Spring 2008

Fall 2007

Below are some of the findings of a SCIENTIFIC EVALUATION conducted by Dr. Robin Dillon and Dr. Dana Weinberg of Evaluation Solutions, LLC between September and December 2007 at Dodd Middle School in Freeport and Lawrence High School showed that:

• Approximately 25 percentage point increase in students who strongly agreed that abstinence always prevents pregnancy.
• Approximately 27 percentage point increase in students who strongly agreed that abstinence always prevents STDs.

Changes in Knowledge Related to Abstinence as the Only Certain Way to Avoid Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancy

“Students in the program were more than 4 times more likely than students not in the program to report correctly that abstinence always prevents pregnancy and that it always prevents STDs.”

Changes in Attitudes Related to Sex within Marriage as the Standard for Human Sexual Behavior

"After the program, students were more than three times as likely to report that they looked forward to marriage as the healthiest place to have sex.”

Changes in Attitudes Related to Having Sex as an Unmarried Teen

“We created an index of various reasons for not having sex as an unmarried teen and their importance (very important, somewhat important, not at all important)." Items included the following:

• It is against my religious beliefs
• I don’t want to get AIDS or some other sexually transmitted disease
• I haven’t found the right person
• I haven’t had the opportunity
• I don’t feel I am ready
• I don’t want to disappoint my parents
• I don’t want to be used or taken advantage of
• I want to wait until I’m married
• I want to finish my education

The program significantly increased students’ scores on the index.”