What the Research Tells Us

Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are not effective. There are no published studies in the professional literature that show that abstinence-only programs will result in young people delaying sexual intercourse. In fact, at least one study has provided strong evidence that such a program did not delay the onset of intercourse.

Proponents of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs often conduct their own inhouse evaluations and cite them as proof that their programs are effective. Outside experts, however, have found these evaluations to be inadequate, methodologically unsound, or inconclusive.

A number of states have recently released evaluations of their statewide abstinenceonly- until-marriage programs. The results have been disappointing. For example, a report released by the Minnesota Department of Health revealed that its statewide program, Minnesota Education Now and Babies Later (MN ENABL), has been ineffective in reducing adolescent sexual activity. The report concluded that, while well-implemented, “the intervention itself, however, was of low intensity and had low impact for students.” Similar reports from Arizona, California, Iowa, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas have also found that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs have little, if any, beneficial impact on young people’s sexual behavior.

Virginity pledges are not an effective strategy. Although they were once the sole province of religious organizations, many secular groups and schools now host events where students sign “virginity pledges” as a way to promote pre-marital abstinence. Today, virginity pledges are also part of most abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula and programs.

Research has found that under certain conditions these pledges may help some adolescents delay sexual intercourse. When they work, pledges help this select group of adolescents delay the onset of sexual intercourse for an average of 18 months—far short of marriage.

However, the studies also found that those young people who took a pledge were one-third less likely to use contraception when they did become sexually active than their peers who had not pledged. These teens are therefore more vulnerable to the risks of unprotected sexual activity such as unintended pregnancy and STDs, including HIV/AIDS. Further research has confirmed that although some students who take pledges delay intercourse, ultimately they are equally as likely to contract an STD as their non-pledging peers. The study also found that the STD rates were higher in communities where a significant proportion (over 20%) of the young people had taken viriginity pledges.

Comprehensive education about sexuality is effective. Numerous studies and evaluations published in peer-reviewed literature have found that comprehensive education about sexuality, programs that teach teens about both abstinence and contraception/ disease prevention, are an effective strategy to help young people delay their initiation of sexual intercourse.

Reviews of published evaluations of sexuality education, HIV-prevention, and adolescent pregnancy-prevention programs have consistently found that they:

• Do not encourage teens to start having sexual intercourse
• Do not increase the frequency with which teens have intercourse
• Do not increase the number of sexual partners teens have

Instead these programs can:

• Delay the onset of intercourse
• Reduce the frequency of intercourse
• Reduce the number of sexual partners
• Increase condom or contraceptive use

Finding The Research

These conclusions are based on a number of research studies, articles, and publications that may be very useful to you in your advocacy efforts. The citation for each article is listed below and we encourage you to look at the original research. If you have any trouble finding the articles, please contact SIECUS’ Mary S. Calderone Library at 212/819-9770 or email us at siecus.org/contact and we will assist you.

Doug Kirby, Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy (Washington: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, May 2001).

Doug Kirby, No Easy Answers (Washington: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 1997).

Anne Grunseit, et al., “Sexuality Education and Young People’s Sexual Behavior: A Review of Studies,” Journal of Adolescent Research 12.4 (1997): 421-53.

Peter Bearman and Hannah Brückner “Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and the Transition to First Intercourse.” American Journal of Sociology 106.4 (2001): 859-912.

P. Bearman, et al., “The Relationship Between Virginity Pledges in Adolescence and STD Acquisition in Young Adulthood,” (study presented at the National STD Prevention Conference, Philadelphia, PA, 9 March 2004).

Minnesota Education Now and Babies Later (MN ENABL) Evaluation Report 1998-2002.