Mikey picks teenage sex as his first article to respond to rather than the virtues of Laura Bush.
Wonder why? On Jan 1, 7:25 am, "mike [never forget] 532" <[email protected]> wrote: > Rosenbaum believes her study shows that “abstinence > promotion programs” are not a wise policy for the government to > advance. “Adolescents who take virginity pledges are not less > sexually active than closely matched adolescents who do not take > pledges, but they are less likely to use birth control or condoms,” > she said. “Clinicians should provide birth control information to all > adolescents, especially abstinence-only sex education participants.” > > On Jan 1, 7:13 am, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > cnsnews.com > > Wednesday, December 31, 2008 > > By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer > > > (CNSNews.com) - A study in the January issue of Pediatrics that is > > critical of virginity pledges nonetheless reveals that teens who are > > more religious have their first sexual encounter at the average age of > > 21, or four years later than teens who are not as religious. > > > The study, using data from the national Adolescent Health Survey, > > examines 934 teens with strong religious backgrounds, 289 of whom took > > abstinence pledges and 645 who did not. > > > The author of the study, Janice Rosenbaum, a post doctoral fellow at > > Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNSNews.com that > > her analysis shows that among her sample of 934 teens with strong > > religious backgrounds, both the pledgers and non-pledgers became > > sexually active at about 21 on average. That is four years later than > > teens who are not as religious. She said religious beliefs play a > > role in teens abstaining from sex. > > > “One year before pledging, pledgers are more religious, less sexually > > experienced, and hold more negative attitudes about sex and birth > > control than adolescents who do not go on to take a virginity pledge,” > > Rosenbaum writes in Pediatrics. “Religious adolescents delay sexual > > initiation, so virginity pledgers’ prepledge religiosity could induce > > abstinence without the pledge.” > > > “It is true that this profile of teenagers, these 934 teenagers that I > > look at are more conservative in their sexual behavior,” Rosenbaum > > said. > > > Religious teens “are more restrained in the sexual choices and that’s > > because of their social context,” said Rosenbaum. “They are less > > sexually experienced to begin with. Their friends are engaging in less > > risk behavior. Their parents also go to church and they are also > > choosing to go to church and to stay affiliated with evangelical > > Christianity.” > > > Nonetheless, Rosenbaum believes her study shows that “abstinence > > promotion programs” are not a wise policy for the government to > > advance. “Adolescents who take virginity pledges are not less > > sexually active than closely matched adolescents who do not take > > pledges, but they are less likely to use birth control or condoms,” > > she said. “Clinicians should provide birth control information to all > > adolescents, especially abstinence-only sex education participants.” > > > Robert Rector, senior research fellow on domestic policy at the > > Heritage Foundation, told CNSNews.com that he has conducted several > > studies based on the same adolescent health survey data used in the > > Pediatrics study and come to much different conclusions. > > > “It was really quite extraordinary that you find in this survey that > > kids who took this very brief exposure to virginity pledges have > > dramatically better life outcomes compared to kids from the same socio- > > economic background,” said Rector. This included “dramatically lower > > rates of teen births, abortion rates down, teen sex down, out of > > wedlock births down, number of sexual partners down a third to a half > > compared to kids from a similar socio-economic backgrounds. That’s > > extraordinary.” > > > Rector argues that most abstinence education programs don’t include a > > pledge and that what the data shows is that teens who delay sex > > because of their training and beliefs are at a distinct advantage. > > > “It’s not an abstinence versus non-abstinence message at all,” Rector > > told CNSNews.com. “It’s very clear that these kids that have what I > > call pro-abstinence, anti-permissive sex attitudes do substantially > > better in life. They are much more likely to abstain from sex through > > high school and teens who have abstained from sex through high school > > are twice as likely to graduate from college.” > > > But some advocates for so-called comprehensive sex education say that > > participants in abstinence only programs who have sex usually have > > unprotected sex because of negative information about contraceptives. > > > “When (virginity) pledgers fell of the wagon, they fell of hard,” Bill > > Albert, chief program director for The National Campaign to Prevent > > Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, said in a U.S. News and World Report > > story. “What have we gained if we encourage young people only to delay > > sex until they are older, but when they do become sexually active, > > they don’t protect themselves or their partners?” > > > “The idea that it has to be either a virginity pledge or encouraging > > teens to have sex is a false dichotomy,” Albert said. “There is a > > public consensus in this country to encourage teens to delay sex, but > > also to provide them with contraception.” > > > Rector said his studies support the importance of continuing federal > > funding of abstinence education and that Rosenbaum’s study does too. > > > “What she’s really lobbying for is clearly an elimination of > > abstinence teaching,” Rector said. “And so she’s saying, when you look > > at these kids that have pro-abstinence attitudes, those pro-abstinence > > attitudes provide dramatically positive results but they are not > > linked to the virginity pledge per se, therefore we should do away > > with those pro-abstinence attitudes.” > > > “Somehow these kids sort of miraculously absorb those messages and > > values, so we should stop teaching those messages and values,” Rector > > said, “even though her data shows that all those kids that have those > > pro-abstinence attitudes do much better in life.” > > > Rosenbaum said she thinks encouraging teens to delay sexual activity > > is a good public health policy, but that her work shows virginity > > pledges aren’t the way to reach that goal. > > > “This group, whether or not they are pledgers, are starting to have > > sex at around 21, which is about four years later than the average > > American teen,” Rosenbaum told CNSNews.com. “Definitely, though, the > > social context created by the evangelical context and social groups > > does seem to cause kids to delay sex. I don’t know what aspect is > > causing them to do so, but it is not the abstinence pledge.”- Hide quoted > > text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
