Published 30 December 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a3168
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a3168

News

Virginity pledge ineffective against teen sex despite government funding, US study finds

Janice Hopkins Tanne

1 New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

US teenage virgins who pledged to abstain from sex until they were married had sexual behaviour in the next five years similar to that of teenagers who had not taken an abstinence pledge, a study has shown (Pediatrics 2009, doi:10.1542/peds.2009-0407).

But contraceptive use differed between the groups. Five years later, teenagers who had pledged virginity were less likely to protect themselves against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, 84% of teenagers who had pledged virginity denied that they had ever done so.

Teenagers should get comprehensive advice about abstinence and birth control, including taking precautions against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, the article concludes.

The US government spends more than $200m (£140m; {euro}140m) a year on abstinence-only sex education, including virginity pledges.

Teenagers who pledged to remain virgins and the group of matched controls who had not taken a pledge did not differ in premarital sex . . . [Full text of this article]


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