Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Abstinence Education

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Adolescence

Overview

“Abstinence education” (also known as abstinence-only, abstinence-plus, or abstinence-only-until-marriage education) has, in recent years, become a specialized label, a technical term employed by educators, politicians, youth advocates, and public health workers in the USA. The label identifies a particular moral and educational agenda shaping what has been taught about human sexuality within USA public schools, since the 1980s. Approaches to teaching sexuality that lack the characteristics of this particular agenda (described in more detail, below) are titled, in turn, “comprehensive sexuality education.” Labeling or branding these educational efforts has facilitated their polarization, their validation as entrepreneurial efforts, and their entanglement in an ongoing, bitter dispute over the best strategies to teach children and adolescents about sexual health.

This brief essay – far from an exhaustive account of the issue – reviews the polemics surrounding abstinence...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 2,050.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009). Sexual and reproductive health of persons aged 10-24 years - United States, 2002–2007. Surveillance summaries. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 58 (SS-6), 1–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doan, A. E., & Williams, J. C. (2008). The politics of virginity: Abstinence in sex education. Westport: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodson, P. (2010). Theory in health promotion research and practice: Thinking outside the box. Boston: Jones & Bartlett.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodson, P., Suther, S., Pruitt, B. E., & Wilson, K. (2003). Defining abstinence: Views of directors, instructors, and participants in abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Texas. Journal of School Health, 73 (3), 91–96.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goodson, P., Buhi, E. R., & Dunsmore, S. C. (2006a). Self-esteem and adolescent sexual behaviors, attitudes, and intentions: A systematic review. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38 (3), 310–319.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goodson, P., Pruitt, B. E., Suther, S., Wilson, K., & Buhi, E. (2006b). Is abstinence education theory based? The underlying logic of abstinence education programs in Texas. Health Education & Behavior, 33 (2), 252–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guide to Community Preventive Services. (2009). Prevention of HIV/AIDS, other STIs and pregnancy: Abstinence education interventions, from http://www.thecommunityguide.org/hiv/RRabstinence_ed.html

  • Hauser, D. (2008). Five years of abstinence-only-until-marriage education: Assessing the impact. Retrieved November 2009, from http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=623&Itemid=177

  • Mann, J., McIlhaney, J. S., & Stine, C. C. (2000). Building healthy futures: Tools for helping adolescents avoid or delay the onset of sexual activity. Austin: The Medical Institute for Sexual Health.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Guidelines Task Force. (2004). Guidelines for comprehensive sexuality education: Kindergarten - 12th grade (3rd ed., 1st ed. 1991). New York: SIECUS.

    Google Scholar 

  • SIECUS. (2008). The Federal Government & abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Retrieved September 2, 2009, from http://www.communityactionkit.org/index.cfm?pageId=892

  • SIECUS. (2009). Dueling amendments on sex education pass senate finance committee, from http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&FeatureID=1802

  • Trenholm, C., Devaney, B., Fortson, K., Quay, L., Wheeler, J., & Clark, M. (2007). Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs. Princeton: Mathematica Policy Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Government Accountability Office. (2006). Abstinence education: Efforts to assess the accuracy and effectiveness of federally funded programs. Report to Congressional Requesters, Washington: GAO-07-87.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health & Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, 4243 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843-4243, USA

    Patricia Goodson

  2. Department of Community and Family Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 56, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Eric R. Buhi

Authors
  1. Patricia Goodson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eric R. Buhi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patricia Goodson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University, 302 Sycamore Hall, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Roger J. R. Levesque

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this entry

Cite this entry

Goodson, P., Buhi, E.R. (2011). Abstinence Education. In: Levesque, R.J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_54

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_54

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1694-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1695-2

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation