Study: Premarital abstinence pledges are ineffective

[ProSense]

Study: Premarital abstinence pledges are ineffective

A cornerstone of many abstinence-only programs is the concept of virginity pledges, which encourages “children as young as 9 to promise to wait until marriage to have sex.” But a new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that “teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do”:

The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a “virginity pledge,” but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.

“Taking a pledge doesn’t seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior,” said Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose report appears in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. “But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking.”

Rosenbaum’s study isn’t the first to indicate that virginity pledges are ineffective. In 2005, a study by Yale and Columbia University researchers found that “adolescents who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are more likely to substitute high-risk sexual behaviors that increase the likelihood of transmitting sexually transmitted diseases.”

[PBS Poll-435]

1. From the Department of NFS

And Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health?

So biased. And librul.

:sarcasm:

[InvisibleTouch]

2. To that I can only say, "Duh!" n/t

[tabasco]

3. Whoooda thunkit???11!?

[vanderBeth]

4. ...

[Starry Messenger]

5. Unfortunately, this probably won't mean the end of "Purity Balls"

http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/2007/01/purity-balls

There are aspects of religion that I find totally depressing/hilarious. This is one of them.

[Forkboy]

6. "Purity balls"? They wouldn't say that if they saw....

...aw, nevermind.

:P

[Starry Messenger]

8. Oh no...do go on!

:D

[Forkboy]

11. Alas, no sex threads on DU.

:D

[Starry Messenger]

12. Probably wise.

As a relative latecomer to DU I've always wondered what horrors must have prompted that rule. Skating around it with subterfuge is fun, though! :D

[quaker bill]

7. One would hope

that this comes as no surprise. Teen age kids will do what they have always done. Lecture them all you wish, you will still obtain the same result. It is not like parents just started to discourage this behavior. Evidence would suggest that parents have been trying this or similar approaches for hundreds of years if not thousands, and obtaining the same result.

It is just the wrong lesson. The lesson is values, not rules. No amount of rules or innovative means to teach them can ever substitute for simple values lessons. With values lessons, kids are empowered to make good decisions on their own. The simple facts of life are that kids will make these decisions on their own, whether we approve or not. Values that help them make the decisions well, and at least protect themselves if they proceed, is all a parent can ever hope to do.

Sooner or later, nearly all kids will be making decisions independently. If you can impart the tools to make the decisions well, you have done all you can ever do as a parent.

[RiverStone]

15. Bingo!

I have been working in the public schools for almost 20 years, and those boys and girls that have better self esteem, make better (and healthier) choices. Give em love, boundaries, and decision making tools - usually, they use them.

The abstinence curriculum's are a total joke - just look at the eye rolls when ever you have a frank talk with teens about it.

[Faygo Kid]

9. Didn't work for me. Course, I never took the pledge.

My 32-year-old daughter is testament to the '70s.

Sure had fun, though.

[El Supremo]

10. I wonder how many pledges Bristol Palin made? n/m

[gblady]

13. this is related to the President????

what am I missing?

[tandot]

14. Next study to be released: "Water is Wet"

:eyes: