Abstinence pledge

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Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) abstinence pledge card in which one promises a lifestyle of teetotalism.

Abstinence pledges are commitments made by people, often though not always

Catholic and Evangelical Christian denominations, while others are nonsectarian.[1][4]

History

The

plenary indulgence of 100 days for those promoting it.[7] In Ireland, it is common for school children to take the pledge of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association after which they receive a lapel pin.[8]

Signing a teetotal pledge, USA, 1846

The first program encouraging individuals to sign a pledge encouraging abstinence from sexual intercourse until marriage is

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services because it believed SRT used tax dollars to promote Christianity.[11] SRT presented a two-part program, the first part about abstinence; the second about how the Christian faith fits into an abstinence commitment. The ACLU claimed federal funding given to this program violated their interpretation of separation of church and state
.

On August 22, 2005, the department suspended SRT's $75,000 federal grant until it submitted a "corrective action plan."[12] In 2006, a corrective action plan was accepted by the department, the lawsuit was dismissed and SRT received its federal funding.

Abstinence pledge programs take a variety of stances on the role of religion in the pledge: some use religion to motivate the pledge, putting Biblical quotes on the cards, while others use statistics and arguments to motivate the pledge. Advocacy of virginity pledges is often coupled with support for abstinence-only sex education in public schools. Advocates argue that any other type of sexual education would promote sex outside of marriage, which they hold to be immoral and risky.[3]

Gallery and examples

Independent Order of Rechabites (IOR) 1900 abstinence pledge:[13]

I promise to abstain from all intoxicating liquors as beverages and to discountenance their use by others.[13]

Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) current abstinence pledge:[14]

I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including wine beer and hard cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same.[14]

Pioneer Total Abstinence Association abstinence pledge and prayer (recited twice daily by members):

For your greater glory and consolation, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for your sake to give good example, to practice self-denial, to make reparation to you for the sins of intemperance and for the conversion of excessive drinkers, I will abstain for life from all intoxicating drinks. Amen.[15]

True Love Waits 1993 abstinence pledge read as follows:[16]

"Believing that true love waits, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, those I date, and my future mate to be sexually pure until the day I enter marriage."

True Love Waits more recent abstinence pledge reads:[17][18]

"Believing that true love waits, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, my friends, my future mate, and my future children to a lifetime of purity including sexual abstinence from this day until the day I enter a Biblical marriage relationship."

True Love Waits
recent abstinence pledge (2009):

"I am making a commitment to myself, my family, and my Creator, that I will abstain from sexual activity of any kind before marriage. I will keep my body and my thoughts pure as I trust in God's perfect plan for my life."
(quote on card) "It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his/her own body in a way that is holy and honorable." 1 Thess 4:3-4

Studies

There have been numerous peer-reviewed studies on those who have taken abstinence pledges promising to maintain chastity until marriage, with varying results. Four of the five peer-reviewed virginity pledge studies and the non-peer-reviewed study discussed below use the same federal data, the

National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), in which 13,000 adolescents were interviewed in 1995, 1996, and 2000. The other peer-reviewed study used a study of virginity pledges in California
.

The first peer-reviewed study of virginity pledgers (by sociologists Peter Bearman of Columbia and Hannah Brueckner of Yale) found that in the year following their pledge, some virginity pledgers are more likely to delay sex than non-pledgers; when virginity pledgers do have sex, they are less likely to use contraception than non-pledgers.[19] This study found, however, that virginity pledges are only effective in high schools in which about 30% of the students had taken the pledge, meaning that they are not effective as a universal measure. Their analysis was that identity movements work when there is a critical mass of members: too few members, and people do not have each other for social support, and too many members, and people do not feel distinctive for having taken the pledge. This study was criticized for not being able to conclude causality, only correlation, a criticism which applies to all studies of virginity pledges thus far.[20]

A second peer-reviewed study, also by Bearman and Brueckner, looked at virginity pledgers five years after their pledge, and found that the pledgers have similar proportions of

sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and at least as high proportions of anal and oral sex as those who have not made a virginity pledge. They deduced that there was substitution of oral and anal sex for vaginal sex among the pledgers, although the data for anal sex without vaginal sex reported by males did not reflect this directly.[19][21]
This study also estimated that male pledgers were 4.1 times more likely to remain virgins by age 25 than those who did not pledge (25% vs. 6%), and estimated that female pledgers were 3.5 times more likely to remain virgins by age 25 than those who did not pledge (21% vs. 6%). The study also noted that those who pledge yet became sexually active reported fewer partners and were not exposed to STI risk for as long as nonpledgers.[19][21]

A third peer-reviewed study — by Melina Bersamin and others at Prevention Research Center, in Berkeley, California — found that adolescents who make an informal promise to themselves not to have sex will delay sex, but adolescents who take a formal virginity pledge do not delay sex.[22]

A fourth peer-reviewed study — by Harvard public health researcher Janet Rosenbaum published in the American Journal of Public Health in June 2006 — found that over half of adolescents who took virginity pledges said the following year that they had never taken a pledge.[23] This study showed that those who make the pledge but have sex are likely to deny ever pledging; and many who were sexually active prior to taking the pledge deny their sexual history, which, it is speculated, may cause them to underestimate their risk of having STIs.

