BEIJING,
April 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Sex-education programs that focus on teaching teens to
abstain from sex until marriage seem to not work well, according to a study ordered
by the U.S. Congress earlier and quoted by media Monday.
The study found that students who took part in sexual
abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not.
A survey of more than 2,000 teenagers carried out by
a research company on behalf of the Congress found that half of the sample
given abstinence-only education displayed exactly the same predilection for sex
as those who had received conventional sex education in which contraception was
discussed.
"For both the program and control group youth, the
reported mean age at first intercourse was identical, 14.9 years," said the
survey.
"Over the last 12 months, 23 percent of both groups
reported having had sex and always using a condom; 17 percent of both groups
reported having had sex and only sometimes using a condom; and 4 percent of both
groups reported having had sex and never using a condom," the survey wrote.
Even though the study found the programs had no
effect on children's sexual habits later on, it stressed that the programs did
not result in an increase in the rate of unprotected sex. Critics have suggested
that the sex abstinence programs could result in children engaging in
unprotected sex in larger numbers.
Despite critics saying these programs are a waste of
money, which could be directed to other more effective programs, the U.S.
federal government spends 176 million U.S. dollars on them annually.
This survey has been a central plank of
President George Bush's social policy: to stop teenagers having sex. More than 1
billion of federal money has been spent on promoting abstinence since 1998.
(Agencies)
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