Teens Who Get Sex Ed Delay Having Sex

“Sex education seems to be working,” said Trisha Mueller, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mueller is the lead author of a study that showed that young people who get sex ed in school are much more likely to delay first sexual intercourse. Male and female teens who received sex education in school were significantly more likely to be virgins at age 15. Sex ed decreased their chances of having first intercourse before that age by 71% and 59%, respectively.

In addition, among males in school, those who got sex ed were 2.77 times more likely to use birth control during first intercourse than those who got no such education. Sex ed seemed to have no effect on whether female teens used birth control.

Read the story from ScienceDaily.