Virginity pledges advocating abstinence as the best form of protection have become a trend among young adults for personal or religious reasons. But recent studies may have abstinent teens thinking twice about this commitment, labeling virginity pledges “useless” based on studies comparing “pledgers” to “non-pledgers.”Purity rings and abstinence programs are only a few of the materializations of the recent virginity pledge craze. This notion of “cleanliness” has even made its way to popular culture with young celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, Jordin Sparks and the Jonas Brothers all pledging abstinence.Abstinence-swearing adolescents are just as likely to engage in pre-marital sex than their  non-pledging peers, according to a study in Journal Pediatrics.Although pledgers lose their virginity later than non-pledgers at an average age of 21 — compared to the national average of 17 — pledgers are more likely to engage in oral and anal sex and less likely to use protective barrier methods like condoms when they do become sexually active, according to the Journal of Adolescent Health.Kathryn Saichuk, Student Health Center Wellness Education coordinator, believes the pledgers’ unsafe tendencies can be attributed to a lack of safer-sex education and a lack of communication about sexual relationships from a young age.”[Pledgers] may not feel the need to research … how to protect themselves … if they decide to have a sexual relationship,” said Saichuk. “In their minds, they’re not going to [engage in sexual activities], so there’s no reason to get the facts.”In a high school study conducted by Janet Rosenbaum, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 82 percent of previously pledging 20- to 23-year-olds denied or forgot about declaring abstinence in middle or high school.Previous pledgers are now just as likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease as non-pledgers, according to Rosenbaum’s study. This further stresses the fact that all adolescents should take the time to educate themselves on sexual protection and “think beyond their sexual beliefs in that moment and understand all viewpoints, not just one picture,” Saichuk said.In Rosenbaum’s study, Rosenbaum compared 289 virginity-pledging adolescents to 645 non-pledgers. Using data from the leading virginity pledge study, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Rosenbaum surveyed the sexual health of middle and high school students in 1995-96 and again in 2000-01, finding that most pledgers denied ever making a vow. Rebecca Morris, nursing freshman, agrees with Saichuk and understands why pledgers forget about their vow all together. Pledgers may make goals they aren’t able to accomplish, Morris said. No one knows where they’ll be in three years.As many studies indicate, a pledger’s decision to keep their virginity vow can change from one minute to another, based on external and internal factors such as the transition from high school to college.On a more national scale, 2 kids ago, a younger Britney Spears pledged and promoted abstinence, later making it apparent that some people’s “vows” have more to do with perception or pressure and less to do with actual beliefs.This plethora of new information about virginity pledges shakes the foundation for abstinence-only sex education programs, which are run by federal funds that increased from $73 million in 2001 to $204 million in 2008, according to Rosenbaum.”I remember at my [Catholic] school, we had a pledge on paper that we had to sign,” Morris said. “It made you feel bad if you ever broke it. I think [abstinence-only programs] try to scare you out of having sex at a young age. Seriously, that’s what my school did … and then you get older and realize it’s much less of a big deal.”
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