Monday, December 29, 2008

Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective

Teen you take an abstinence pledge are just as likely to have have sex and more likely to have unprotected sex. It’s that whole only tell them the “right” story thing that happens when you approach this problem from a religious perspective.

Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.

Source: Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective

I don’t know why religious people think that teaching abstinence only is sensible. Teen have a biological imperative pushing them to have sex, lots and lots of sex. The only sensible approach is to teach them everything. Abstinence is great (if that’s what your religion dictates), and talk about safe sex. The kids have the knowledge they need to make good decisions. Teens will still make bad decisions, but perhaps they will make fewer bad decisions.

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From the article:
“The new analysis, however, goes beyond earlier analyses by focusing on teens who had similar values about sex and other issues before they took a virginity pledge.
"Previous studies would compare a mixture of apples and oranges," Rosenbaum said. "I tried to pull out the apples and compare only the apples to other apples."…
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.”

If the study paired teens with a mirror image of their sexual values and morals, why should we expect a mere pledge to matter in terms of the averages of the two groups? The values and morals govern the behavior. If we are looking for a comparison of the two groups to judge the value of the pledge as a difference maker, this study has face validity issues.
Abstinence is not just a religious issue. Having sex early and without commitment can and does have severe psychological ramifications. I don't know what condom answer is but the fix is more complex than putting a condom in their hand and "now they can't get STD's or pregnant. While the condom in their hand fixes these issues it deteriorates the issues of psychologically based problems.This becomes the hot button issue that avoids the WHOLE picture when looking for a solution to the pregnancy.
This just shows another failure by those that try to dictate others morals based on teachings that are locked into the past. The only true way to change this is to quit depending on the past for answers and instead look to the present for the knowledge needed.
I have an extremely racist brother-in-law who ran his mouth for years against blacks. Guess what he is dealing with right now?... His daughter is dating a black guy. (I say black because I am white and it is quicker than the other alternative. )

And it's not a case that the Universe has ears ... it's a case of his daughter having ears that has heard the hate-filled words for years.

I wonder how many of these abstinence pledges are made to appease the parents and/or the church? If a kid really doesn't want to have sex then it should be based on THAT alone, not because they think that it will put mama and daddy at bay and off their back.
I wish there had been abstinence pledges back when I was in high school. Maybe I could have gotten laid more often.

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