ArticleThe Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine2017
Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Policies and Programs: An Updated Position Paper of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.
Article in The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Promoting sexual health in schools: a systematic review of the European evidence.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- SART CORS IVF registry: looking to the past to shape future perspectives.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2022Pooled it
- Bridging Gaps in Adolescent and Adult Sexual Health: Training Medical Students as Educators.Cureus · 2025Article
- A Call for Equal and Equitable Reproductive Health Care Access, Including the Provision of Accurate Education to Pediatric Patients.The journal of pediatric pharmacology and therapeutics : JPPT : the official journal of PPAG · 2025Article
- Consistency in self-reported age at first sex and marriage among adolescents and young adults in Northwestern Tanzania: insights from repeated responses.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2025Article
- Article
- Promoting equity in adolescent health in Latin America: designing a comprehensive Sex education program using Intervention Mapping. A mixed methods study.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2024Article
- The start of sexual health curriculum development and evaluation at Stellenbosch University.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2023Article
- Sexual Partner Accumulation From Adolescence to Early Adulthood in Populations With Physical Disabilities in the U.S.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2021Article
- Adolescent Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use, and Pregnancy in Britain and the U.S.: A Multidecade Comparison.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2020Article
- Article
- Is developmental change in gender-typed behavior associated with adult sexual orientation?Developmental psychology · 2019Article
- Parent-Teen Communication about Sexual and Reproductive Health: Cohort Differences by Race/Ethnicity and Nativity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Development and Feasibility Testing of a Videogame Intervention to Reduce High-Risk Sexual Behavior in Black and Hispanic Adolescents.Games for health journal · 2018Article
- Associations Between Patterns of Sexual Initiation, Sexual Partnering, and Sexual Health Outcomes from Adolescence to Early Adulthood.Archives of sexual behavior · 2018Article
- Ensuring our research reflects our values: The role of family planning research in advancing reproductive autonomy.Contraception · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Abstinence from sexual intercourse can be a healthy choice for adolescents, particularly if an adolescent is not ready to engage in sex. However, government programs exclusively promoting abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) are problematic from scientific and ethical viewpoints. Most young people initiate sexual intercourse as adolescents or young adults, and given a rising age at first marriage around the globe, increasingly fewer adolescents wait until marriage to initiate sex. While theoretically fully protective, abstinence intentions often fail, as abstinence is not maintained. AOUM programs are not effective in delaying initiation of sexual intercourse or changing other behaviors. Conversely, many comprehensive sexuality education programs successfully delay initiation of sexual intercourse and reduce sexual risk behaviors. AOUM programs inherently provide incomplete information and are often neglectful to sexually active adolescents; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning adolescents; pregnant and parenting adolescents; and survivors of sexual assault. Promotion of AOUM policies by the U.S. government has undermined sexuality education in the United States and in U.S. foreign aid programs to prevent HIV infection. In many U.S. communities, AOUM programs have replaced more comprehensive approaches to sexuality education.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.