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Virginity Pledge Doesn’t Stop Teen Sex
WebMD ^ | 12/29/2008 | Jennifer Warner

Posted on 12/29/2008 3:39:55 PM PST by Responsibility2nd

Dec. 29, 2008 -- Teenagers who take virginity pledges are no less sexually active than other teens, according to a new study.

But the results, published in the journal Pediatrics, suggest that virginity pledgers are less likely to protect themselves against pregnancy or disease when they do have sex.

Researchers say the findings suggest that virginity pledges may not significantly affect teenagers' sexual behavior. Instead, they may decrease the likelihood of teenagers taking precautions, such as using a condom or using birth control, when they do have sex.

Virginity Pledge May Lead to Risky Sex

Researchers say the federal government spends about $200 million annually on abstinence promotion programs, which include virginity pledges. Two previous studies have suggested that virginity pledges can delay sex, but researchers say those studies did not account for pre-existing differences between pledgers and non-pledgers.

In this study, researchers compared the sexual behavior of 289 teenagers who reported taking a virginity pledge in a 1996 national survey to 645 non-pledgers who were matched on more than 100 factors, such as religious beliefs and attitudes toward sex and birth control.

The results showed that five years after taking the virginity pledge:

82% of pledgers denied ever having taken the pledge. Pledgers and matched non-pledgers did not differ in rates of premarital sex, sexually transmitted disease, and oral and anal sex behaviors. Pledgers had 0.1 fewer sexual partners in the past year but did not differ from non-pledgers in the number of lifetime sexual partners and the age of first sex. The biggest difference between the two groups came in the area of condom and birth control use. The study showed that fewer pledgers used birth control or condoms in the past year or any form of birth control the last time they had sex.

Researcher Janet Elise Rosenbaum, PHD, of Harvard University, says the findings suggest that health care providers should provide birth control information to all teenagers, especially virginity pledgers.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abstinence; harvard; moralabsolutes; promiscuity; sexeducation; teensex; virginity
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So. A Harvard study flies in the face of Christian values.

What else is new?

1 posted on 12/29/2008 3:39:55 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
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To: Responsibility2nd

More of the same.....

http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn&ncl=1285053193&topic=m


2 posted on 12/29/2008 3:40:41 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
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To: Responsibility2nd

The federal oath of office doesn’t seem to protect the Constitution, either.


3 posted on 12/29/2008 3:41:11 PM PST by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: Responsibility2nd

When you’re a teen, the spirit (well-intentioned as it might be) is weak and the flesh is willing.


4 posted on 12/29/2008 3:42:19 PM PST by RichInOC (No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))
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To: wagglebee

ping.


5 posted on 12/29/2008 3:42:28 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
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To: Responsibility2nd

I’m always leery of studies that simply ask people to answer questions. I don’t think they always answer honestly, sometimes they try to give an answer they think the questioner is looking for, or they are embarrassed to be truthful, or they don’t really care and so they just put whatever. I wouldn’t base public policy on these types of *studies*.


6 posted on 12/29/2008 3:49:23 PM PST by brytlea (You can fool enough of the people enough of the time.)
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To: RichInOC

I suspect the best way to cut back on teenage sex is for kids to be better supervised by adults. When you have lots of free time and ample opportunity, you are much more likely to engage in things like sex (and drugs for that matter).


7 posted on 12/29/2008 3:50:37 PM PST by brytlea (You can fool enough of the people enough of the time.)
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To: Responsibility2nd
It also flies in the face of ethical research. There is an abundance of data showing that abstinence-based sex education delays onset of sexual activity.

But for the degenerates of the left the truth means nothing compared to the Cause.

8 posted on 12/29/2008 3:52:06 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: Responsibility2nd

“Virginity Pledge May Lead to Risky Sex “

MAY lead...

However the secular-humanist-anything-goes sex mentality GUARANTEES risky sex.


9 posted on 12/29/2008 3:52:28 PM PST by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Sounds like she re-normed her groups so that the "pledger" group she compared would not be any more conservative in beliefs and family and behavior than the "non-pledger" group..... so why would it be a surprise that they end up just like the "non-pledge" group within a few years..... this is from another article on the matter:

"Rosenbaum focused on about 3,400 students who had not had sex or taken a virginity pledge in 1995. She compared 289 students who were 17 years old on average in 1996, when they took a virginity pledge, with 645 who did not take a pledge but were otherwise similar. She based that judgment on about 100 variables, including their attitudes and their parents' attitudes about sex and their perception of their friends' attitudes about sex and birth control."

