Sunday, April 15, 2007

The Young and the Restless Abstinence programs don't work. If you have teens, you knew this would be the case. Now a government-commissioned study of four programs has nailed it, studying two groups of kids; one group got the program in elementary and middle school, the other didn't. Bottom line: in both groups about half the kids had sex before age 17, and of the kids who had sex, the median age was 14 years and 9 months. This study is well done. Very hard to argue with. Maybe that's why the Bush Administration's Department of Health and Human Services didn't release it. Congress did. Read it yourself. Kids know when you're not giving them the whole picture. They have great radar for hypocrisy. Some reality talk, contraceptive information and acknowledgement of their relationships, might buy some time and certainly protect their health. Abstinence programs, ineffective and ignorant, are dangerously unhealthy.  -RH   6:37:45 AM    comment []

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