[JackTimQSR]

This is the important bit

Teens who took the pledge also were less likely to use birth control pills or condoms than those making no promise, according to the research in the January issue of Pediatrics. The results show that teens need information on safe sex and pregnancy prevention even if they vow to refrain, a study author said. There's nothing the matter with abstinence programs per ce, but pretending that teens on such programs will not have sex is absurd.

[provigil]

Originally posted by the civilized world
DUH. As if someone expected a different outcome.

[Mowselelew]

Originally posted by onodera

As if someone expected a different outcome. I think the only ones who actually believed this abstinence nonsense were the Christian Conservatives pushing it. Then again maybe they didn't even believe this crap either and were just pushing it as a culture war issue to drum up votes.

[hLabXZlK]

“We do not think a student taking a pledge is enough when they’re living in a sex-saturated culture,” she said in a Dec. 23 telephone interview. “They need reinforcement and encouragement in their pursuit to make healthy decisions.” Why don't we actually read what's said instead of blithely ignoring it.

As for Christians not believing in it, I believed in it even before I became a Christian. I looked around and saw that my friends who were sleeping around didn't seem very happy...

[Carfanate]

All this answers to is the seriousness that the kids take the pledge.

Nothing to see here.

[Tusethede]

Lemmings? Jump off a cliff into the sea. It's inevitable.

[Rounteetepehryn]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


Why don't we actually read what's said instead of blithely ignoring it.

As for Christians not believing in it, I believed in it even before I became a Christian. I looked around and saw that my friends who were sleeping around didn't seem very happy... Why are you automatically and presumptively correlating unhappiness with teen pre-marital sex?

[casinobonbiner]

Originally posted by MrFun


Why are you automatically and presumptively correlating unhappiness with teen pre-marital sex? You have nothing to say. You have enough problems of your own. Chiefly, this hero-worship of a primate.

[Andoror]

Based upon my own observations, I can safely say that having a sex-life - premarital or otherwise - makes for a happier Asmodean than not having one

Asmodean

[eocavrWM]

It is just very difficult/etc to have occur when people marry in their 30s.

Exactly Barnabas's point and I think true. People in the early years of all the world's major religions were getting married at 15 through 18 years of age, so avoiding premartial sex was no biggie. As people wait until 30s or after to get married, its quite a bit different.

[ARKLqAZ6]

the point is that making an oath doesnt change your chances of acting according to what's natural for your age and body The vast majority of us seem to avoid bashing our neighbors to death with a rock to get their shiny objects just fine.

[Avaboormavoro]

So if I have sex when I'm 12, I should be fine because I wasn't technically a teen when I started.

[eEwbYjOH]

Originally posted by Combat Ingrid
Only if your partner was at least 20. Uncle Fred!!!

[Mangoman]

Originally posted by trev
The solution is obvious, arrange for a marriage by the age of 16 at the latest, should solve most problems
Premarital sex
illegitimate children
Feminism
Female bosses There you go. Keep the *****es bare foot and pregnant and while you're at it let's stop them from learning to read plus marry off 12 year olds to 40 year old guys. What? You say they already do that in the Arab world and it hasn't worked?

[dalnecymync]

There's a good New Yorker article from a month ago that looks at trends for abstinence.

Apparently they found the highest success rates in communities where the abstainers were a significant minority. That way, their abstinence became a strengthening factor in their minority's identity. In communities where the abstainers were a majority, the abstinence was not nearly so effective.

Also, the New Yorker cited findings that conservative communities tended to view sex before marriage as socially shameful, but pregnancy before marriage as a fact of life. In liberal communities, it's the other way round - sex is okay, but pregnancy is a sign of carelessness, inability to control your life, what-have-you.

[truportodfa]

It's Oerdin... what do you think?

[VINPELA]

Originally posted by Asmodean
Based upon my own observations, I can safely say that having a sex-life - premarital or otherwise - makes for a happier Asmodean than not having one

Asmodean I have observed the same thing (for MarkG)! we might be on to something here

[SeLvesTr]

Originally posted by MarkG
so murder and stealing is a natural tendency for man?

I think they are. Don't forget to add war and rape.

[puzobok]

Why are you automatically and presumptively correlating unhappiness with teen pre-marital sex? That's because it's what my friends have observed and confessed to me themselves that it wasn't all that satisfying and they would rather have waited.

I don't see what your issue is with personal observations.

[OQmYckYz]

Originally posted by SlowwHand


You have nothing to say. You have enough problems of your own. Chiefly, this hero-worship of a primate.
Since all Homo Sapiens Sapiens are primates, you are going to have to narrow this reference down, Slowwy.