Sex education programs do work to help discourage many teens from becoming sexually active before age 15, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Formal programs — such as those presented in schools and church groups — did appear to delay onset of sexual activity. For example, teen girls in the nationally representative sample were 59 percent less likely to start having sex before age 15 if they had received sex education, while teen boys were 71 percent less likely, the study found. ‘We were obviously hoping to find that sex education is effective. We’re glad to see the strong associations,’ said lead author Trisha Mueller, a CDC epidemiologist. She emphasized that in order to be successful, sex education should take place before young people become sexually active. Mueller’s team also learned that teen boys who attended school were almost three times more likely to use contraception if they had attended a sex education program, compared to those who had not. However, attendance at a sex education class did not seem to impact girls’ use of birth control, the survey found. The survey did not differentiate between […]