Study: 'Virginity Pledges' Are Ineffective

According to a study released earlier today, teenagers who have taken a "virginity pledge" are still just as likely to engage in premarital sex than those who have not pledged their abstinence. But worse than that, the study found that those same abstinence-swearing teenagers are far less likely to use a form of birth control - condoms, etc - when they do become sexually active.

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."

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Comments

[odyssey58]

My teenage son says that talking about sex with his parents is embarrassing. I pointed out the having to tell his parents that he got a girl pregnant is more embarrassing. And what's really, really , really, embarrassing is having to tell her father. He's now 18 and has had several girlfriends, one for a year and a half. I am not yet a grandmother.

[ailbhe]

Religionists have a lot to answer for. I remember my first 'sex education' talk at fourteen in my Catholic school. A very nice middle aged woman came in to talk about sex 'the Catholic way'.

She told us that condoms were evil and that we shouldn't have sex before marriage but if we did have sex (which happens and would be forgiven by God if a baby is born), that under no condition were we to double the mortal sin by using a condom or any other form of contraception!

The reason being that by using a condom you were preventing the possibility of a baby being born, which could be equated with abortion, which was murder, possibly even a worse sin than pre marital sex! The same attitude applies to all contraception from the Catholic view, many evangelicals have adopted the same attitudes.

[viflyer]

I have always said it is really only the selfish interests of the Catholic church that is primarily interested in one thing. Maintaining it's NUMBERS. You need PEOPLE to support the Vatican and the lifestye of the Catholic male elite. It's an over used term but "follow the money". The more Catholic blind followers produced the more money the Chruch makes. It's just a big money making machine that indoctrinates it's followers at an early age guaranteeing a cash stream for the rest of their life. It's ALWAYS about greed and money and how you get it. The Catholic church is no different than any corporation that sells product. The church sells an afterlife and forgivness for all your sins.

Darned good RACKET if you ask me!

Actually, when you think about it, it is the largest pedophilia ring in the world,ha! Well disquised I might add!

[viflyer]

I would add that church reproductive policy has VERY little to do with morality and EVERYTHING to do with numbers,ha! Abhe's comments couldn't demonstrate my point more clearly. Reproduce little Catholic babies at any cost. Truly sad that the masses are so easily fooled. Heck, look at the huckster Warren. Religion is one heck of a good business!

[mzwednesday]

I'm sure those pledge sessions made everyone horny.
They all look like they're having orgasms in that photo...

[viflyer]

DON"T use that naughty word!

[DieboldDemocracy]

they needed a study to figure this out?

[viflyer]

Well, I think responsible organiztions have been forced to defend the obvious with scientific studies, to refute the idiotic Christian right policies embraced by the Bush administration. Millions and millions of OUR federal dollars have gone into these idiotic abstenance programs. I guarantee that WE have funded thousands of pledge sessions all across the country.

And it looks like Obama might continue this nonsence. I can't believe it!

[1differentdrummer]

What do you call kids who take the virginity pledge? Parents.

[kasukabe]

Pledges might not work to prevent sex, STD's or unwanted pregnancys but they do succeed in instilling in already insufferable youths a ludicrous level of self satisfaction and smugness.

[argon20]

I grew up in the Bible Belt and graduated from HS in the 70s. Back then, it was always the white sweater-wearing Baptist girls that got pregnant--many had their first sexual experience while attending summer bible camp!

The church-going girls I knew would have been too ashamed to walk into a drug store and purchase a package of condoms or make an appointment at the local Planned Parenthood. Most didn't even use tampons, fearing insertion might compromise their virginity.

It seemed the only thing more sinful than actually engaging in premarital sex was being knowledgeable and prepared for it. Suffering the consequences of intercourse somehow restored a girl's innocence and virtue. Getting away with it meant she was a slut.

[ChicagoSuz]

In a related story, Bristol Palin gave birth to a bouncing baby boy on Sunday. We wish them all the best...

[mzwednesday]

yeah they called him trap....he was conceived after a virginity pledge session.

