Youth Back Abstinence Education

Communities in Crisis Young Adults As the target of abstinence-education programs, young Americans tend to believe such programs are effective in preventing HIV and sexually transmitted disease infections much more readily than older adults, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. According to the national survey of nearly 2,000 adults, support for the programs tended to decrease with age, with 60% of those ages 25'29 and 56% of respondents ages 18'24 saying abstinence education is helpful, and favorable opinions toward such programs dwindling to just 31% among people 65 and older. The researchers say the poll surveyed only perceptions of abstinence instruction and did not measure the actual effectiveness of such programs.