At 10:29 AM -0500 2/27/01, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>In a message dated 2/27/2001 7:24:28 AM Pacific Standard Time,
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
>
>
>two and a half million adolescents have taken public "virginity" pledges,
>in which they promise to abstain from
>>sex until marriage. This paper explores the effect of virginity pledges on
>the transition to first intercourse. On
>>one hand, we show that adolescents who pledge, controlling for all of the
>usual characteristics of adolescents
>>and their social contexts that are associated with the transition to sex,
>are much less likely than adolescents who
>>do not pledge, to have intercourse. The delay effect is substantial and
>almost impossible to erase.
>
>
>
>And I will reply in public, that numbers like 2,000,000 represent an
>extraordinary claim that is very hard to scientifically verify. How many of
>these adolescents actually follow through?
>
>I would like to see some realistic numbers on this. Otherwise this is just
>an unsubstantiated claim.
I assume that these were based on self-reports.
Were these validated (e.g., a random sample of physical exams)?
And of course, how were these individuals sampled to begin with?
Were they more likely than the general population to remain virgin?
Claim virginity?
A lot of questions need to be answered to support such claims.
* PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* Psychology Dept Minnesota State University, Mankato *
* 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 *
* http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html *
