Teenagers who have had formal sex education are far more likely to put off
having sex, contradicting earlier studies on the effectiveness of such programs,
U.S. researchers said Wednesday.
They found teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71% less likely to
have intercourse before age 15, and teen girls who had sex education were 59%
less likely to have sex before age 15.
Sex education also increased the likelihood that teen boys would use
contraceptives the first time they had sex, according to the study by
researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was
published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
"Sex education seems to be working," said Trisha Mueller, a CDC epidemiologist
who led the study.
Mystery of U.S. mortality patterns
People living along the southern Atlantic coast of the U.S., as well as those
residing along the Mississippi River, die at a faster rate than the national
average, while death rates are below the norm in the upper Great Plains, a new
study shows.
These patterns of mortality have been consistent for 35 years, Dr. Jeralynn
Sittig Cossman and colleagues from Mississippi State University found.
"Place matters, and it matters for a long period of time," Cossman said.
"We're trying to disentangle poverty rates, access to care, and really get to
what's going to explain these pockets."
Most of this variation can't be explained by race or income, she added, so
as-yet unknown environmental or population factors must be at work.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Public Health, came from
analyzing county-by-county mortality data for seven five-year periods, from 1968
to 2002.
Source : From Times Wire Reports
