June 26, 2008Media Stories

AIDS-Fight Follies
New York Post, June 23, 2008

Up-and-Coming Disney Star Vows Abstinence Till Marriage
LifeSiteNews.com, June 18, 2008

The Purity Promise
Momlogic, June 12, 2008

Virginity Pledges May Help Postpone Intercourse Among Youth
Medical News Today, June 12, 2008

Wetzstein on Family
The Washington Times, June 10, 2008

Teen Survey Shows Virginity Pledges Can Work
USA Today, June 10, 2008
 
Rewards of Abstinence Sex Education
The Newton Kansan, June 9, 2008

Teen Sexual Activity Increases, Contraceptive Use Decreases
Medical News Today, June 5, 2008

Decline in Teen Sex Levels Off, Survey Shows
The Washington Post, June 5, 2008

Less Sex, Drugs, and Booze for High School Kids
Reuters, June 4, 2008

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.

The Saint Paul Foundation
Grants are awarded to nonprofit organizations and public entities serving the East Metro area of Ramsey, Washington, and Dakota counties in Minnesota. Funding areas of interest include education, human services, humanities, the arts, and community development.

Nestle Very Best in Youth 09
The Nestle Very Best in Youth Program, sponsored by Nestlé USA, honors young people, ages 13 to 18, who excel in school and work to make the community and the world a better place. Nominations are accepted from parents, teachers, and volunteers.
Deadline: November 20, 2008.

Recent Research

Gender, Mature Appearance, Alcohol Use, and Dating as Correlates of Sexual Partner Accumulation from Ages 16–26 Years (2008) (fee for entire article) – In this Journal of Adolescent Health [Volume 42 (6): 564-572] study, researchers found physical appearance, use of alcohol, and a history of steady dating were linked to youths having sex with more partners by age 16. Specifically, the study found that those youths generally had a mature appearance by age 13, used alcohol more than once a month, and had a history of romantic partners before age 16. The study also found that the young men and teenage boys had more sexual partners between the ages of 16 and 26, with a steady rate of partners through those years.

Sexual Risk Behavior 6 Months Post–High School: Associations with College Attendance, Living with a Parent, and Prior Risk Behavior (2008) (fee for entire article) –This  Journal of Adolescent Health [Volume 42 (6): 573-579] study examined  sexual risk behavior among a group of youth in the fall after their senior year of high school. Of all study participants, 30 percent reported inconsistent condom use, 23 percent reported casual sex, and 11 percent reported high-risk sex. Youth enrolled in college were less likely than others to report sexual risk behavior. The study linked substance use, risky sex, and academic performance in high school to college attendance, casual sex, and intermittent condom use.

Virginity Pledges Among the Willing: Delays in First Intercourse and Consistency of Condom Use (2008) – In an upcoming study in the Journal of Adolescent Health [article in press], researchers found that young people who are inclined to make a virginity pledge are more likely to delay sexual intercourse. However, a pledge fails to affect the sexual safety practices of those who do not remain abstinent. Youth who make virginity pledges tend to be strongly religious and have  parents who closely watch their behavior and are opposed to them having sex. In addition, pledgers are more likely to join clubs and participate in community activities and are less inclined to believe that having sex would lead to positive consequences. Their friends also are more often opposed to them having sex.

Beyond the “Big Talk”: The Roles of Breadth and Repetition in Parent-Adolescent Communication About Sexual Topics (2008) – In this study in Pediatrics [Volume 121 (3): e612-e618], the authors concluded that adolescents who had repeated conversations with their parents about sex felt closer to their parents, felt better about communicating with them on other topics, and felt their conversations had greater openness than adolescents who talked to their parents less often about intercourse. The authors believe that open and repetitive communication provides parents an opportunity to build on what they have taught their children and provides youth the opportunity to ask questions.

Other News/Misc.

National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC)
“What Works” in Fatherhood Programs authored by Child Trends, examines evaluations of “model” fatherhood and parenting programs. The full report, Ten Key Findings from Responsible Fatherhood Initiatives (2008), was developed by the Urban Institute.

Upcoming Events

Mastering Web 2.0: Integrating MySpace with YouTube, Facebook, and Change.org Web Cast
June 26, 2008
2:00 - 3:00 PM ET
Registration

Achieving Excellence in Abstinence Education Evaluation Conference (PDF, 704KB) July 14-15, 2008, Arlington, Virginia
The Center for Research and Evaluation on Abstinence Education is hosting a free conference geared to the specific needs of abstinence education evaluators. The conference includes workshops on evaluation design, implementation, analysis, and reporting. Registration Form (PDF, 752KB)

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.

