Report On The Teen-Aid Abstinence-Education Program

Fifth-Year Evaluation

1998-1999

Prepared For Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District

Drawer 990, Edinburg, Texas 78540-0990

Prepared by

Raja S. Tanas, Ph.D.

Department of Sociology

Whitworth College

Spokane, WA  99251-1105

e-mail: rtanas@whitworth.edu

(July 1999)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In an effort to combat the undesired consequences of teen premarital sexual behavior, Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District launched a family-life education program developed by Teen-Aid. Now, the School District is in its fifth year of gathering data that is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of their family-life education program. The objectives of the program are to develop attitudes, beliefs, values, and behavioral intentions promoting and affirming sexual abstinence and healthy lifestyles among students. 

The current report is based on the one-group pretest-posttest experimental design with the use of structured pretest and posttest questionnaires. Data analyzed in this report came from students in grades 7 through 12 during the academic year 1998-1999.

A socio-demographic profile of the study sample is followed by the summary of student attitudes and behavioral intentions. The sample was predominantly Hispanic with an equal representation of male and female students.

Edinburg School District’s students have maintained a below national average level of sexual activity over the past five-year period of study. Participation in the Teen-Aid program proved to be effective in moving student attitudes and behavioral intentions toward abstinence. The pretest-posttest analysis employed the t-test statistical technique for independent samples. The results showed that the program had statistically significant impact on at least six variables relative to teen sexual activity.

After taking the Teen-Aid curriculum, students were more likely to agree that:

  · having sex as a teenager would make it harder for them to get a

    good education in the future (78%)

  · having sex as a teenager would make it harder for them to have a

    good marriage and family life in the future (83%)

  · having sex as a teenager would make it harder for them to get a

    good job or be successful in a career (71%)

  · students would be much worse off than now if they were to have a

    child while unmarried (86%)

  · a baby is a person or a human being at conception (47%)

  · students are less likely to have sexual intercourse before they get

    married (54%)

The impact of the program on students was greater on junior high than senior high students. Furthermore, similar to previous years’ research findings, teacher variability in program effectiveness was observed. The report concluded with recommendations for future research.