Pledging Abstinence Doesn't Protect Teens From STDs
POSTED: 12:31 p.m. EST March 9, 2004
PHILADELPHIA -- New research finds that teens who pledge to remain virgins until marriage have the same rates of sexually transmitted diseases as those who don't pledge abstinence.
The study conducted by Columbia and Yale universities was presented Tuesday at the National STD Prevention Conference in Philadelphia.
According to the data, those who make a public pledge to abstain until marriage do, in fact, delay sex, have fewer sex partners and get married earlier.
The problem, the study found, is that those virginity "pledgers" are much less likely to use condoms.
Over a six-year period, the study examined the sex lives of 12,000 adolescents ranging from age 12 to 18.
