About half of the students in the Teen Outreach group volunteered to participate, and the other half were assigned. Similarly, half of the students in the control group had wanted to participate in Teen Outreach but had not been accepted because there was not enough room. Both groups consisted of girls and boys. It is the strongest evidence we have that social programs can reduce teen pregnancy, said Douglas Kirby, a California sociologist who has spent 20 years studying teenage behavior. Allen said the study takes neither side in the heated debate over how much and what kind of sex education should be taught in schools.
Some groups call for more birth control information, while others prefer lessons on abstinence.
The study results come at a time when an increasing number of schools age requiring their students to perform community service. Educators and health officials have argued for years that teenagers engaged in community service gain the self-respect that helps them avoid bad choices. The Teen Outreach Program study, funded by grants from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Lila Wallace Reader s Digest Fund, provides the clearest evidence of that link, several specialists said. She said she worked at shelters for the homeless and in elementary schools during the program. The program, which enrolls about 6,000 students a year, was started in 1978 by Brenda Hostetler, a St. Louis school administrator, and is now run by the Cornerstone Consulting Group , of Houston.