Abstract
This study was a longitudinal follow-up of 697 early adolescents from 20 schools in Missouri, investigating students who, in 1997, indicated on a survey of sexual attitudes and behaviors that they had not had sexual intercourse. They completed the Reasons for Abstinence Scale (RAS) by identifying those items that were reasons why they had not had sex. In 1999, 18 months later, 568 of the same students were available to complete the RAS again. When the adolescents who remained abstinent in 1999 ( n = 422) were compared with their peers who had become sexually active ( n = 146), the abstinent adolescents (a) were significantly less likely to report consuming alcohol on a regular basis, (b) were significantly more likely to be male, and (c) gave more reasons for being abstinent. However, the adolescents who remained abstinent had a significant drop in the number of reasons for being abstinent over the 18 months.