Don’t Pledge, Don’t Lie: Research Indicates Majority of Virginity Pledgers Lie About Having Taken the Pledge

According to the latest in a growing number of studies examining the effectiveness of so-called “virginity pledges” the practice of getting teens to promise not to have sex until marriage doesn’t work, and puts teens at greater risk for unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The newest study by Janet Rosenbaum of Johns Hopkins University is published this month in the journal Pediatrics. The study relied on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of middle and high school students who were interviewed in 1995, 1996 and 2001. One of the benefits of this study was that the researchers compared adolescents with similar views on premarital sex and contraceptive use but looked at one group that took virginity pledges and one that didn’t. Among the findings after five years were:

• More than half of both pledgers and nonpledgers had engaged in sexual activity
• The two groups had similar rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• Those taking pledges were less likely to use contraceptives or to use them consistently.
• And my personal favorite…82% of those who took a pledge denied having taken it.

Wanting to support teens in waiting to have sex until their ready is a good thing. But being ready isn’t something that will ever be determined by a semi-fascistic exercise in oath taking, and making teens jump through hoops to alleviate parental anxiety is a tradition that really really needs to end. Could 2009 be that year?

One hopes that this new study, along with others (some from the government itself) will help the new administration drop support of abstinence-only education and begin to fund a much needed comprehensive sexuality education program across the nation.

One hopes….

Read more – Washington Post: Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds