You don't expect this obvious trend to continue?
Why?
"But in this study, the teachers didn't take it that far. They purposely stayed away from religion, morality and marriage. For example,
they did not preach waiting for sex until marriage or disparage using condoms.
A Different Approach to an Age-Old Subject
Instead, the study took a less traditional approach, discussing the drawbacks to having sex early, such as unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Teachers even made kids list the pros and cons of having sex themselves.
"We began by talking to children and trying to understand their motivations, reasons for engaging in the behaviors from their perspectives," says John Jemmott III, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania and the lead author of the study.
"[Researchers] simply said delay," Brown says. "Wait a bit. Sex is serious. It has risks. And we just recommend you wait until you're older."
New Study Says 'Abstinence Only' Works - ABC News
this is very similar to the approach that we use in a sex education program developed for the UU church called our whole lives, or owl. we discuss the pressure to have sex at an early age, give kids strategies and tools to resist pressure and let them think for themselves about the consequences of an unplanned pregnancy. we do NOT preach abstinence, but we do always say that waiting is better than not waiting, and that no one of any age should have unprotected sex.
one of the exercises we use to emphasize the consequences of unprotected sex involves a bag of red and green candies. the candies represent the outcome of unprotected sex. red is pregnant, green is not pregnant.
the ensuing discussion centers on what the consequences of being pregnant, or having impregnated someone as a teen will be. kids aren't stupid-they pretty much teach themselves why it's better to wait than to be sexually active at a young age. my students are a little older, grade 7-9, but over the years many of the kids have told us that this type of approach has made them more comfortable about deferring sex until THEY feel like they are mentally and emotionally equipped to handle it.
i guess the difference between our approach and a "safe sex only" approach is that many kids see a safe sex only approach as permission, if not encouragement, to engage in sexual activity. we provide the information needed to have safe sex, but as i stated before, "later is better" is our motto.
a traditional "abstinence only or abstinence until marriage" approach is unrealistic, IMO.
