New research supports the long-held hope that sex education does help teens avoid pregnancy — if the program is comprehensive, including information on birth control options instead of the abstinence-only approach.

Researchers found that 1 in 4 teens received abstinence-only sex ed, another two-thirds received comprehensive sex education, and almost one in ten (mostly from rural areas or very poor families) had no sex ed at all. Of these teens, the ones who received comprehensive sex ed were slightly (very slightly; the researchers termed the gap “not statistically significant”) less likely to engage in vaginal intercourse, but no group was less likely than the others to receive sexually transmitted diseases.

Also, according to research results, teens who received comprehensive sex education were 60 percent less likely to get pregnant or to get someone pregnant than those who received no sex education.

Says the study’s lead author, Pamela Kohler of the University of Washington in Seattle, “There was no evidence to suggest that abstinence-only education decreased the likelihood of ever having sex or getting pregnant.”

Is anyone surprised?

Posted by Sunshine.