Princess Health and Studies conclude that abstinence pledges do little to cut youth sexual activity, pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Studies conclude that abstinence pledges do little to cut youth sexual activity, pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases. Princessiccia

diseases education sex education sexually transmitted diseases youth

Gusty 13:17 Add Comment

Abstinence pledges�sometimes called purity pledges�don't keep young people from engaging in sex, contracting sexually transmitted diseases or avoiding pregnancy, according to a pair of studies, Denise-Marie Ordway reports for Journalist's Resource. The main problem is that students are not receiving enough sex education. A federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report from December 2015 found that "fewer than half of high schools and only a fifth of middle schools teach all 16 topics recommended by CDC as essential components of sexual health education."(CDC graphic)

A 2005 study by Yale and Columbia universities found that 88 percent of youth who take the abstinence pledge engage in pre-marital sex, Ordway writes. "The study found that pledgers were just as likely to get STDs as those who never made a pledge of virginity."

A more recent study, published in April in the Journal of Marriage and Family, found that among students in grades 7 to 12, "as a whole, young women who did not take abstinence pledges and those who did but broke them were equally likely to acquire HPV, a common STD," Ordway writes. "Approximately 27 percent of each group tested positive for HPV. Of the young women who had two or more sex partners, pledge breakers were more likely to have HPV. The difference was largest among women who had between six and 10 sex partners. One-third of women who had not taken a pledge and had six to 10 sex partners tested positive for HPV. Meanwhile, 51 percent of pledgers who had six to 10 sex partners acquired HPV. About 30 percent of pledgers and 18 percent of non-pledgers became pregnant within six years after they began having sexual intercourse outside of marriage."

"In the U.S, the teen pregnancy rate is higher than in any other western industrialized country, according to the CDC," Ordway writes. "At the same time, a growing number of American teens and young adults have been diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). While individuals aged 15 to 24 make up 27 percent of the U.S. population that is sexually active, the CDC estimates that they account for half of the 20 million new infections occurring annually."

Princess Health and Teens who talk to their parents about sex make the best choices; Clark County will offer parenting classes on sex communication. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Teens who talk to their parents about sex make the best choices; Clark County will offer parenting classes on sex communication. Princessiccia

education pregnancy sex education sexually transmitted diseases teens

Gusty 08:19 Add Comment

In an average Kentucky high school class of 30 students, almost 13 of the teenagers say they have had sexual intercourse at least once, but many of them have never discussed sex with their parents.

And while Kentucky parents may think their children are learning about sex in the classroom because Kentucky mandates sex education, they may not realize that the state has no set curriculum for fact-based, comprehensive sex education, and the only thing required to be taught is abstinence -- an approach that has been proven ineffective, Aaron Yarmuth reports for Leo Weekly in an in-depth article about sex education in the state.

This lack of parent-teen communication about sex has prompted a study in Clark County that will include classes to help parents become more comfortable talking about sex with their children, Whitney Leggett reports for The Winchester Sun.

The classes will be led by Shannon Phelps of Winchester as part of her research to earn a doctorate in interdisciplinary education sciences from the University of Kentucky, Leggett reports. It is funded by a $15,700 grant from the Clark County Community Foundation.

�Because the subject matter is not one that many people are comfortable with, part of the objective is to help increase parents� comfort in discussing sexual health topics so they will be more likely to address those topics with their children,� Phelps told Leggett.

"The overall goals of the program are to increase frequency and quality of parent-child sexual health communication, improve parents� comfort and confidence in their communication with their children about sexual health topics and increase openness of sexual communication between parents and their children," Leggett writes. "Topics will range from abstinence to safe sex, contraception, resisting peer pressure and communicating with potential partners, among others."

Phelps said the six week courses will promote parent-child sexual health communication, which is associated with better sexual health outcomes for young people.

�Research tells us that children, especially adolescents, who have parents who communicate with them about sexual health topics have better sexual health outcomes,� Phelps told Leggett. �That follows logic... Sometimes parents are hesitant to talk to their children for fear that they�ll go and have risky sexual behaviors, but research tells us the opposite.�

Phelps told Leggett that studies show that when parents talk to their children about sex, "it can delay the onset of sexual behaviors and reduce unintended outcomes like sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies," Leggett writes.

