School anti-drug programs may not only lower drug use, but also have lasting effects on young people’s sexual behavior, a new study suggests.

The study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that young adults who’d received drug-prevention education as teenagers were less likely to have had unprotected sex because of drinking or drug use.

They were also less likely to have had multiple sexual partners in the past year.

The findings suggest that such school programs can have benefits that go beyond lower rates of alcohol and drug abuse, according to study leader Dr. Phyllis L. Ellickson, of the non-profit research organization RAND.

What’s more, she told Reuters Health, the benefits can still be seen years after the program ends.

The study evaluated the long-term effects of a school-based drug prevention program developed by RAND called Project ALERT. Ellickson’s team surveyed 1,900 21-year-olds who had attended either a middle school, and in some cases a high school, that offered the program, or a “control” school that had not had the program.

They found that young adults from the Project ALERT schools were less likely to say they had taken certain risks in their sexual behavior in the past year.

Part of the difference seemed to be explained by lower rates of alcohol and drug abuse. But that did not fully account for the findings, according to Ellickson’s team. It’s possible, they say, that young people who’d participated in the program were better able to resist not only drugs and alcohol, but also sexual pressure.

The program, which consisted of 14 to 24 lessons, taught students “resistance skills” that could be used in “non-drug” situations as well, according to the researchers.

The finding of such long-term benefits is especially relevant at a time when schools may be feeling pressure to trim back health-related programs, Ellickson and her colleagues say.

In recent years, Ellickson noted, many schools have been feeling pressure to focus more on academics and student performance, and devote less time to drug prevention and health.

“But,” she said, “the broader the benefits and the longer they last, the stronger the case” for drug-education programs.

SOURCE: Journal of Adolescent Health, 2009.