Accounting for abstinence.

In two interviews 18 months apart, sexually inexperienced young adolescents in Missouri expressed increasingly positive views toward having intercourse. (1) On average, the 422 youth who reported in both 1997 and 1999 that they had not had sex gave eight reasons for abstaining at baseline, but only seven at follow-up. Significant declines were seen in the proportions reporting that they were not ready for sex (71% vs. 62%), they were waiting until they were older (69% vs. 61%) or married (59% vs. 51%), or they considered premarital sex wrong (59% vs. 51%). Additionally, parents' reactions were cited less frequently in 1999 than in 1997 (5% vs. 60%), as were embarrassment about sex (14% vs. 21%) and about the use of birth control or condoms (5% vs. 9%). Fear of pregnancy or AIDS was a motivation for eight in 10 respondents at each interview. In logistic regression analyses, teenagers with conservative attitudes toward premarital sex, males and youth who did not drink had an elevated likelihood of remaining sexually inexperienced over the study period. According to the researchers, antidrinking messages targeted to young adolescents are essential, as are booster sessions to reinforce messages about HIV and pregnancy.

(1.) Blinn-Pike Let al., Sexually abstinent adolescents: an 18-month follow-up, Journal of Adolescent Research, 2004, 19(5):495-511.