A fifth peer-reviewed study, also by Janet Rosenbaum published in the journal Pediatrics in 2009,[24] found no difference in sexual behavior of pledgers and similar non-pledgers five years after pledging, but found pledgers were 10 percentage points less likely to use condoms and 6 percentage points less likely to use birth control than similar non-pledgers. Rosenbaum's study was innovative for using Rubin causal model matching, instead of relying on regression analysis, which makes potentially untrue parametric assumptions. According to Rosenbaum, past research findings that virginity pledgers delayed sex may have been affected by their statistical method's inability to adjust fully for pre-existing differences between pledgers and non-pledgers: pledgers are much more negative towards premarital sex prior to even taking the pledge, so would be predicted to delay sex even if they had not taken the pledge. Comparing pledgers with similar non-pledgers is the only way to be certain that the effect comes from the pledge rather than the pre-existing greater beliefs of pledgers that sexuality should be restrained to the matrimonial context.[25]

Criticism

The efficacy of

contraceptive use once pledgers decide to engage in sex.[19] Though studies have reported this and found that pledgers are more likely to remain virgins by age 25 than those who do not pledge and that those who do become sexually active report fewer sexual partners,[19][21] at least one study found no difference in the sexual behavior of pledgers and non-pledgers after controlling for pre-existing differences between the groups.[24] According to a study published in 2014 from the University of Washington, Evangelical men who made an abstinence pledge and got married would like more conversations about the place of sex in marriage in their churches. [26]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Taking the pledge gave impetus to historic religious movement". The Irish Times. 29 December 1998. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b Vermont History, Volumes 52-53. Vermont Historical Society. 1984. p. 155. Woman's Christian Temperance Union PLEDGE Conditions of membership: Signing total abstinence pledge and paying annual dues of $ 1.00. "I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented, and malt...
  3. ^ a b Donaldson, Susan James (29 September 2008). "Virginity Pledges Can Work for Some". American Broadcasting Company. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  4. ^ Franko, John (18 February 2005). "Silver Ring Thing offers lessons in sexual purity". Pittsburgh Catholic Publishing Associates. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  5. ISBN 978-1-77203-234-5
    .
  6. ^ Hanson, David J. (15 June 2016). "Catholic Total Abstinence League of the Cross". Alcohol Problems and Solutions. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  7. ^ The Irish Ecclesiastical Record. Browne and Nolan. 1913. p. 636.
  8. ISBN 978-0-253-04830-1
    .
  9. ^ Anne Bolin, Patricia Whelehan, Human Sexuality: Biological, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives, Routledge, UK, 2009, p. 248
  10. ^ "Baptist Press - True Love Waits launches community-wide initiative - News with a Christian Perspective". Archived from the original on 5 June 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  11. ^ "ACLU of Massachusetts v. Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services". Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  12. ^ American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (August 1, 2017). "settlement agreement" (PDF). American Civil Liberties Union. pp. 2, 6, 7. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  13. ^ a b "Certificate - Independent Order of Rechabites, 1910". Museums Victoria. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Join Us". Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  15. ISBN 978-0-8091-4962-9
    .
  16. ^ Robinson, B.A. (2005-03-20). "Virginity/sexual abstinence pledges". Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Retrieved 2005-03-29.
  17. ^ "True Love Waits Commitment Card". LifeWay Christian Resources. 2007. Archived from the original on 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  18. ^ "The TLW Pledge". LifeWay Christian Resources. 2007. pp. PDF. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  19. ^ a b c d e f "Virginity Pledges Don't Cut STD Rates". WebMD.com.
  20. ^ "Appraising Evidence on Program Effectiveness: Do Virginity Pledges Cause Virginity?". Public Health Institute Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development. Archived from the original on 2004-10-14. Retrieved 2004-11-29.
  21. ^
    S2CID 10150529
    .
  22. PMID 15837347
    .
  23. ^ Elizabeth Mehren (2006-05-08). "Some may play fast and loose with virginity pledge, study finds". San Francisco Chronicle.
  24. ^
    PMID 19117832
    .
  25. ^ Stein, Rob (29 December 2008). "Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds". Retrieved 29 May 2017 – via washingtonpost.com.
  26. ^ Molly McElroy, Virginity pledges for men can lead to sexual confusion — even after the wedding day, washington.edu, USA, October 9, 2015
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