January 17, 2008Media Stories
Georgetown AIDS Prevention Study Called Inaccurate, Biased Against Catholic Ethics
Catholic News Agency, January 15, 2008
New School Year Brings New Class: Parenting
The Houston (TX) Chronicle, January 14, 2008
Sex and the Teenage Girl
The New York Times, January 13, 2008
Florida Measure Would Require Comprehensive Sex Education in Public Schools
Medical News Today, January 11, 2008
Talking to Adolescents About Sexuality
The Hudson (NY) Valley Press, January 9, 2008
Texas Should Continue To Accept Federal Abstinence Funds
The Austin (TX) American Statesman, January 8, 2008
Abstinence Education Leads to Informed Decisions
The Kansas City (MO) Star, January 6, 2008
Programs Target High Birth Rate Among Hispanic Adolescents
The LowerHudsonValley Journal News, January 6, 2008
What Factors, Beyond Having Sex, Contribute to Adolescent Pregnancy
The Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution, January 5, 2008
Unmarried Births: Does Anybody Care?
Yahoo! News, December 19, 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.
Recent Research
Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention: An Abstinence-centered Randomized Controlled Intervention in a Chilean Public High School (2005)
In this article published in the Journal of Adolescent Health [Volume 36: 64-69], researchers evaluated the efficacy of TeenSTAR, an abstinence-centered sex education program, in a high school in Santiago, Chile. The study tracked 1,259 high school girls for 4 years. The program was effective in reducing pregnancy rates: In the first and second years of the study, fewer than 1 in 20 girls who participated became pregnant, compared to roughly 1 in 5 girls who did not participate. Properly trained teachers played an essential role in the program’s success. The results of the study demonstrate that long-term abstinence programs that last for at least one semester, and ideally for a full year, may change negative habits or reinforce positive habits and behaviors, thereby increasing premarital abstinence.
The Content and Process of Mother-Adolescent Communication about Sex in Latino Families (2006)
This study, published in Social Work Research [Volume 30 (3): 169-181], looks at communication about sex in Latino families. Through focus-group interviews with 63 mother-adolescent pairs, researchers found that Latino culture and the urban environment play a large role in the conversations Latino mothers and their children have about sex. The researchers identified three major themes in the mothers’ focus-group data: (1) the mothers’ perception that it is important to discuss with adolescent children the need to wait to have sex, (2) their perception that it is important to discuss the consequences of having sex, and (3) the difficulty they face in discussing specific, technical information about sex and contraception. Adolescents agreed with mothers about the need to wait to have sex. The researchers observed differences in how Latina mothers discuss sex with their daughters and sons. Many mothers perceived girls as more fragile and needing more protection outside the home than boys. Many mothers also felt conflicted between their own cultural backgrounds from outside the United States and the cultural norms and influence in their American neighborhoods. The authors noted that incorporating their findings into work with urban Latino families could improve both the quality and the content of parent-adolescent communication about sex.
The Role of Parents and Partners in the Pregnancy Behaviors of Young Latinas (2007)
In this study published in the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences [Volume 9(1): 50-67], researchers looked at the role that parents and male partners play in young Latinas’ pregnancies. Latina adolescents have higher birthrates than any other group of adolescents in the United States. This study found that daughters looked to mothers for advice and information and that adolescents wanted a strong relationship with their parents. It also found that sexually active adolescent Latinas preferred condoms over other types of contraception and wished for better communication with their male partners. In addition, Latinas wished for redefined gender roles emphasizing education for both adolescent boys and girls. The authors noted that their findings may inform future pregnancy prevention strategies.
Other News/Misc.
First Comes Love
Two national organizations promoting marriage education and healthy relationships have teamed up for the First Comes Love campaign, which aims to bring healthy relationship and marriage education to 4,000 young people. The Dibble Institute and Smart Marriages will choose 100 teachers, instructors, and youth workers to reach 40 high school–age young people each. The campaign will operate through schools, youth agencies, health clinics, and faith communities in every State and will provide participants with funding for training as well as free educational materials. To apply, download the nomination form. For more information, call the Dibble Institute’s Natalie Middleton at (877) 435-8033.
Free Abstinence Brochures
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer several free abstinence brochures targeted at youth. Order a maximum of 1 copy each of 18 different titles; delivery takes 4 to 6 weeks.
Adolescent Pregnancy in the News
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has responded to the news that Jamie Lynn Spears, 16-year-old star of the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101,is pregnant by issuing a list of talking points for parents, adolescents, and educators to consider.
Upcoming Events
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
Spotlight
The Abstinence Education E-Update Spotlight has highlighted various topics, from new Federal staff to effective State programs. Now, NCFY will highlight two States a month, looking at each State’s legislation, policy, and specific State features related to abstinence education. In particular, the Spotlight will underscore key points pertaining to abstinence education in each State’s law.
