Comments on: Teen ‘virginity pledges’ fail; Colorado shuns federal abstinence-only funds

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:15:07 +0000

nude sexy girls and pregnant teens @ www.virginitypledge.com

how many studies get same result but some people never like the result and keep on with this
no sex ed, no pro condom use, no birth control policies.
as far back as the pilgrims they were having premarital sex- evidence is marriage and birth dates usually were 6 months apart.

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:15:07 +0000

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:15:07 +0000

By: Iris

Iris — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:24:26 +0000

AND….. by the way, I am a pro-life person and a Christian, but yes I had sex in my teens and gave birth to my first child in my teens, although I was married. But I am very realistic. We live in a sex saturated society, and even while trying to protect your children, they are literally exposed to it everywhere they go, in some form.

By: Iris

Iris — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:18:43 +0000

Listen, I am old enough to have grown up before much birth control was available except for condoms, which were funnily called rubbers back then. But I am going to tell, devout Christians, Jews, whatever all had sex without the protection of birth control just as much as others without a religion did. And also back then, those with religious backgrounds got pregnant more because they didn't try anything at all. Let us not underestimate how sex has invaded every sector of our lives. So why would we expect teens not to expect to become sexual at an early age, and I say once again unless they are just so devout that they can hold out, teens will have their hormones and sex too.

By: curt n

curt n — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:59:52 +0000

http://www.lifenews.com/nat4687.html

These researchers arrive at different conclusions.

By: curt n

curt n — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:25:05 +0000

Dear, Dr. Rosenbaum,

I happened upon your recent article in a left leaning publication in Colorado, which touted your findings as proof that virginity pledges don’t work. This specific point appears to be true from what I read in your article, however, I am wondering why some of the important points were not emphasized, either by you or in the summary, which may have been written by you…..I don’t know.

As you know, most newspaper/online article readers will read the headlines and the accompanying brief summaries. Few will take the time to look deeply into the article. Few are interested in deeper insights that could be gained by looking closely into the results.

I found as I read, that some of the less prominent details make a huge difference in how these statistics could be interpreted. For instance, it was surprising to me to find that your comparable sample was that of more traditionally conservative and religious teens than the average population. So, comparing conservative, religious, kids among themselves, you found that the ones that took a virginity pledge did not differ significantly from other conservative, religious kids of their own age. The news to me here, is not necessarily that virginity pledges don’t work, but that conservative, religious values just may! You summed up the data to say that sexual decisions are made by individual conviction, yet in your research it is stated that the group you are studying had an average of 3 lifetime partners, and did not have sex for the first time until they were 21. I would say these two factors are quite a bit different than the teenage population at large, yet you did not choose to make any reference to this in your study. It seems it would have been pretty easy for you to compare the effect of being raised in a highly religious home with being raised in a non-religious, sexually non-conservative home. I would guess that the difference in sexual activity between these two groups would be striking. And I’m not so sure that I agree with the characterization of sexual decisions as being made primarily by ‘individual conviction’, rather than participating in a program, implying that outside forces, teachings, influences, and associations don’t really matter. It appears that being in a conservatively religious group matters quite a bit.

However, the way this report will be interpreted, it will be used to discount abstinence only programs, which in most people’s minds are associated with religious conservatives. The fallacy which will then be taken as the next logical step in the thought process, will be to believe that religious activity/belief, will not deter, delay, or minimize sexual activity among teens. I don’t believe that this is true, and it’s a shame that your study and article will be used to further play down church attendance and religious belief and characterize religious participation as non-influential. I don’t know if that is what you intended, but you can be sure that is the spin that will accompany the reporting of your study.

If abstinence only programs don’t really help, then so be it. Wouldn’t it be useful to point to factors that do help? Apparently, conservative/religious beliefs and associations do.

Disappointed in Colorado