Study Debunks Criticisms of Abstinence Ed Program

By Jim Brown
September 12, 2005

(AgapePress) - A new study indicates a community-based abstinence program in Cleveland, Ohio, is paying positive dividends for some of the city's middle-school students. The research showed that the program, called "For Keeps," not only increased students' knowledge and changed their attitudes and intentions about sex -- it also changed their behavior.

The study, which looked at more than 2,000 Cleveland middle-school students, found that "For Keeps" helped Cleveland 7th- and 8th-graders reduce their number of sexual episodes and sexual partners. That is gratifying information to Mary Ann Mosack, executive director of Operation Keepsake, which runs the abstinence-based sex education program. Any drop in those numbers is good news because, she notes, "You have to start somewhere."

In fact, Mosack asserts, "When we have students who are living in a sex-saturated culture, if you can begin to change their behavior in the right direction, that's success. And so we're not surprised because we believe our message resonates."

The head of Operation Keepsake feels the findings of the study help to vindicate that contention. "Those who oppose abstinence-until-marriage sex education believe that we're ineffective with sexually active teens," she says, "but this certainly shows that they did hear the message."

Mosack believes part of the reason the program works is because it helps students focus on making choices that are in their own best interests in the long term. "One of our key, iconic kind of concepts is that decisions determine destiny," she explains.

What Operation Keepsake's abstinence education program does, Mosack points out, is focus teens -- including sexually active teens -- on the consequences of their decision-making. "So helping students at a young age actually connect the dots between choices they make today and their future, we believe, is really helpful," she says.

"For Keeps" is currently in use in 130 schools in the Greater Cleveland area.

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