This is an interesting little article. I had always heard otherwise … But the last paragraph is also interesting. If there is no difference in the rate of pregnancy of girls with or without the condom distribution program, why waste the taxpayers money giving them out? It is obviously not working, yet we continue to fund it. Just another example of our government’s flawed social program spending.
Condom Programs Do Not Promote School Sex-Study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Making condoms available to high school students does not make them more likely to have sex, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
Contrary to some arguments, students at schools where condoms were available were less likely to have sex, said the researchers, who studied students in Massachusetts.
“Condom availability was not associated with greater sexual activity among adolescents but was associated with greater condom use among those who were already sexually active, a highly positive result,” Susan Blake, of the Department of Prevention and Community Health at George Washington University said in a statement.
“When condoms are available in schools and are successfully used by sexually active adolescents, they may be an effective means of preventing potentially harmful outcomes such as HIV, STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) and pregnancy,” Blake added.
About half of all teens in grades nine through 12 reported they had sex, with nearly 60 percent saying they used a condom the last time. Blake and colleagues analyzed data from the 1995 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey of more than 4,000 students. About 20 percent went to schools that had condom programs.
Condom use did not seem to prevent pregnancy. Blake and colleagues found no differences in the pregnancy rate between girls in schools with condom availability programs and those without.
(Reuters) 05/27/03 18:41 ET