Last night I accidentally sent this to Nancy only instead of to the entire
list.
She said I was cowardly for doing so, so here it is.
Now that Marie has posted her response, I still believe this is relevant as
it
addresses faith-based abstinence pledges specifically. Isn't that what
started
this whole thing?
>I hate to be the blower of stereotypes, but this kind of thing aggravates
me to no end.
>You [Nancy] state "notoriously ineffective" and then give one case (which,
as far as I can tell,
>was not faith-based).
>Here's part of an abstract from an article in the Jan. 2001 issue of the
American Journal
>of Sociology by Bearman and Bruckner:
>Since 1993, in response to an organized social movement sponsored by the
Southern Baptist Church, well over
>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. Taking a
>pledge delays intercourse for a long time. On the other hand, the pledge
effect depends on age.
>
>I was going to describe others, but I know how much cognitive dissonance
hurts, so I'll stop.
>TT
========================================================
Thomas A. Timmerman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Psychology Department
Austin Peay State University
Clarksville, TN 37044
931-221-1248
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
========================================================
