Risk for human papillomavirus and nonmarital pregnancy increased among adolescents that took “virginity pledges” as section of abstinence-just sexual education, according to recent study in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
“The present study maintains that previous studies could have actually obscured necessary differences in exposure risk and hypothesizes that female pledge-breakers that have actually better exposure risk are much more most likely to experience human papillomavirus (HPV) and nonmarital pregnancies,” Anthony Paik, PhD, of the department of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and colleagues wrote. “Fifteen to 24 year-olds additionally represent half of brand-new sexually transmitted infections, along with HPV accounting for much more compared to 70% of brand-new cases. Provided these statistics, determining specific and institutional factors promoting nonmarital pregnancies and STIs … is an necessary concern.”
Anthony Paik
The researchers collected data from the Include Good health study, which followed students from grades 7 to 12 through young adulthood, in between 1994 and 2008. Specifically, the researchers used data collected from wave 1 of Include Health, which included interviews from 20,745 adolescents from 1994 and 1995; and wave 3, which followed up along with 15,197 participants 7 years later. Ultimately, the researchers examined 3,254 girls for the study’s HPV arm and 1,335 girls for the nonmarital pregnancy arm. Outcomes from males were excluded as HPV samples were not collected and pregnancy data would certainly not be reliable. The researchers analyzed data from adolescent girls and young women related to HPV, pregnancy, marital and pledge status, along along with lot of sex partners, timing of sexual debut and demographic information.
Study Outcomes discovered that among the participants in the HPV analysis arm, pledgers were much more most likely to gain HPV, particularly when they had 6 to 10 sexual partners (51% vs. 33%; P < .05). Outcomes were comparable among the nonmarital pregnancy arm, which discovered that pledgers were much more most likely to come to be pregnant outside of marriage compared to nonpledgers. (P < .000).
Overall, the researchers reported that about the exact same proportion of pledgers and nonpledgers had sex prior to wave 3 (81% vs. 83%). The prevalence of HPV additionally was regarding the same; however, pledgers were much more most likely to have actually went through a nonmarital pregnancy in between wave 1 and wave 3 (31% vs. 24%; P < .05).
“If adolescents either are given inaccurate guide regarding condom usage or contraception or are socialized to be hostile to these practices, they can be in a bind as soon as they damage pledges, as nearly all them do,” Paik and colleagues wrote. “This highlights the importance of comprehensive sexual education, or a minimum of some type of abstinence-plus education that ensures that young grownups are adequately ready to efficiently control their sexual and reproductive Good health when they come to be sexually active.” – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.