Stacy Long
AFA Journal staff writer
September 2014 – Our culture is bombarded with messages that sexual pleasure is paramount and should be uncurbed, that values such as sexual chastity and marriage are outdated and repressive.
Yet, in surveys done in recent years, a very different message surfaces. An overwhelming majority agreed on one statement – youth should wait until marriage before becoming sexually active. In a survey titled “Parents Speak Out,” released by the National Abstinence Education Association in late 2012, 85% of parents “believe that youth benefit from skills that help them choose to wait for sex,” and nearly 90% want their children to be aware of limitations of condoms and contraceptives in preventing disease and pregnancy.
These numbers are up from 2009, when the Health and Human Services’ 2009 “National Survey of Adolescents and their Parents: Attitudes about Sex and Abstinence” reported over 70% of parents oppose premarital sex, particularly for their own children. However, parents often feel they have little influence against a tide of sexual promiscuity.
“They might feel they can’t promote an abstinence message in school or even the home because it isn’t realistic,” NAEA’s Valerie Huber told AFA Journal. But, while the secular culture implies that most teenagers are sexually active, the opposite is true. According to the 2013 “Youth Risk Behaviors Survey” from the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 46% of youth, grades 9-12, have ever had sex, with only 34% currently sexually active. This number represents a 13% decrease since 1991 in the number of those who have had sex. Additionally, 62% of adolescents in the HHS report said sex should only take place within marriage.
‘Normal’ or healthy?
However, on the assumption that sex is normal for teens, many educational programs focus on equipping them to escape consequences such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.
“The Sexual Risk Reduction approach, also known as Comprehensive Sex Ed, has its goal of making sure your partner consents and you have contraception,” Huber explained. “The SRR approach normalizes sex by making it appear that sexual experimentation is normal, healthy and expected for teens.”
Less prevalent is Sexual Risk Avoidance, or abstinence education. “A misconception is that our programs are a ‘Just Say No’ kind of message,” Huber said. “We are so much more holistic than that. Our programs help students make healthy decisions because they value themselves intrinsically.”
According to the HHS report, by legislative definition, abstinence education teaches all the following: social, psychological and health gains of abstaining; abstinence as the only certain way to avoid pregnancy and health problems; harmful consequences of bearing children out of wedlock; faithful monogamous relationships in the context of marriage as the expected standard; harmful psychological and physical effects of sex outside of marriage; how to reject sexual advances and vulnerability caused by drug and alcohol abuse; and importance of self-sufficiency before sexual activity.
Clearly, this content is in line with beliefs of the majority of parents and teens. As Huber said, “When parents actually understand what is taught, they are overwhelmingly supportive of the Sexual Risk Avoidance message, and they are not supportive of other approaches that normalize sex for teens.”
On board with Obama?
Nonetheless, throughout his administration, President Barack Obama has worked to eliminate already meager funding for abstinence education. As recorded by the National Abstinence Education Association, $176.5 million allotted to abstinence education in 2008 had been reduced to $37 million by 2013. Now, funding for SRA programs compared to funding for SRR programs is at a ratio of 1:24. This is despite the indication that both parents and students not only value and desire premarital chastity, but also that more than half of students are not sexually active and, therefore, would find the SRA approach more relevant.
Even those often regarded as more supportive of the current government administration favor abstinence education, as the “Parents Speak Out” Survey revealed. Not only are 87% of Republicans in favor of abstinence education, but also 76% of Democrats. Furthermore, 58% of Democrats and 75% of Republicans oppose the elimination of funding for SRA, and more Democrats (67%) than Republicans (64%) desire equality in the funding of SRA and SRR.
African American parents showed the greatest approval out of any other surveyed group for abstinence education programs (86%) and for every topic they address, including abstinence until marriage (87%), the limitations of contraceptives (95%) and emotional consequences of premarital sex (92%). Data in the HHS survey verified these statistics, recording that in 2009, “72% of non-Hispanic blacks reported strongly agreeing that it is against their values for their child/teenager to have sexual intercourse before marriage, as compared to 50% or less among other racial/ethnic groups.”
Are teens listening?
While race and party affiliation did not create discernible difference in what is desired from educational programs, several other factors did have a significant impact. According to the HHS report, 92% of parents who attend weekly religious services agreed “sexual intercourse is something only married people should do,” while only 14% of those who never attend religious services agreed with that same statement. Similarly, among adolescents, 80% of those attending weekly religious services agreed, compared to 35% of those who never attend services.
Rating their preferences on five sources of sexual information for their children, 85% of parents selected a place of worship as their first choice, followed by – from most to least preferred – doctor’s office or health center, school, community organization and the Internet.
Nearly half agreed it was best for their child to receive abstinence messages from all these sources, indicating, as the HHS report concluded, “broad general support for abstinence messages regardless of specific source.” Beyond that, 92% of parents and 68% of adolescents said the preferred source for sexual information was a family member. At the same time, the report concluded, “Adolescent attitudes about sex and abstinence are more subject to influence from parents and peers than to messages about sex and abstinence delivered in the context of classes or programs. However, adolescent receipt of information about sex, abstinence and sexual values in a class or program was associated with increased levels of adolescent communication.”
It is the home, then, that has the greatest power to direct discussions and opinions on sexual issues. And sex education programs that uphold and complement prevailing family values will be the most effective and most worthy of coveted funds. But overall, regardless of what measures are backed by government initiatives, taxpayer dollars or social agendas, parents remain the determinative influence on young people’s standards concerning sex, chastity and marriage. Despite the efforts of so many in our culture, the privilege and ultimate responsibility of guiding youth lies in the hands of parents, if they will only take hold of it. 
Making a real difference in your community can start with information from Parents Tool Kit from the National Abstinence Education Association. thenaea.org/docs/p4t-toolkit-naea.pdf or 202-248-5420
Other recommended resources
▶ Abstinence Clearinghouse, 801 East 41st Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57105
605-335-3643 or 888-577-2966
Contact information for National Abstinence Education Association
▶ abstinenceassociation.org or 202-248-5420
▶ abstinenceworks.org or 202-248-5420
info@theNAEA.org
