[Enchante]

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."

[Responsibility2nd]

Both your replies nail it.

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

[lastchance]

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.