On Sat, 03 Jan 2009 10:32:59 -0500, Gene Kearns
wrote:



As usual spun to make it appear the pledges don't work. Based on other
reports of the same study those who take the pledge are less likely to
have sex until average age of 21 compared to about age 17 for the
average American teen. To Quot CNN:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,475306,00.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/30/virginity.pledges/

I believe the main point of the pledges was to prevent teenage
pregnancy, not stop sexual activity. I believe 21 is about the age of
the first marriage, so those who take the pledge are probably waiting
for their partner of their first marriage.

Poor conclusion.

Your own links provide, "[the]...study also only looked at teens who
were unmarried five years after taking virginity pledges, now ages 20
to 23. "The married are out of the picture, so they're not as
interesting," she said."

When I read a report like this, I have to ask questions about what
"religious teen" means. On the surface, this appears to be a confusion
of spurious variables... and it seems the conclusion of the study is
goofy, at best.

Contrast: "making a virginity pledge doesn't play a role (sic) any
sexual behavior because teenagers who take a pledge are just as likely
to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence. The
study also revealed that those who took virginity pledges where less
likely to use condoms that non-pledgers, she said."

With: Overall, religious students, regardless of whether they take
virginity pledges, are more conservative than their non-religious
peers. When compared against national averages, "they are having sex
an average of about three years later than the average American,"


And getting STDs at the same rate??? (Hmmmm...scratching chin.....)

And you, therefore, have a conclusion from a study that essentially
says, if we pick a certain group of students (we'll call them
"religious" whether they ever went to church or not) that have
predispositions toward certain behavior and they act in that way, we
have proof that "religion" controls sexual behavior.

The "facts" seem to suggest that teenage religion is a clear
contributor towards STDs.....

Huh?

Who paid for this silly study?


Nice analysis, although likely to be ignored.