I think no help is accurate. The relevant bullet point for STDs is not how many people have sex, but how many people catch STDs. So the key sentence was But the two groups' STD rates were statistically similar.
The pledgers don't use condoms as often as non-pledgers do. (Because they're not planning for it, they're doing it in the heat of the moment). So even though they have fewer partners and fewer of them have sex, the ones that do have more unsafe sex and therefore as a group they get STDs just as often as their promiscuous but prepared compatriots.
And yeah, it means 88 percent of them break their promise. It's not about pre-existing STDs. Presumably the point is that 11 percent more people are not having sex, which is a win for those who think premarital sex is immoral. But if this study is reliable, the public health benefit is now shown to be nonexistant.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: study
Date: 2004-03-10 12:18 pm (UTC)The pledgers don't use condoms as often as non-pledgers do. (Because they're not planning for it, they're doing it in the heat of the moment). So even though they have fewer partners and fewer of them have sex, the ones that do have more unsafe sex and therefore as a group they get STDs just as often as their promiscuous but prepared compatriots.
And yeah, it means 88 percent of them break their promise. It's not about pre-existing STDs. Presumably the point is that 11 percent more people are not having sex, which is a win for those who think premarital sex is immoral. But if this study is reliable, the public health benefit is now shown to be nonexistant.
Mer