FLORIDA
What’s Happening in the State of Florida
Florida has 15 State-sponsored abstinence education programs and 13 federally funded programs. The State’s health department is working to achieve three primary goals related to abstinence education: (1) to get more boys and young men to take part in abstinence education and activities that promote abstinence; (2) to get more parents and adult role models involved in abstinence education and activities that promote abstinence; and (3) to get communities to commit to and support abstinence-only education and activities that promote abstinence.
State Law in Florida
Beginning in the 2007-2008 school year, high school students must take a one-credit course in physical education, which includes health education, to graduate. The course is meant to teach students healthy behaviors, influence them to make healthy lifestyle choices, and improve their health and fitness. Among other topics, the course teaches the benefits of pregnancy prevention, with an emphasis on sexual abstinence and the consequences of adolescent pregnancy; the effects of and ways to prevent communicable and non-communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases; and strategies to avoid peer pressure that might lead to unhealthy and risky behaviors.
What’s Unique in the State of Florida
The Florida Department of Health’s abstinence education Web site, It’s Great To Wait, offers many resources and interactive activities for youth, parents, and educators, including games, fact sheets, and a calendar of upcoming events. The site also features TV and radio ads, public service announcements, and press releases. Parents can find information about how to talk to their adolescent children about sex, how to teach adolescents to say no, and where to take free parent training workshops.
Another development worth noting in Florida is the partnership between the American Red Cross, Greater Palm Beach Chapter, and local schools, who have worked together to put in place an HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum. The curriculum has been taught to over 375,000 youth since 1997. In addition, the American Red Cross has certified over 3,300 area high school students to deliver an HIV prevention presentation to over 100,000 of their peers through an HIV/AIDS peer education program.
GEORGIA
What’s Happening in the State of Georgia
Georgia has 10 Community-Based Abstinence Education programs, 2 Adolescent Family Life programs, and 18 Title V abstinence education programs. Georgia’s Children and Youth Coordinating Council (CYCC), an independent State agency, manages all abstinence funding for the State.
Georgia has unique criteria for awarding abstinence education grants. In addition to using a competitive process for choosing grantees similar to that used by other States and requiring that funded programs comply with the Federal definition of abstinence education, Georgia asks each grantee to include a long-term youth development component. This component might be character education, substance abuse prevention, tutoring, or community service. Grantees must also promote in young people the development of 20 internal and external “assets,” a concept originally developed by the Search Institute to pinpoint the concrete qualities that help youth grow up to be healthy, caring, and responsible. Grantees’ abstinence education must be intensive and include instruction on State laws on “teen sex.” They must provide their facilitators with a “referral notebook” that lists resources for services that are outside the scope of the program, such as adolescent suicide prevention, contraception counseling, and support for adolescents struggling with eating disorders.
State Law in Georgia
Georgia requires schools to teach sex education and AIDS prevention, as stated in the Official Code of Georgia, O.C.G.A. 2-2-143, and the State Board of Education Rule 160-4-2.12. Local school boards determine the nature of sex education and AIDS prevention instruction, including the grade levels at which the subjects are taught and specific topics educators should address at each grade level. The State specifies that sex education will address peer pressure, self-esteem, local community values, the legal consequences of parenthood, and abstinence from sexual activity as an effective method of preventing pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and AIDS. Instruction must emphasize abstinence from sexual activity until marriage and fidelity in marriage as important personal goals for students. Local school boards that do not comply with this policy cannot receive State funding.
What’s Unique in the State of Georgia
At the State level, CYCC’s Everybody’s Not Doing It Web site aims to increase awareness about the benefits of abstinence until marriage among young people, parents, and families. To that end, it offers numerous resources for parents, adolescents, and abstinence educators. The site features Starting Over, a half-hour television program about Georgia youth discussing how they have returned to an abstinent lifestyle.
Georgia counties are actively promoting abstinence education, too. The Real Majority is a media campaign run by a federally funded abstinence education program that serves Cobb County, Georgia. The campaign’s Web site features a number of abstinence-promoting television commercials for parents, adolescents, and educators. Elsewhere on the site, parents can find information on topics including abstinence, sexual abuse, internet safety, drugs, alcohol, and pornography.
Quote of the Day
“Contrary to popular belief, when abstinence education is correctly implemented, it is found to be highly effective. Teens who abstain from sex until age 18 are less likely to be depressed, attempt suicide, contract STDs, or live in poverty. They are more likely to do well in high school, go to college, and have stable and enduring marriages as adults.”
(Becky Giles, Program Director, LifeGuard Youth Development, The Kansas City (MO) Star, January 6, 2008) |