10 posted on 12/29/2008 3:54:00 PM PST by Enchante (Bernie Madoff Learned His Ponzi-Investment Strategy from our Social Security System!!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I think they better focus on the girls? Because I just don’t think most teenage boys have the ability to say no to sex with girls unless:

A) They’re very scared.
B) They’re confused about their sexuality.
C) They’re gay.

Little boys are like animals. From what I recall anyway.


11 posted on 12/29/2008 3:54:21 PM PST by exist
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To: Enchante; brytlea

Both your replies nail it.

Some of these polls with their “Do you still beat your wife?” questions can easily lead to bogus conclusions.


12 posted on 12/29/2008 3:58:05 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
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To: Responsibility2nd

Well, the solution is obvious. If you want healthy, well-adjusted children, raise them in a brothel.

/sarc


13 posted on 12/29/2008 4:01:02 PM PST by WorkingClassFilth (Leftist kids say the darndest things!)
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To: Enchante

So in other words people with the same values at first decided to take different actions but ended up taking the same actions. How surprising.

Maybe next they could study why newly elected represenatives and senators break their promises and embrace business as usual in DC.

Words, vows, promises mean nothing without the character to back them up.


14 posted on 12/29/2008 4:03:12 PM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: Responsibility2nd
And yet, this information will be widely disbursed among the American public, who will believe it and quote it, and clamor for laws based on it.
15 posted on 12/29/2008 4:07:14 PM PST by brytlea (You can fool enough of the people enough of the time.)
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To: Responsibility2nd; 185JHP; 230FMJ; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


16 posted on 12/29/2008 4:13:00 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: Responsibility2nd

The raw data shows that people who take the pledge are less sexually active than those who do not.

SO they tried to “adjust” for hundreds of characteristics, suggesting that those who take pledges are predisposed to not having sex.

Then, they suggest that, adjusting for those factors, those who take the pledge are more active than they would be if they didn’t take a pledge.

Well, it does make sense that people who take a pledge are likely to be people who feel it necessary to get “extra help” to keep from being active. So in fact if you adjusted for every other factor, and you had two people who had the same religious and sociological background, the person who took the pledge would be the one who was more likely to have sex.

Add to this the fact that the pledge is used by kids who have already HAD sex in order to try to stop, and this particular study is useless.

Of course, I still want to know why it costs the government 200 million dollars to “teach abstinence”.

“Don’t have sex”. Can I just get $1 million, and I’ll tape my lesson and put it on the internet. :-)

SO long as we insist on having years of “sex education”, the liberals will find a way to make it about spending all our money and teaching kids to ignore moral standards.


17 posted on 12/29/2008 4:15:19 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Responsibility2nd

“Two previous studies have suggested that virginity pledges can delay sex, but researchers say those studies did not account for pre-existing differences between pledgers and non-pledgers.”

Sounds like the “researchers” are cooking the books.

If I read this correctly, it seems this latest study shows that pledge takers do engage in less pre-marital sex, but it is not the pledge that makes the difference, but the fact that those who have strong moral values and/or religious beliefs are more likely to make pledges in the first place.

That said, as a Christian, I am not a big fan of these virginity pledges because:

1) To me they seem to depend upon human effort and pledges instead of upon the power of God and walking in the Spirit.

2) It seems wrong for Christians to make a big deal about, and patting themselves on the back for “pledging” to simply follow the clear commands of the New Testament. Proclaiming Christ as one’s Lord and Savior assumes the rejection of sex outside of marriage. A virginity pledge makes no more sense to me than a pledge not to murder or steal.


18 posted on 12/29/2008 4:18:22 PM PST by Above My Pay Grade
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To: Responsibility2nd

“No sex please, we’re daddy’s little girls”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1806226/posts

Any one recall this thread?


19 posted on 12/29/2008 4:18:27 PM PST by Mark was here (The earth is bipolar.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

This may be the first time lefties have ever studied the effectiveness of a government program. Of course there are very few programs they don’t like.

But they wouldn’t think of scrutinizing any of their useless liberal government programs.


20 posted on 12/29/2008 4:23:17 PM PST by Oldhunk
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