Ideally, best practice methods are built upon an edifice of informed policy
guided by the low star of serving student best interests. Unfortunately, such a stalwart
foundation is non-existent for many psychosocial and educational initiatives. In fact, it
is lamentably common for policy to be constructed on a sand dune comprised of
presumption, special interests, or intuition. Unfortunately, innumerable examples exist
to warn us that human behavior is frequently counterintuitive, increasing the risk of
policy decisions guided by presumption or face validity. While abstinence-only efforts
to reduce adolescent pregnancy and associated adverse outcomes sometimes occurring
as a result of high risk sexual behavior might have initially been defended as plausible,
the evidence is compelling that such efforts are ineffective compared with other
methods. Pregnancy and risk reduction policy and practice supported by empirical
inquiry are discussed, and this issue is presented as an example actually and
conceptually representative of divergence of public policy from the body of scientific
knowledge.
Keywords: Abstinence, Contraceptives, Peer education, Sexual activity, Sexually
transmitted infections.
