“I promise to remain a virgin until we get married...”

Check out if young people who vow to remain abstinent from sex until they get married, later have the same sex life as others.

 

 

Some teenagers take a pledge to remain virgins until they get married. (Photoxpress)

 

A pledge taken by an individual to remain a virgin until married can largely contribute to the fact that teenagers and adolescents have their first sexual intercourse much later than other young people of the same age.

 

A study was conducted among 1461 young people, aged between 12 and 17, who have not yet had sexual intercourse. After the first interview they conducted additional two interviews, namely, the second one was carried out a year later and the third one was carried out three years after the first interview. The results showed that 34 per cent of people who took a pledge not to have sexual intercourse until marriage had sex in the period of three years. On the other hand, the share of those who did not make such pledges is much larger, that is, 42 per cent. In the research, religious beliefs and a number of other factors were taken into account.

 
''Making a pledge to remain a virgin until married may provide extra motivation to adolescents who want to delay becoming sexually active,'' explains psychologist  Steve Martino, who is the leader of the research and adds: ''Waiting until you are older to have sex is good for teens from a health standpoint.''

Nevertheless, Steve Martino does not see a pledge as a substitute for comprehensive sex education programmes, but it may be an important additional component of an overall sex education effort, and young people should be stimulated in that direction.

 

 

 

 

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