STD Prevention: Behavior Change

Abstinence - Different Meanings of Abstinence

Actually, the term “sexual abstinence” can have several meanings:

1. Abstinence from all sexual activity (including self-stimulation).
2. Abstinence from all sexual contact.
3. Abstinence from penetrating sexual contact (oral, anal, vaginal intercourse).
4. Abstinence from vaginal intercourse.
5. Abstinence from vaginal intercourse at certain times and in certain cases and situations.

When discussing AIDS prevention, religious leaders and health professionals often have only the first two or three of these meanings in mind. Abstinence in the narrower sense (4 and 5) is usually an issue only in cases of individual counseling and therapy.

One decade of adolescent sexual behavior in the U.S.

Female
 < 4 partners
 > 4 partners

Male
 < 4 partners
 > 4 partners

Source: CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2003

Sexual intercourse of students, grade 9 to 12 (15 to 18 years).
The graph illustrates the percentage of students who had sexual intercourse. Of these, some had four or more partners (darker parts of the columns). While the numbers have decreased somewhat over the years
(Range: F. between ca. 52% and ca. 43%; M. between ca. 56% and ca. 48%), they have remained at over 40 percent. The percentage of adolescents with four or more sexual partners has remained relatively high
(F: between ca. 15% and ca. 11%; M: between ca. 22% and ca. 17%).