[greatbear451]

Is that the baby's name or what Levi is caught in?

[USMAMule]

Alll I can say is, "really? Who'd a thunk?" Oh yeah, that's right. Anyone with half a brain in their head who actually went through puberty.

[WoodrowH]

and therein lies the problem with this world as a whole that some people believe that they have no control over their own bodies and action, and teach the same defeated policy to young people, even those going through puberty. No wonder the world is filled with stupid, ignorant weak people who lack character, integrity and self control.

[USMAMule]

Yes control over one's body is easy acheive. It's called birth control. Control over raging hormones and a biological imperitive, developed over a few hundred thousand years, that is designed for sex to start shortly after puberty (that is earlier now that ever by the way) is a much more difficult thing to acheive for adolescents who do NOT have the same capacity for impulse control as adults. This is biological fact.

And the study proves it: those with the best intetions regarding not having sex have no better success fighting biology that do those who don't "take the pledge." Of course the study also show sthat in addition to not being any less likey to have sex, these pledgers are MORE likely to contract STD's and get pregnant. Doesn't seem like an effective method of reducing STD's, Pregnancy or abortion in teens now does it?

[squander123]

Hi there WoodrowH. Can you explain to me why the urge to have sex is morally different from the urge to eat or sleep? Surely they're all harmless and normal aspects of our physical existence?

[Probert2]

You finally speak some truth, Woodrow! But probably not the way you intended...

[litalex]

funny how the ones who supposedly "lack character, integrity and self-control" are the ones who use the condoms and *not* end up a teenage father/mother. it actually takes an adult to have a more intelligent and healthy attitude towards sex, y'know.

[databaze]

yes, self control is what builds character! lol
Please go back to your shoe box and let people live. This is one of the only places in the WORLD were young people are trapped until they are 21 to do anything but go to war, and you think that abstinence makes sense? Really?
if your kid gets pregnant it is not because of pre marital sex, it is because of the lack of education and parenting most of them have!!
I love those parents that let the nanny raise their kids, what values do you think that they will have? THOSE OF THEIR NANNY! and, sorry but, most people that take care of other peoples kids are uneducated, way to go! and yet, they blame the system. :P but hey MY KID KNOWS HOW TO SPEAK SPANISH! HAHAHA.
Please, the only people that still believe that this makes any sense are religious freaks.

[LiberalDemIda]

Really? Say it ain't so. :rolling eyes:

[Tulka2]

Yikes. American Taliban.

There's this unacknowleged cultural thread that needs a stake through its heart: It's the idea that female purity is more important than male.

[3dogman]

Surprise, surprise, surprise!!!!!!!!

[helen]

In the world of wacko fundamentalists, purity balls for father and daughter, dinosaurs existed with man 6000 years ago, a single cell has the same rights as any human being, gays can be repaired, invading another country is spreading democracy, torture is not torture, and lying to spread the truth is holy...

Next thing we'll hear that a 12 year old can get married in Kansas... (Oops.. .that is true!)

[WoodrowH]

What's a fundamentalist? why are purity balls wrong? Do you have conclusive proof that dinosaurs did not exist with man? any single cell or a specific single cell? can you honestly say with all certainty that no person has ever, been repaired, cured or otherwise repented of homosexuality? Honesty is best. No question.

[MourmonDudeCTR]

Perhaps you and I can take a stroll through Dinotopia, dragging all the women by their hair....right before we fall off the earth.
I, like you am a sheep, or a lemming if you will. I follow blindly what so many other nutjobs before me have passed down. I disguise my bigotry by claiming it is the way of God.
So, with that, I shake your virtual hand.
You have shed light on the coexistence of dinosaurs and the fact that our bodies do not belong to us. Keep on fighting the good fight Einstein.

[Probert2]

Helen didn't say purity balls are wrong. They are just silly and pointless as the article above shows. And yes there is conclusive proof that dinosaurs did not exist with man. It is found in the beautiful realm of geology, physics and biology, or science.

