According to a new study (that we're thinking might have been funded by neocons?), virginity pledges could be an effective way of keeping teenagers celibate until marriage. If you consider engaging in "sexual behaviors that fall short of full intercourse" staying true to one's pledge.
A study by the Rand Corporation research institute found that 34 percent of youths who took such pledges as teens had had sexual intercourse within three years compared to 42 percent of similar teens who did not make virginity pledges.
The Rand team said they had taken into account differences such as religious beliefs, parenting and friendship characteristics....
"Making a pledge to remain a virgin until married may provide extra motivation to adolescents who want to delay becoming sexually active," said Steven Martino, a psychologist at Rand who led the study.
"The act of pledging may create some social pressure or social support that helps them to follow through with their clearly stated public intention."
The Rand report cited estimates that 23 percent of U.S. females and 16 percent of males have made a virginity pledge...
"Waiting until you are older to have sex is good for teens from a health standpoint," Martino said in a statement. "There are lots of reasons for more kids to wait until they are older."
Martino and colleagues surveyed 1,461 adolescent virgins aged 12 to 17 in 2001. About a quarter said they had taken a virginity pledge.
The researchers interviewed them again one and three years later.
"These findings do not suggest that virginity pledges should be a substitute for comprehensive sexual education programs, or that they will work for all kinds of kids," said Martino. "But virginity pledges may be appropriate as one component of an overall sex education effort."
Really? It sounds to us a lot like making kids swear off of drugs. We won the D.A.R.E essay contest in fifth grade, pledging to keep our friends and family off of drugs and alcohol, and then spent our entire senior year in various stages of intoxicaiton.
[Reuters: Virginity pledges help some delay sex: study]
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