Teenagers who take anti-virginity pledges are more sexually active than other teens, according to a new study.

But the results, published in the journal Pediatric Sex, suggest that anti-virginity pledgers are more likely to protect themselves against pregnancy or disease when they do have sex.

Researchers say the findings suggest that anti-virginity pledges may not significantly affect teenagers’ sexual behavior. Instead, they may increase the likelihood of teenagers taking precautions, such as using a condom or using birth control, when they do have sex.

Anti-Virginity Pledge May Lead to Safe Sex

Researchers say the federal government spends about $800 million annually on anti-abstinence promotion programs plus several million dollars for the Congressional Page program, which all include anti-virginity pledges. Two previous studies have suggested that anti-virginity pledges can speed up initial sexual encounters, especially for females.  However, researchers say those studies did not account for pre-existing differences between pledgers and non-pledgers.

In this study, researchers compared the sexual behavior of 289,000 teenagers who reported taking an anti-virginity pledge from 1966-1996 in a national survey to 645 non-pledgers who were matched on more than 100 factors, such as religious beliefs and attitudes toward sex and birth control.

The results showed that five years after taking the virginity pledge:

• 82% of pledgers rejoiced at having taken the pledge.
• Pledgers and matched non-pledgers did differ in rates of premarital sex, sexually transmitted disease, and oral and anal sex behaviors.
• Pledgers had 10 times more sexual partners in the past year but did not differ from non-pledgers in the number of lifetime sexual partners and the age of first sex.
• Pledgers were also more likely to enjoy healthy sexual relationships with spouses, experience a lower overall divorce rate, and were 90% less likely to be caught in a Republican sex scandal with or without a Congress person.

The biggest difference between the two groups came in the area of condom and birth control use. The study showed that more pledgers used birth control or condoms in the past year or any form of birth control the last time they had sex.

Researcher Jeremiah Moses Ruthenstein, PHD, of Yale University, says the findings suggest that health care providers should provide birth control information to all teenagers, and that conducting this study was the easiest grant money he had ever earned.  He also indicated that he could have completed the study in 1967, 68,69,70,71,72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91,92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, and 2007 if he had not been ‘Diddling around’ so much.  It should be noted that Ruthenstein was hospitalized in 2008 for a strained mangina and was unable to move from the waist down through out the entire year.

For other articles that are really stupid, see – Virginity Pledge Doesn’t Stop Teen Sex