhood in Commercial Culture
Diane Levin, Ph.D., the author of this article, examines the ways in which children and youth have been influenced by sexual and violent imagery in the media since the deregulation of children’s television in 1984. The article is a summary of the author’s upcoming book by the same name.

Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age
(Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, November 2006)
Kay S. Hymowitz, the author of this book, examines the role of socioeconomic class in divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing in the United States. She reports that the divorce rate among higher educated women is declining, while rates of divorce and childbearing among unmarried women are increasing. Because research shows that children who grow up with their married parents fare better across a variety of measures, this shift in family structure plays a role in the widening gap between socioeconomic classes.

Focus on Staff

TAMMY PRIEST is the abstinence education information specialist at the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth (NCFY), a source of information and support for FYSB grantees. A contractor with NCFY since 2001, Tammy has focused on supporting abstinence education grantees since July 2006. She earned a bachelor’s degree in American government at the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has worked in various fields, including school-based social work, the care of HIV-positive children and youth, and the provision of inpatient and outpatient mental health services. Tammy resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband and two children.

Quote for the Day

"Clearly, the best choice for school-aged children and teens is to delay sexual activity and because this is the best choice it deserves the most attention and emphasis."

(Sarah Brown, director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, and Mike Castle [R-DE], The Wilmington [DE] News Journal, November 28, 2006)