1. North Carolina Association for the Advancement of Health Education
Produced by the:
North Carolina Association
for the
Advancement of Health Education
and the
NC School Health Training Center

2. FAQs about Abstinence: A Positive Choice

3. What are FAQs? FAQs are “frequently asked questions.”
FAQs may be the questions you and your friends would ask if society treated the issue of teen sexuality more openly and more seriously.

4. Just what is “abstinence”?
Voluntarily refraining from intimate sexual behavior which could lead to unintended pregnancy or disease.
That is, actively choosing to avoid activities (such as oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse) which could harm one’s health or one’s partner’s health.

5. But isn’t “everyone doing it?”
Actually, everyone is not “doing it.”
In a national study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 61.6% of NC ninth grade students had not engaged in sexual intercourse.
2007 NC Youth Risk Behavior Survey

6. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing to say you’re a virgin?
That’s not true, either.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy studied teens and a majority (73%) do NOT think it is embarrassing to say they are virgins.

7. “I’ve heard that many kids who have had sex wish they had waited.”
Now, that’s TRUE!
The National Campaign found that MOST teens (both boys and girls) wish they had waited longer.

8. What are some of the reasons young people are waiting?
Values and morals
Avoiding pregnancy
Avoiding STDs and STIs
Waiting for the right partner
Expectations of parents and others
Wanting to have a rewarding future