[viflyer]

I truly feel sorry for you Woodrow. Maybe a little honesty on your part might help you, but I doubt it! Keep believing that crapola the hucksters feeding you.

Or, maybe you should stop watching the Flinstones re-runs.

[litalex]

A fundamentalist is, imho, someone who thinks that belief and faith can change reality and covers his/her eyes and ears from any facts that contradicts his/her belief. O:)

[SonofLiberty1]

Woodrow, if GOD created the entire Universe, including our own Earth and all living things including mankind, don't you think he created science too?

[CologneCitizen]

great post helen,

describes perfectly the whacko world and mentality of potentially dangerous fundamentalists.

[CologneCitizen]

Sarah Palin is a symbol and role model for hypocracy and double moral standards. Her own teenage daughter gets pregnant, yet she is against informing young people and helping them to get an abortion. Your body simply belongs to you and no one else, no church, no god, no authority. Many teenage marriages run into trouble, a lot of kids waste their lives. And many kids from these marriages face huge problems when they find out there were "unwanted" at the time. I know America is not a very modern country in terms of infrastructure, health care, education, etc. However it is frightening that still a good percentage buys medieval crap disguised as religious belief in order to suppress people living right here, right now.

[strangerinthenight]

Which candidate are you working for, that Palin may bumped next election. Personally, I glad Palin is gone. You on the otherhand is just too obsessed.

Oh I see, you work for a candidate that may be Palin's competition next election, even possibly Repugs, who would do her in to make sure your candidates is a shoo in.

Repugs to extinction.

[WoodrowH]

Your body? simply belongs to you? That is a misconception of the carnal mind. You did not decide when it was time for you to be created and your body is doomed you have no control over that either. Not even free health care is going to stop it.
God is like the operator at a Go cart track. you don't own the cart but you can ride and do what you please within track rules of course or cause your early dismissal, but everyone afterwhile has to stop and get out.

[CologneCitizen]

And what god calls the shots ? How do you pick the right one ? What if you don't believe ? What about the billions of people leading happy lives without religion ? What about if you don't buy what the church is selling. They have to be very good salesmen to sell you your afterlife.

Or how come the benefits of all religions occur AFTER your death ?

BTW, free healthcare will not stop you from dying, but the time in between is much more pleasant than to go broke over some necessary surgery.

[emily00011]

Actually we have a lot of control over when our body goes. The decisions you make everyday, what to eat, when to exercise, how much alcohol to drink, taking drugs/medicines, and so on has everything to do with how long you live. Just check the numbers, the more unhealthy lifestyle YOU choose, the higher the chance that you will take an early death. There is a reason why addicts die early, and it isn't because "god" decided they had to.

"I" might not have controlled when I was born, but my parents surely did. Try as you might, you still can't win over biology.

"Carnal mind" lol. Sounds like we can all just roll over and do nothing, since fate has already made plans for us. No wonder Palin appeals to you bible-thumpers, she lives in a world without personal responsibility which seems to fit your theme nicely.

[emily00011]

"Carnal mind" lol. Sounds like we can all just roll over and do nothing, since fate has already made plans for us. No wonder Palin appeals to you bible-thumpers, she lives in a world without personal responsibility, and that seems to fit your theme nicely.

[odyssey58]

Maybe your "god is like the operator at a Go cart track." I am responsible for my actions and what happens to me, not some puppeteer in the sky. What happens in my life isn't god's will; it's MY will.

[nickchop]

God is like the operator at a Go cart track? Wow. That's deep. You stand among the giants of theology.... Augustine, St. Thomas, Boethius, WoodrowH.

But personally, I always felt God was more like a 24-pack of Miller Lite. You know, it will fill you up, but it won't let you down. And its like, everybody can have it if they only have a few bucks, unlike those "fancy" beers that are like 7 bucks for a 6-pack.

Would you care to continue this fascinating discussion on God's true nature and glory?

[StopLook]

I've just signed in for the first time and have noticed that most pages do not allow me to make comments. But this one does. Is the Huff that deliberate or am I doing something wrong?