Students Chart PATH of Resistance to Sex

Sex was on everyone’s mind Saturday morning.

The young students talked about it. They giggled about it. And they vowed not to do it until they were out of high school.

“I’m not going to,” said Jas Arkin, 13, a seventh-grader at Lawrence Middle School in Chatsworth. “Kids should wait to have sex.”

Jas and about 30 other middle school students from throughout the San Fernando Valley learned about health, self-esteem, decision-making and coping with peer pressure during a conference at Cal State Northridge.

The students had recently completed a seven-week, after-school program sponsored by Northridge Hospital Medical Center called Promoting Abstinence for Teen Health, or PATH. The goal is to prevent teen pregnancy, its supporters say, citing federal statistics such as:

* About one in 10 teen girls become pregnant each year.

* Each day, 1,403 teen girls give birth to a baby. About 85% of these pregnancies are unplanned.

During the conference, Dr. Antronette Yancey, director of chronic disease prevention and health promotion for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, spoke to students about her successes in basketball, modeling and medicine and urged them to focus on their goals.

“I was not interested in getting involved in sexual relations in middle and high school,” Yancey said. “I read books. I went to the library and read books. If I had gotten pregnant at 14 and had a baby, I wouldn’t have had those options. . . . Options are like money, like gold.”

What distinguishes the PATH program is that it also teaches parents to become involved in children’s lives and to listen and discuss sometimes uncomfortable subjects such as sex, said Bonnie Bailer, program director for Northridge Hospital’s Center for Healthier Communities.

By communicating regularly, “I’m learning how to influence my daughter in a positive way,” said Floyd Paton, 36, whose 11-year-old attends Pacoima Middle School. “Even as she gets involved in school and other activities, I am a big part of her life.”

The PATH program also involves trained peer educators from local high schools who teach younger students the risks of early sexual involvement, such as sexually transmitted diseases, as well as techniques for overcoming peer pressure and practicing abstinence.

During one session at the conference Saturday, the younger students played a “Jeopardy”-style game designed to teach them myths and facts about sex.

Sample questions included:

* Having sex cures acne. (myth)

* A boy who is sexually aroused can harm himself if he doesn’t have sex. (myth)

* A girl can get pregnant if she has not had her first period. (fact)

At another session, students discussed college and career options with Fidel Ramirez, assistant director of student outreach and recruitment services at CSUN. “You don’t have to be rich or be the smartest student to go to college,” Ramirez said. “You do have to be determined to succeed.”

Ana Banda, 13, said she wants to attend college and become a nurse. “I believe that I will not have sex until I’m 20 or 21 because, by then, I would have a job and be able to take care of a baby,” said Ana, a seventh-grader at Pacoima Middle School. “If I have sex now, or in high school, I might never reach my goal.”