Phoenix
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2008
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- Location
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- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
News Headlines - New report re-uses old data to target abstinence pledges : Townhall.com
It seems the study compared a group of religious teens that took the pledge to religious teens that didn't. Religious teens from religious families have been found to have less premarital sex than other teens.
To the ones using this study to justify Sex ed training in schools...You've been duped.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Another new look at old data has caused a stir in the national media, and abstinence pledges are taking another hit just as Congress and the new Obama administration are reconsidering millions of dollars in funding for abstinence education programs.
The latest report, appearing in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics, examined 934 teenagers with strong religious backgrounds, 289 of whom took abstinence pledges and 645 who did not. Based on this within-group comparison, the study found that teenagers who took a pledge were just as likely to have premarital sex as those who did not take a pledge; and those who took pledges were less likely to use contraceptives.
However, the study only compared the behavior of strongly religious teenagers to other strongly religious teenagers and made no comparison of this group to teenagers with little or no religious influence in their lives. In other words, the study only looked at how "elites" of a population compared to other "elites" and did not examine this sample's behavior for differences and similarities with the general population of all teens.
It seems the study compared a group of religious teens that took the pledge to religious teens that didn't. Religious teens from religious families have been found to have less premarital sex than other teens.
To the ones using this study to justify Sex ed training in schools...You've been duped.