Abstinence training is character training  
 
In a vital sense, character development is the principal preparation for life, for it determines what we do under the pressures of life. Children do not always react properly under pressure. They quit or explode or collapse emotionally and follow the path of least resistance, because they are children. Growing up is a process of learning to discipline ourselves as we grow into maturity.

The teenage years are the time for developing character traits to provide direction for life. Virtues such as self-control are particularly crucial. The breakdown of self-control is a big factor in many of the sex-related problems that plague our society today, inflicting serious damage on individuals and families alike. Teens who say yes to premarital sex unknowingly weaken their resolve and unleash adult passions in a child’s body. Such practices leave them ill-prepared for the higher responsibilities of adult life, including the serious commitments of marriage and parenting. Their marriages, when they get around to them, are weaker and fail more often. Their children suffer and so do they. Young people who have the strength of character to abstain are more prone to become winners in life and make it all the way to the “Promised Land” of happy and satisfying marriages.

(Excerpted from Ten Things that God wants Parents to teach their Kids about Sex)