A new study authorized by US Congress has found that the federal abstinence education programs that encourage adolescents to abstain from having sex during their early years proved ineffective. The abstinence program did not persuade youth from having sex, nor change their other sexual behavior including condom use, according to the 164-paged study report released yesterday by Mathematica-Policy Research, Inc. The report will be reviewed by the United States Department of Health and Human Service Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The Abstinence Education Program receives $175 million from the federal government and funds also from states each year, according to the report. The program results from the enactment of Title V, Section 510 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 which aims to promote sexual abstinence and health behavior in teenagers. For the study of the abstinence education program, researchers surveyed 2057 youth for their sexual behaviors in 2005 and 2006. The participants were enrolled in the program four to six years ago. By the time the study was finished, the subjects were on average 16.5 years old. […]