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By Stacey Urban
A surgeon General’s report “Facing Addiction in America” finds that abuse of substances such as alcohol and drugs is a growing problem in the United States. The adolescent years are critical at-risk periods. Research show that many adults with substance abuse problems started drinking or taking drugs in their teen years. Teen-age substance abuse is linked to sexual risk behaviors that lead young people to contract sexually transmitted diseases and become pregnant. More needs to be done to lessen such consequences.
The report concludes that prevention programs for this risky behaviors should focus on individuals, peers, families, schools and communities. When students’ schools environment are supportive and parents are engaged in their children’s live they are less likely to use alcohol or take drugs or engage in premarital sexual behavior.
The CDC says in their resource that for primary prevention activities targeting substance use and sexual risk behaviors to be effective, they should include “Peer-led drug and alcohol resistance programs”.
But why not include peer led sex resistance programs? That is exactly the proven concept behind the Urban Life Training proposal for every school district to have a Right Choices Youth Prevention Corps.
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Seventy eight percent of West Virginia ninth grade students are abstaining from sex. Yet, this percentage drops to 32% for twelfth grade students. We are missing a great opportunity.
Youth who are abstaining from sex can serve as a great resource who can encourage their peers to make right choices. Youth who are not sexually active enjoy helping their peers as a peer counselor. They also gain speaking skills and a mutual support group.
There are many benefits for youth who decide to wait to have sex. Here are a few:
- Young adults who graduate from high school, get a full time job and wait until 21 and married before having children have a 7% chance that their children will live in poverty. Those who don’t follow any of these rules have a 74% chance that their children will live in poverty.
- Couples not sexually active before marriage report higher levels of romance, are more likely to be faithful in marriage and have a lower risk of divorce.
- Being sexually active is correlated with higher rates of self-destructive behaviors such as much higher rates of using alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana and other drugs, running away from home, being arrested by the police and suspended from school for both boys and girls.
- In addition, sexually active girls (ages 12-16) have a two or three times higher risk to be lonely, upset, or tense, five times higher risk to consider hurting themselves and six times higher risk to attempt suicide.
There were 2920 teen pregnancies in West Virginia in the most recent reporting year (2013), and 1416 births in 2017. These births cost taxpayers $37,953,000. Why not leverage the positive message that can be given to peers by youths who are abstaining from sex. Such a program will pay for itself and save taxpayers countless dollars.
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If you like to know about Abstinence Programs in Kenya you will love this article:
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/lifestyle/article/2000228716/our-youth-need-lessons-on-abstinence
Katherine Wambui known as Katie Vobic is a broadcaster of Hero Radio in Nakuru, Kenya. Nakuru is the fourth largest city in Kenya and is 86 miles from Nairobi the capitol city of Kenya. Wambui visits schools across the city of Nakuru, teaching the values of abstinence to teenagers. She teaches the dangers of being sexually active, drugs and alcohol. She started the abstinence program in Nakuru three years ago. She is also road safety ambassador for Nakuru. Wambui is making a difference in teen lives and helping them to make the right decision to be sexually abstinent. Wambui says abstinence costs you nothing and being sexually active can cost many millions of dollars.
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College Students, Parents, if you want to know what Abstinence groups advocated for this past Valentine’s Day, you will only love this article but also the posters.
http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=f4995065ee6f344de3ba3f11d&id=5330a25b74&e=01224a9868
https://secure.loveandfidelity.org/np/clients/loveandfidelity/news.jsp?news=203&
Valentine’s Day is usually viewed around the college campuses as one thing, sex. But this year and over the past decade Love & Fidelity Network (LFN) sponsored college groups around campuses nationwide to Be Unexpected. The posters encourages students not only to be abstinent, to not get caught up in the media, and to build better relationships with your friends and parents. In the press release they suggest you also ask your grandparents, parents or other married couples you are close to about how they met. College students we need to be abstinent, find good friends, and look to better role models then the media so you can be successful in life. If you are single or have boyfriend or girlfriend be abstinent so you can be wonderful parents and have love & fidelity in marriage. Remember students it is never too late to pledge a life of sexual abstinence until marriage.
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- Category: Youth Prevention Initiatives
Parents, Young Adults and Teachers you will love this article. http://www.caller.com/story/news/education/2016/12/13/ccisd-introduce-visuals-sex-education/95361316/
Aim for Success Inc. a is Dallas, TX based non-profit and it has received the funding back for their Xtreme Abstinence Program in Corpus Christi, TX for this school year September 2016-June 2017 and beyond. Corpus Christi is a coastal city located in Southeast, TX. Xtreme Abstinence Program presents an hour long presentation of facts about STDs, condoms why you should be abstinent and shows graphic images of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and Herpes infections on male and female genitalia. The definition for Genitalia means the organ for reproduction. The funding for Aim for Success Inc. and the Xtreme Abstinence Program was cut in Corpus Christi in 2006. Parents are allowed to opt their teenager out of this program. The Xtreme Abstinence Program is taught from middle through to high school now in Corpus Christi.
Some of the facts that this programs presents:
1. “1,500 teen girls get pregnant every day in the U.S.”
2. “10,000 teenagers get STDs every day”. Most teens do not have symptoms.
3. “1 out 2 sexually active young people will acquire an STD before age 25.”
4. HPV is the #1 cause of throat cancer. You can also get HPV from Oral Sex.
Aim for Success Inc. was founded by Marilyn Morris in 1993. Marilyn Morris found out she was pregnant at age seventeen. She and her boyfriend decided to get married at ages of 17 and 18. From this experience Marilyn and her husband Charles have passion and have helped young people to stay abstinent. The organization has helped over 2 million teens, parents and educators. I do not recommend getting married at ages of 17 and 18. Marilyn is also very lucky that her boyfriend did not leave her. “Eight out ten teen dads do not marry the mother of their child.” Remember teens it’s never too late to become sexually abstinent. I recommend marrying in your early to mid-twenties.
Sources:
http://www.aimforsuccess.org/whoweare
https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-teen-dads