Abstinence only teaching less effective at preventing sex than comprehensive

[Scatcat]

uhhh, that's the point.

They looked at the odds of intercourse in teens that had abstinence only sex education and compared it to the odds of intercourse in teens that had no sex education. The odds ratio, after adjusting  for other significant predictors of engaging in vaginal intercourse, was 0.8 with a 95% confidence interval of .51–1.31. Since an OR of 1 means intercourse was just as likely in each group and the p value was calculated at 0.4 (not significant), you conclude there's no difference between the groups (more accurately, you can't reject the null hypothesis that there is a difference).

To use your words, there was no significant or compelling difference between abstinence only education and no education.

{High Nerd Mode Engaged}

Myelo, you are absolutely correct in saying I should not have concluded there is no difference between the groups.  It is more correct to state I could only fail to reject the null hypothesis and is more accurate than your suggestion “can’t reject the null hypothesis”.  But now that we got that cleared up, I’m glad we agreed

{High Nerd Mode Disengaged}

BTW, you scare me Myelo.

[alskahawk]

 Abstinence... Just like that Just say no idea. Neither has worked well. The promoters of the abstinence programs forgot what it was like to be young and horny. The idea that if kids are taught sex ed that they will have more sex so lets not teach them anything is also ridiculous. Do we really think that politicians should be telling us how to raise our kids?  Politicians need to clean up their own act first.

 Look at how things have changed since the 1970s. More households have both parents working. More households have one parent. In short the kids get shortchanged on many levels. In our effort to give kids everything we didn't have we often forget to give them what they need and that's a stable home.
 Its easy to blame TV and liberals for the breakdown in a kids value system. If something outside your home has more of an influence on your child than you do, you failed years before they went to junior high school. A parent can make a difference but have they have to be there. Even when they are not.
 
 I have two daughters. Both college educated. Both successful. Can I say what was the key? Probably not. Luck of the draw to a certain extent. Though I suspect having a stress free home and a strong mother helped a lot. When they talked we listened. Sometimes we didn't agree but we always communicated. They always knew they could talk to us and be heard. We stressed education so they knew what their goals were early on. Sure glad I didn't wait for guidence from congress.
 

[Mini D]

Yes I read the article by Kohler published in J Adolesc Health. Did you?

I didn't see you quote anything from that article although to be honest with all of Lazs2's backpedaling posts I may have missed it. If you could point it out that would be great.

Once again, you are referring to something completely different than what was initially linked. Read the MSNBC article again. I'm talking about how stats and error is interpreted, not the stats themselves. The stats really showed nothing significant, yet there's several claims that it did.

BTW... I wasn't trying to agree with lazs on this one. Just pointing out the fallacy of the article linked and the title of this thread.

[Chairboy]

Another win for Abstinence Only education, a recent survey in Florida showed that teens believed that if they drank a small quantity of bleach, it would prevent HIV, and that a shot of Mountain Dew prevents pregnancy.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A recent survey that found some Florida teens believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy has prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state.

The survey showed that Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant.

State lawmakers said the myths are spreading because of Florida's abstinence-only sex education, Local 6 reported.

http://www.local6.com/news/15773787/detail.html

<golf clap>

[myelo]

BTW, you scare me Myelo.

But it's your love, not fear, that I crave.

[Torque]

most absentee parents blame the govt when they can't raise their kids properly... of course it's not their fault.

so... raise your hand if your kid has had an illegitimate child.... just so we know.

[Mini D]

Another win for Abstinence Only education, a recent survey in Florida showed that teens believed that if they drank a small quantity of bleach, it would prevent HIV, and that a shot of Mountain Dew prevents pregnancy.

I'm willing to bet that abstinance-only education verses full-on sex education pregnancy stats are meaningless compared to the ratio of hispanic and black polulations to white populations. Given that, Florida has about the same teen pregnancy rate as California (which does have full-on sex ed).