For more information email Phelps at shannon.phelps@uky.edu, or call 859-621-1065.

A study published in the Pediatric Journal of the American Medical Association found that nearly one-fourth of youth report that they have not discussed sexual topics with their parents, and even fewer report that they have had meaningful, open conversations with them about this subject. The study attributes this poor communication to parental embarrassment, parents' lack of accurate knowledge of the subject, and poor self-efficacy.

It's a topic that needs discussion in Kentucky because almost 10 percent of the state's middle-school students have had sexual intercourse and almost one-third of its high school students are sexually active, according to the 2015 Kentucky Middle and High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey.  The survey found that overall, 41.7 percent of Kentucky's high school students have had sexual intercourse at least once.

And there is an obvious disconnect related to birth control. Kentucky ranks seventh in teen births, at 39.5 births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19, according to America's Health Rankings. The 2015 YRBS found that 14.5 percent of high school students did not use any birth- control during the last time they had sexual intercourse.

Princess Health and Is pervasive pornography the newest public-health crisis?. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Is pervasive pornography the newest public-health crisis?. Princessiccia

children children's health sex education sexual assault

Gusty 09:05 Add Comment

Gail Dines, a professor of sociology at Wheelock College in Boston and author of Pornland: How Porn has Hijacked our Sexuality, argues in an essay for The Washington Post that "porn is a public health crisis rather than a private matter."

The internet has made pornography generally accessible, to the point that porn sites get more visitors than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined" (a Huffington Post headline from 2013), some researchers estimate the average age of first viewing porn at 11, and "free and widely available pornography is often violent, degrading and extreme."

Gail Dines

Dines notes studies that have found correlations between porn viewing and sexual harassment and toleration of sexual assault, and that college-age women whose partners use porn "suffered diminished self-esteem, relationship quality and sexual satisfaction."

"As the evidence piles up, a coalition of academics, health professionals, educators, feminist activists and caregivers has decided that they can no longer allow the porn industry to hijack the physical and emotional well-being of our culture," Dines writes. "Culture Reframed, an organization I founded and currently chair, is pioneering a strategy to address porn as the public health crisis of the digital age. We are developing educational programs for parents, youth and a range of professionals that aim to help shift the culture from one that normalizes a pornographic, oppression-based sexuality to one that values and promotes a sexuality rooted in healthy intimacy, mutual care and respect."

Dines concludes, "Parents and educators at every level need to know that if porn is not discussed in a research-based, age-appropriate sexual health curriculum, its effects will surely show up as sexual harassment, dating violence and inadvertent �child pornography� on students� phones. Pornography can cause lifelong problems if young people are not taught to distinguish between exploitative porn sex and healthy, safe sex. As the research shows, porn is not merely a moral nuisance and subject for culture-war debates. It�s a threat to our public health."

Princess Health and Princess Health andBerea students' second health fair tackles touchy topics.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andBerea students' second health fair tackles touchy topics.Princessiccia

education health education schools sex education student health youth

Gusty 18:26 Add Comment

Della Walters tries to walk straight while wearing "drunk goggles" at
the Berea health fair. (Richmond Register photo by Crystal Wylie)

Student-run health fairs are becoming more popular across Kentucky, and some of them are touching on touchy topics. At their second health fair recently, for middle- and high-school students, Berea Community High School health students "handled more mature issues" than at their first, for elementary-school students. reports Crystal Wylie of The Richmond Register.

"Although students had their pick of topics ranging from sexually transmitted diseases, drunk driving, smoking, mental health, sugary drinks, learning disabilities and fitness," health teacher Cathy Jones said some students wanted to include 'sexting,' sexually oriented text messages. She allowed their presentation to pair the topic with cyber-bullying; students asked their classmates to sign a pledge against doing both.

�It�s a hot topic and something teenagers encounter,� Jones told Wylie. �They thought it was important to cover.� Jones said she plans to hold a fair twice a year. Meanwhile, Eastern Kentucky University professor Laurie Larkin and her public-health students conducted a health fair at Clark-Moores Middle School, Wylie reports. (Read more)