Guest guest Posted January 4, 2001 Report Share Posted January 4, 2001 >From www.nytimes.com > Virginity Pledges by Teenagers Can Be Highly Effective, Federal Study > Finds By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO > > WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 — Teenagers who take virginity pledges, in which they > promise to refrain from sex until marriage, under certain conditions delay > intercourse substantially longer than those who do not make such a public > commitment to chastity, according to a newly released study. > > The study, which analyzed the answers of 6,800 students from 141 schools > to a range of questions, is the first to show that any of the activities > associated with a growing movement to promote abstinence — in this case, > through voluntary virginity pledges — has any effect on the sexual > behavior of teenagers. > > Jimmy Hester, coordinator of True Love Waits, an abstinence group that > grew out of the Southern Baptist Convention, hailed the report as "great > news." Though True Love Waits has been offering teenagers its virginity > pledges since 1993, Mr. Hester said the group acted out of moral > conviction, rather than any certainty that the promises were effective in > steering teenagers away from sex. > > "This study is really the first one that provides strong data that proves > that pledges do make a difference," Mr. Hester said. > > Christine A. Bachrach, chief of demographic and behavioral sciences at the > National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which financed > the study, said it "does break new ground" in showing that virginity > pledges can postpone sex among adolescents. > > "That doesn't mean that everyone should drop everything and get teenagers > out there to take pledges, because that wouldn't work either," Dr. > Bachrach said. "But it shows social processes taking place around those > pledges, and those social processes are what's helping teens delay sex." > > When researchers controlled for characteristics associated with delaying > sexual intercourse, they found that those who had taken chastity pledges > delayed sex about 18 months longer than virgins who had never taken a > pledge. > > "Adolescents who pledge," wrote Peter S. Bearman of Columbia University > and Hannah Bruckner of Yale University, the authors of the report, "are > much less likely than adolescents who do not pledge to have intercourse. > The delay effect is substantial and robust. Pledging delays intercourse > for a long time. In this sense, the pledge works." > > The report was, however, couched in layers of caveats. It found that > virginity pledges did not hold when only one teenager took them, but > required the support of like-minded classmates, within limits. Conversely, > the pledges' effectiveness began to decline and teenagers stopped delaying > sex when the percentage of students signing virginity pledges increased to > more than 30 percent. > > That is because taking a public stand on turning down sex offers teenagers > an identity, much the way joining a club does, said Dr. Bearman, the > co-author of the 63-page report. But once the virginity pledge becomes > more popular and less unique, teenagers are less inclined to find it > appealing, Dr. Bearman said. > > The pledges seemed more effective with 15- and 16-year-olds, and least > effective with 18-year-olds. And the study found that teenagers who broke > their pledges were less likely to use contraception their first time > having sex than teenagers who had never promised to remain virgins — a > probable result of not having planned on sex, the researchers said. > > Advocates of comprehensive sex education, which teaches young people about > abstinence and precautions in case they engage in sex, said the new report > should not become a blueprint for teaching about sex. > > "It's helping kids understand it's O.K. not to have sex," said Jacqueline > E. Darroch, of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit family- planning > research organization. "At the same time, there's a lot of caution. These > pledges are not something that's worked for everybody, and the data > suggests if they were very widespread, they would not work anyway." > > Tamara Kreinen, president of the Sexuality Information and Education > Council of the United States, said half the country's teenagers had sex by > the time they graduated high school. "We can't just stick our heads in the > sand and forget about them," she said. > > Ms. Kreinen also noted that the study had asked only about vaginal > intercourse, and not about oral or anal sex, an increasingly frequent > practice among teenagers who describe themselves as virgins. > > Mr. Hester, of True Love Waits, said groups like his were not likely to > alter their promotion of strict abstinence until marriage — with no > information about condoms or birth control — in light of the report's > finding that teenagers who broke virginity pledges did not use > contraception. > > "If you're talking about a person who is not going to keep the pledge > anyway, whether or not they would use contraception isn't really something > that concerns us," Mr. Hester said. "Waiting is what we're striving for > here." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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