In a one-year follow-up study of the "Choosing the Best" Abstinence-Centered Curriculum, 2.3% fewer students were having sex than predicted. Additionally, 54% of the teens that had been recently sexually active before the program were no longer recently sexually active one year later.

• The "Choosing the Best" Abstinence-Centered Curriculum is a school-based program intended to improve the attitudes of teenagers regarding their sexuality. Specifically, the program teaches the health benefits of abstaining from sexual activity until marriage. The goals of the program are to reduce teenage pregnancy and to reduce the health risks, both physical and psychological, that accompany early sexual activity. The "Choosing the Best" was program evaluated one year after the program's completion. 54% of students who admitted being recently (within the last 3 weeks) sexually active before the program were no longer recently sexually active. Also, the number of students who reported being sexually active one year after the program was smaller (by 2.3%) than had been predicted by pre-test data. A strong link was found between students reporting having been drunk and having ever had sexual intercourse. Teens who became drunk for the first time during the year following the program showed a decline in their attitudes toward abstinence.¹

¹Choosing the Best Abstinence Centered Curriculum: Longitudinal Study 1995-1996, Northwestern University Medical School, Mental Health Services & Evaluation Program.

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