NEVADA

What’s Happening in the State of Nevada
The Governor's Youth Advisory Council, or GYAC, advises the Governor, the Nevada State Health Division, and other agencies, on issues like teen pregnancy prevention and suicide prevention. The GYAC is made up of 11 youth, ages 15-21, from across the State, who meet at least four times a year to discuss teen health issues. The Council developed a classroom/assembly presentation called “Abstinence Works” to encourage the State’s middle school students aged 9 to 14 to abstain from sexual activity, tobacco, alcohol, and drugs.

Community Action Teams are an integral part of the State’s initiative. Teams are composed of and facilitated by community members, serving on a voluntary basis. Community teams are able to address teen pregnancy based on the unique needs and assets of their community. More than 30 teams are active throughout the State to develop and implement community-based teen pregnancy prevention programs and activities. 

The State currently has one Community-Based Abstinence Education grant and one Adolescent Family Life Act grant.

State Law in Nevada
The State has no legislation regarding sexuality education. Nevada Revised Statutes 389.065 requires a board of trustees of a school district to establish a course or unit of a course instruction on HIV/AIDS, human reproduction, related communicable diseases, and sexual responsibility. State training and technical assistance is provided to local school districts to ensure compliance with NRS 389.065 and to maintain, strengthen, and expand prevention education within public schools to address behaviors that may result in HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancies.

What’s Unique in the State of Nevada
The Nevada State Health Division in cooperation with the Nevada Public Health Foundation conducted youth focus groups in 20 communities statewide. When asked what their communities needed to better prevent teen pregnancy, every group requested more youth-focused activities and classes for parents to learn how to be better parents. The Positive Choices, Positive Futures curriculum, reproduced from Basic Concepts in Identifying the Health Needs of Adolescents, was designed to help Nevada parents learn effective communication skills as well as provide them with accurate information to assist their children in making positive choices. Workshops are available free of charge. The Health Division also developed Tips for Parents and Teen Pregnancy Fact Sheets to reduce teen pregnancy.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

What’s Interesting in the State of New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services awarded funding from its Section 510 Abstinence Education Program grant to Catholic Medical Center to support the Leadership in Abstinence Education Program. The Program’s purpose is to increase sexual abstinence until marriage through the statewide delivery of evidence- and skill-based standardized education. The decision to standardize State abstinence education, using the WAIT Training curriculum, was essential to establish uniformity in measuring program outcomes. Pre and posttest evaluations are given at every session. Teacher certification is required and mandates 16 hours of training. As more and more public school teachers become certified, the project is becoming increasingly self-sustaining.

The Leadership in Abstinence Education Program targets youth between the ages of 12 and 18. Results from FY2007 show a:

• 17 percent increase in the number of students who felt that “Not having sex until marriage develops character and self-regulation skills.”
  
  
• 17 percent increase in the number of students who felt that “Not having sex until marriage prevents emotional problems.”
  
  
• 15 percent increase in the number of students who felt that “Waiting until you are married to have sex enhances future success.”

The biggest impact was at a court-ordered girl’s shelter, where residents demonstrated a 21.5 percent shift in favor of abstinence until marriage.

State Law in New Hampshire
New Hampshire produced the Health Education Curriculum Guidelines. The guidelines state that abstinence is the most effective means of preventing pregnancy and HIV. The guidelines specify that in elementary school, instruction on family life and sexuality should cover: families and relationships, growth and development, and HIV/AIDS. In middle school, family life instruction should cover: families and relationships, growth and development, sexual behavior, HIV and other STD prevention, and pregnancy prevention. In high schools, family life instruction should cover: families and relationships (including violence and date rape), sexual behavior, HIV and other STD prevention, and pregnancy prevention. New Hampshire Rule 186.11 states that the State Board of Education must provide HIV/AIDS educational material to all school board members and private and public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational and vocational training institutions. AIDS information programs and course counseling activities must be evaluated on a continuous basis at private and public secondary and postsecondary educational and vocational institutions.

What’s Unique in the State of New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Maternal & Child Health Section’s Adolescent Health Program and the University of New Hampshire’s Center on Adolescence collaboratively developed New Hampshire's Adolescent Health Strategic Plan: Supporting NH Youth, Moving Toward a Healthier Future. The plan delivers nine recommendations for statewide action that span health access, youth system collaboration, responsiveness, training, and support, the needs of families and educational environments, the pressing need for solid data to drive actions, and four specific focal areas: nutrition and physical activity, mental health and alcohol, drug and tobacco use, reproductive health and injury prevention.

Quote of the Day

“Making a pledge to remain a virgin until married may provide extra motivation to adolescents who want to delay becoming sexually active. The act of pledging may create some social pressure or social support that helps them to follow through with their clearly stated public intention.”

(Steven Martino, psychologist at RAND, Medical News Today, June 10, 2008)