Being abstinent is a behavior, just as having sex is a behavior. Although it is commonly understood that sexual behavior is practiced throughout life, many do not reflect on how often abstinent behavior is also practiced throughout life. For example, many people choose to be abstinent when they are not in a committed relationship, when sex would be inappropriate in a relationship, when they do not want to incur risks or consequences or take on the responsibilities that go along with a sexual relationship. Some people may be abstinent when not doing so would violate principles or social mores, for example, when temporarily separated from a spouse, when a spouse is ill, after a divorce but before remarriage.
People choose to be abstinent for many different reasons and at many different times of their lives.
Originally, the outreach education program for adolescents sponsored by Grady Health System's adolescent family planning clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, focused skill-building mostly on teaching young people to manage having sex as safely as possible. For example, to protect themselves, youth need skills to get and effectively use protection, to communicate with and obtain the support of the other person for carrying out protective behaviors. But it became clear that it was equally important to give young people a set of skills for managing abstinent behavior. So the outreach education effort was revised based on the notion that protective behavior and abstinent behavior require life long skills and both are an important part of youth education. Over the years, the content has changed and improved, but the philosophy has remained the same.