Evaluation Of The

Teen-Aid Abstinence-Education Program

“I’ve Got Connections”

2002-2003

Prepared For Teen-Aid, Inc.

723 E. Jackson Avenue, Spokane, WA 99207

Prepared by

Raja S. Tanas, Ph.D.

Department of Sociology

Whitworth College

Spokane, WA  99251-1105

e-mail:  rtanas@whitworth.edu

(July 2003)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In 2001, Teen-Aid of Spokane (Washington) received a grant under SPRANS (Special Projects with Regional and National Significance) entitled I’ve Got Connections. The grant’s objective is to affirm and support teens in choosing abstinence until marriage.

A requirement of the grant is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Teen-Aid program on student attitudes, values, norms, and behavioral intentions relative to teen sex. An online evaluation instrument that included federal performance measures and abstinence education content consistent with welfare reform requirements and funding was developed and tested during the first year of the project.

This is the second year of the implementation of the I’ve Got Connections program. The present report is based on data gathered during the 2002-2003 school year. It is based on 432 matched pretest and posttest responses obtained from sixth through twelfth grade students in eleven schools in the states of California, Montana, and Washington.

The sample respondents were predominantly white with a majority of female respondents. The one-group pretest-posttest experimental design was the method for research and the t-test for dependent samples was the statistical technique employed for analysis.

The results of the present evaluation are commendable. It was quite clear from the data that the Teen-Aid program has succeeded to promote and affirm abstinence until marriage among teens. This generalization is primarily based on the finding that the program moved students towards a greater affirmation and commitment to abstinence until marriage on at least twenty-three constructs targeted by the program. The following is a list of the impacted constructs that are arranged in the order they appeared on the survey.

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

 · Having sex before marriage is against their religious and/or their

   personal beliefs

 · Choosing to avoid the use of drugs and alcohol can help save sex

   for marriage

 · They are now encouraged by their friends to be sexually abstinent

 · They think that having sex as a teenager would make it harder for

   them to have a good marriage and family life in the future

 · Abstaining from sexual activity until marriage will help teens

   accomplish their goals in life

 · They plan to wait until marriage to have sex

 · They think they will not have sexual intercourse at any time

   before they get married

 · It is important to talk with their parents/guardian about sex

 · They feel that they can now go to their parents with questions

   about relationships and sex

 · They have now a lot of respect for their parents’ ideas and

   opinions about sex

 · A baby is a person, a human life at conception

 · Sexual activity has harmful emotional effects

 · Abstinence is the only sure way to prevent pregnancy     

 · Condoms do not provide protection from emotional and social

   consequences of sexual activity

 · Abstinence is voluntary choosing not to engage in sexual activity

   until marriage

 · Sexually transmitted diseases can cause infertility and cancer

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

   sexually transmitted diseases is to wait until they are married

   before having sex

 · Abstinence is the only 100 percent effective protection from the

   possible physical, emotional, mental and social consequences of

   sexual activity before marriage

 · Condoms will not make sex safe

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

   prevent the spread of HIV AIDS

 · It is normal for teens to have strong feelings and thoughts about

   sex but not OK for teens to have sex

 · They believe there are physical health advantages in waiting until

   marriage for sexual activity

 · Even if there is no pregnancy, having sex can cause a lot of

   problems for unmarried teens

The impact of the program was greater for junior high school students than for students in grades 9 through 12. The percentage of students who had premarital sex was significantly lower than the national average. Alcohol consumption seems to be a big problem and it appears that this topic has not been adequately covered in the classroom. Alcohol consumption was found to be a strong predictor of non-virginity status among both male and female students.

Greater degree of cooperation between teachers/school officers and Teen-Aid personnel in obtaining the necessary student data for evaluation in next year’s study cannot be stressed enough.