Sex abstinence in U.S. no long-term ideal

Students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex within a few years as those who did not, according to a long-awaited study mandated by US Congress.

Also, those who attended the abstinence classes reported having similar numbers of sexual partners as those who did not attend, and they first had sex about the same age as their control group counterparts - 14 years and nine months, according to Mathematica Policy Research Inc.

The US government now spends about $US176 million ($A213 million) annually on abstinence-until-marriage education. Critics have repeatedly said they do not believe the programs are working, and the study will give them reinforcement.

However, Bush administration officials cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions from the study. They said the four programs reviewed -- among several hundred across the US -- were some of the very first established after Congress overhauled welfare laws in 1996.