November 2, 2007
Media Stories
Specter’s Pet Project: Sexual Abstinence
The Politico, October 31, 2007
Abstinence Clubs Get More Attention
Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer, October 28, 2007
Senate Withdraws Amendment on Medical Accuracy
Kaisernetwork.org, October 24, 2007
Abstinence Speaker Visits Charter School
Marco Island (FL) Sun Times, October 22, 2007
Concert Offers Music and Abstinence Message
Dayton (FL) Beach News, October 21, 2007
Not All Are Pleased at Plan To Offer Birth Control at Maine Middle School
New York Times, October 21, 2007
Schools Take Hard Line Against Public Displays of Affection
The Dallas (TX) Morning News, October 19, 2007
Birth Control on the Playground?
The New York Times, October 19, 2007
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner: Your Adolescent
The New York Times, October 17, 2007
Abortion Consent Laws Reduce STDs
CNSNews.com, October 16, 2007
Sex-Ed 101
The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, FOX News, October 13, 2007
Adolescent Mentors Get Training
The Troy (AL) Messenger, October 6, 2007
Funding Opportunities
The National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth maintains a listing of organizations identified as potential funding sources for abstinence education programs. The listing includes grant descriptions and contact information.
Dick & Betsy DeVos Foundation
The Dick & Betsy DeVos Foundation funds initiatives that focus on health and children’s services. Grant proposals are reviewed at quarterly board meetings. Deadline: November 21, 2007
Achelis and Bodman Foundation
The Achelis and Bodman Foundation has special interest in New York and New Jersey programs that prevent criminality, father absence, family disintegration, and premarital sexual activity among adolescents. The foundation offers grants between $5,000 and $50,000. Proposal letters can be sent any time during the year. If letters of inquiry are accepted, the full proposals are reviewed at the foundation’s trustee meetings in May, September, and December.
Recent Research
An Abstinence Progam’s Impact on Cognitive Mediators and Sexual Initiation (2008)
In this study published in the American Journal of Health Behavior [Volume 32(1): 60-73], researchers examined the impact of a school-based abstinence education program on the initiation of sexual intercourse by virgin adolescents. They also sought to determine the program’s impact on adolescent social cognitive factors linked to adolescent sexual initiation. The researchers concluded that the program achieved its goal of reducing the rate at which adolescents initiated sexual intercourse.
Adolescents’ Reported Consequences of Having Oral Sex Versus Vaginal Sex (2007)
In this study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics [Volume 119 (2):229-236], researchers examined whether the initial consequences of adolescents’ sexual activity differed according to type of sexual activity and gender. The study found that adolescents who engaged only in oral sex were less likely to report feeling guilty or used, having their relationship become worse, or getting into trouble with their parents as a result of sex. Yet the researchers state, “It is important for parents to help teens understand that having oral sex may result in social, emotional, and physical health consequences—just as having vaginal sex may result in these consequences.” The study also found gender differences in the consequences of having sex. Boys were more likely than girls to report feeling good about themselves and experiencing popularity as a result of sex. Girls, however, were more likely than boys to report feeling bad about themselves and feeling used as a result of sex.
The Effects of Sexual Abstinence on Educational Attainment (2007)
The authors, Joseph Sabia and Daniel Reese, presented this paper at the 2007 International Health Economics World Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their study supports research suggesting that delaying the age of first intercourse among adolescents leads to increased likelihood of graduating high school.
Upcoming Events
Webcast: Benefits of Maintaining a Solid Donor Database (With Cynthia Bachmann)
2 p.m., November 7, 2007
Contact: abstinence@pal-tech.com
National Abstinence Education Grantees Conference
January 28–30, 2008
Bethesda, MD
Registration: TBA
Contact: abstinence@pal-tech.com
Abstinence Education Grantees Regional Training
Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) grantees and State Title V Coordinators in Regions 5 through 7
April 2–3, 2008
Dallas, TX
Registration: TBA
Contact: abstinence@pal-tech.com
Abstinence Education Grantees Regional Training
CBAE grantees and State Title V Coordinators in Regions 8 through 10
May 14–15, 2008
Denver, CO
Registration: TBA
Contact: abstinence@pal-tech.com
Abstinence Education Grantees Regional Training
CBAE grantees and State Title V Coordinators in Regions 1 through 4
June 23–24, 2008
Philadelphia, PA
Registration: TBA
Contact: abstinence@pal-tech.com
Other News/Misc.
Reducing Unwed Childbearing: The Missing Link in Efforts To Promote Marriage (2006)
The authors of this brief from the Brookings Institute’s Center on Children and Families, Andrea Kane and Daniel T. Lichter, argue that for marriages to succeed among low-income families, programs must first reduce out-of-wedlock childbearing. The authors maintain that unwed mothers are less likely to marry and stay married than those who do not have children before marriage. Additional research mentioned in the brief points out that out-of-wedlock childbearing reduces marital opportunites.
How Social Ideology Infects Campus Health Care (2007)
Is Sex Making Students Sick? (2007)
In these two articles, Miriam Grossman, campus psychiatrist at UCLA and author of the recently published book Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student, discusses how students living on college campuses are involved in the country’s “culture war” over casual sexual behavior and how these students, particularly young women, are losing the battle. Grossman’s findings also show that depression, anxiety, and even suicide, related to student’s sexual experiences, are more commonplace on today’s campus than they were years ago.
The Facts Are Still Positive
The National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth has revised and reissued its popular brochure Celebrating America’s Youth: The Facts Are Positive. Learn the many ways in which America’s youth are faring better than ever.
Spotlight
Melodye Watson recently joined FYSB as an abstinence program specialist. Watson received her bachelor of arts in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her masters in social service administration from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration. Prior to joining FYSB’s Abstinence Education Division, she worked as a social worker and community organizer in Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. She resides in Baltimore with her husband and son and enjoys skydiving, gardening, and spending time with her family.
Quote for the Day
“Girls will come here and ask for birth control, and we counsel them … The safest way to prevent STDs and pregnancy is to abstain.”
(Livia Horne, Deltona supervisor for Florida’s Volusia County Health Department, The Deland-Deltona (FL) Beacon, October 12, 2007) |
