The Adolescent Family Life Program Teaches Teenagers About...

The Adolescent Family Life program teaches teenagers about abstinence. The AFL differs from other primary prevention programs, but also has complications to its solution for teaching teenagers about its abstinence-only program. This paper is to display the effective approach of the AFL in how it contrasts from other programs, but also, how it can be revised. In the end, the program needs adjustment, from its abstinence-only education, in order for it to effectively teach adolescences the consequences of sex. Primary Prevention in a health context is about changing behavior to prevent an undesirable health consequence (Doyle, 2006). Jerry Doyle states, the goal is to reduce risk factors and enhance protective measures (2006). There are†¦show more content†¦The AFL demonstration program was enacted in 1981 as Title XX of the Public Health Service Act (Solomon-Fears, 2004). Since 1981, there has been a rise in teenage pregnancies and the spread of sexual transmitted disease. The AFL uses a universal program to teach adolescences the negative outcomes of sexual activity by visiting schools, hosting seminars, and by community settings. The AFL is known as the â€Å"Chasity Law† (Solomon-Fears, 2004). The program implements an abstinence-only education program. The AFL tries to reach students between the ages of 9 to 14 (Solomon-Fears, 2004). The AFL has different goals when it comes to teaching teenagers about STD’s and sexual activity. The program’s primary goal is to prevent premarital teen pregnancy by establishing a family-centered program to promote chastity and self-discipline† (Saul, 1998). Socioeconomic indicators such as lifestyle at home, and the peers a teenager socializes with are examples as to why an adolescent may experiment with sexual activity. Many teenagers do not have the luxury of living in a loving family and are often exposed to the inadequacy of a guiding parent. Teenagers are also peer-pressured into sex. For example, having friends who are sexually active who do not use condoms enhance one’s own risk of these behaviors (Kalmuss, et al.