Report On The Teen-Aid Abstinence-Education Program

Tenth Year Evaluation

2003-2004

 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 2004)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

During the school year 2003-2004, Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District has completed a ten-year study on the effectiveness of its Family-Life Education program that helped teens affirm abstinence until marriage. The project was based on the Teen-Aid sex-education curricula that have been used widely in schools across America since the late 1980’s.

Over the duration of the study, the Family-Life Education program underwent several revisions. The revisions eliminated material that seemed not to be effective and restructured old material by adding information reflecting recent medical discoveries on teen health issues including the spread of AIDS.

A pencil and paper instrument was used to gather the student data since the beginning of the study in 1994. Commencing with the school year 2001-2002, the instrument was redesigned and posted online where students could give their responses to the instrument items directly onto the computer screen. Having the instrument online contributed greatly to obtaining high quality data for analysis and made the data gathering process relatively inexpensive.

The current report was based on data gathered from 4405 students during the 2003-2004 school year. The students attended seven schools within the district and were in grades seven, and nine through twelve. The large majority of students were Hispanic. Male and female respondents were represented equally in the sample.

The one-group pretest-posttest experimental design was the method of research and the t-test for dependent samples was the statistical technique used for analysis.

For a second year in a row, the results of the study were impressive. The analysis provided strong evidence that the intended objectives of the Family-Life Education program were fully met. This generality was based on statistical measures showing that the program moved students toward a greater degree of affirmation and commitment to abstinence. The program had statistically significant effect on at least forty Likert-type items that measured attitudes, values, and behavioral intentions relative to teen sex and were specifically targeted by the program. Below is the list of impacted variables arranged in the order they appeared on the instrument.

After completing the program, students were more likely to agree that:

 · Having sex before marriage was against their religious and/or personal beliefs

 · They could make a decision that was wise

 · Things that were beyond their control did not determine their life

 · They would avoid situations that put them at risk of sexual advances

 · If a person tried to pressure them to have sex, they could now say no

 · Choosing to avoid the use of drugs and alcohol could help them to save sex for

   marriage

 · They did not always agree with the things their friends did, and now they would

   not do any of them anyway in order not to be left out

 · They were encouraged by their friends to be sexually abstinent

 · They were able to resist and control sexual urges

 · During the next year it was less likely that someone might try to get them to

   have sexual intercourse

 · Having sex as teenagers would make it harder for them to have a good marriage

   and family life in the future

 · Having sex or fathering a baby at their age could mess up their chances of

   being able to do things in the future, like going to homecoming, school

   activities, or going to college like other teens

 · Abstaining from sexual activity until marriage would help them accomplish their

   goals in life

 · They planed to wait until marriage to have sex

 · They believed having sex as a young person could mess up their future

 · They would not have sexual intercourse at any time before getting married

 · Getting a sexually transmitted disease would significantly affect their future

 · If they did have a child while unmarried, it would affect their life much worse

   off than they were now

 · Their parents/guardian would want them to practice sexual abstinence until

   marriage

 · That a baby became a human life at conception

 · Sexual activity had harmful emotional effects

 · Abstinence was the only sure way to prevent pregnancy

 · People their age could get sexually transmitted diseases

 · Condoms did not provide protection from emotional and social consequences of

   sexual activity

 · Sexual urges could be controlled

 · Abstinence was voluntary choosing not to engage in sexual activity until

   marriage

 · Sexually transmitted diseases could cause infertility and could cause cancer

 · The only certain way for teens to avoid unwanted pregnancy and sexually

   transmitted diseases was to wait until they were married before having sex

 · Abstinence was the only 100 percent effective protection from the possible

   physical, emotional, mental and social consequences of sexual activity before

   marriage

 · Condoms would not make sex safe

 · Abstinence from all types of sexual activity was the best way to prevent the

   spread of HIV/AIDS

 · There were many different ways to show that they cared about their girlfriend/

   boyfriend without being sexually active

 · It was important for sexually active teens to make a new decision and stop

   having sex

 · It was normal for them to have strong feelings and thoughts about sex but not

   OK for them to have sex

 · They believed there were physical health advantages in waiting until marriage

   for sexual activity

 · Sex at their age was not a natural part of life

 · Drugs and alcohol use had effect on their ability to abstain from sex

 · Even if there was no pregnancy, having sex could cause a lot of problems for

   unmarried teens

 · Sex among unmarried teens was wrong

 · They would not consider having a child before getting married

While the program exerted strong and statistically significant impact on the variables targeted by the program, the degree of impact varied by teacher, grade level, virginity status and gender, respectively.

Overall, the program had the greatest impact on virgin students and students in junior high school followed by male and female respondents, respectively. Among the non-virgin students, the program had average impact while for students in senior high, the program had the least impact. Smoking cigarettes and alcohol consumption were strong correlates of non-virginity status. Percentage of students who had premarital sex was considerably lower than the national averages.