"Essentially we found that there were no effects of the programs on sexual abstinence," said Ken Fortson, an employee of Mathematica Policy Research Inc. who worked on the study. "We in fact found that there were no differences between those who took this [abstinence-only] program and those who did not."

Fortson noted that the study should alleviate concerns that abstinence-only programs yield students who are more likely to become pregnant, he said, as students who participated in the abstinence-only program were no worse off than those in the control group.

Deputy Director for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Bill Albert said the programs could have been ineffective for a number of reasons, but that he did not feel the quality of the programs themselves were at fault.

"It may simply be that young people of a certain age do not respond to a message that is focused primarily on delay, and that doesn't answer sexual questions that teens might have," Albert said. "It may also be, and I think the report sort of cozies up to this, that as more of your peers become sexually active, you are more likely to become sexually active yourself."

Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc. issued a press release heralding the study as evidence that educational programs should focus on safe sex rather than abstinence.

"Congress should fund only programs that provide teens with the information they need to prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS," wrote president Cecile Richards in the release.

Among other things, the release criticizes President Bush, who called for a $28 million increase in the budget for abstinence-only programs, and calls for a federal, comprehensive sexual education program. The release claims that only about 10 percent of American school districts have a "sexuality education policy that is comprehensive and includes information about contraception and safer sex in addition to abstinence."

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