Abstinence From Sex- Not Lowered STD Rates
        Sex In The News 2005

Teenagers who make a pledge to remain virgins until marriage catch sexually transmitted diseases as often as those who don't pledge abstinence. According to a study of the sex lives of 12,000 adolescents, those who make a public pledge to delay sex also wind up having fewer sex partners and get married earlier.

STD rates were statistically similar for both groups of teens, and in some cases higher for those who pledged abstinence, because virginity "pledgers" are less likely to use condoms. "It's difficult to simultaneously prepare for sex and say you're not going to have sex," said Peter Bearman, chairman of Columbia University's sociology department. "The message is really simple: 'Just say no' may work in the short term but doesn't work in the long term."

Data from the study, presented Tuesday at the National STD Prevention Conference, was taken from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. That study was funded in part by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The analysis also found that in communities where at least 20 percent of adolescents pledged to remain virgins, the STD rates for everyone combined was 8.9 percent. In communities with fewer than 7 percent pledgers, the STD rate was 5.5 percent. "It is the combination of hidden sex and unsafe sex that creates a world where people underestimate the risk of STDs," Bearman said. Critics of abstinence-only education saw the findings as evidence that adolescents benefit from sex education.

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