All of the states leading the pregnancy rates have a high population of hispanic or blacks. DC leads things, by a long ways (not an abstinance only district). Georgia, Mississippi, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas are all up above Florida in teen pregnancy rates with one stand out in the group: nevada (coming in 2nd behind DC). But then Nevada is just fluffied up enough to have some very different explanations than the rest of the states.

[lazs2]

mt.. 30 years puts us right at when abortion became legal in all states and not long after very effective birth control was passed out like candy and still... 

50' and 60's tho...The birth rate remains about the same now as when kids grew up and got married and raised a family (10% divorce rate vs almost 60%)   It was desirable to have a family.. people had more kids per family only about 2% were illegitimate..  now.. it is 34% with the kids most fresh out of our sex education classes..  15-19 year olds..   running 80% illegitimate rate now.. and one in four having STD's..  with..  1.2 million abortions a year to take up some of the slack for the dumb sluts. 

Now... I don't know how you can spin an 80% illegitimate rate and 1 in 4 kids having STD's as being a desirable thing.. a  success.   Are you saying that the vast majority of these kids are making a well thought out choice based on the sex education they received..   to have illegitimate kids and to get a STD?    I mean.. if sex education was any good..  they could avoid either with no sweat right?

lazs

[lazs2]

mini.. yes..  rates of both STD's and for illegitimate births for blacks and hispanics are far higher.   the rate for STDs is more than double and the rate for illegitmate is 68% of all negros with whites being 34% overall.   For teens it is just ugly no matter what race..

lazs

[Scatcat]

Another win for Abstinence Only education, a recent survey in Florida showed that teens believed that if they drank a small quantity of bleach, it would prevent HIV, and that a shot of Mountain Dew prevents pregnancy.http://www.local6.com/news/15773787/detail.html

<golf clap>

Nice smoke screen Chairboy, this article is bogus and likely misleading.  There were absolutely no references to the author’s or the publication of this ‘survey’ making it difficult at best for folks to verify its claims.

[lazs2]

mini may be really the one on the right track.. that it makes not much difference.   I find it amusing that both sides claim that their system does not work unless they have total control.. abstinence only works only if there is no sex education and sex education only works if it is universal and complete.

My point is that..  of the two ideas.. only one has had total domination and been tried for decades.. abstinence.. and it had lower abortion rates and less STDs and far fewer unwanted births with a very low divorce rate..  kids raised by two parents....  sex education has a long way to go to even get to the 50s results.

lazs

[midnight Target]

mt.. 30 years puts us right at when abortion became legal in all states and not long after very effective birth control was passed out like candy and still... 


Now... I don't know how you can spin an 80% illegitimate rate and 1 in 4 kids having STD's as being a desirable thing.. a  success.   Are you saying that the vast majority of these kids are making a well thought out choice based on the sex education they received..   to have illegitimate kids and to get a STD?    I mean.. if sex education was any good..  they could avoid either with no sweat right?

lazs

Maybe sex education that goes beyond "abstinence only" should be a required subject in our public schools. Oh wait a minute, you think it already is!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23574940/

Blame is most often placed on inadequate sex education, from parents and from schools focusing too much on abstinence-only programs. Add to that a young person’s sense of being invulnerable.

“This is pretty shocking,” said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Montefiore Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital in New York.

“To talk about abstinence is not a bad thing,” but teen girls — and boys too — need to be informed about how to protect themselves if they do have sex, Alderman said.

[lazs2]

mt... sex education is almost universal in our school systems if you judge what "sex education" is by 1950 standards.   It is only "shocking" to these docs that 10 year olds aren't being given live demos.   

Now it is the difference between graphic sex education at young ages and abstinence sex education.. in the 1950's it was the difference between almost universal "no sex education of any kind" and maybe a bit of abstinence education.

I say leave all sex education of any kind out of the schools.  That is the parents job.   I am saying it worked fine before.   

lazs