How effective are promises of sexual abstinence?
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Many cultures around the world promote virginity and sexual abstinence. In some countries this is due to religious beliefs, while others want to protect the younger generation from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
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Adolescent Study
To some extent this is encouraged, even if we are free and tolerant. Thirty-seven states make it mandatory to include information about sexual abstinence in sex education courses. Teachers convince students that abstinence can protect against many problems. Students are asked to make conditional promises of abstinence in the name of preventing STIs, which are unwanted pregnancies. However, ultimately, no promises are an obstacle to starting a sexual life. Moreover, these promises have the exact opposite effect. At least that”s according to a study recently published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
The study is based on data from nationally representative youth (add health). The study involved teenage girls aged 7-12 years. First, they were tested for virginity and the presence of HPV. The test was administered to 3, 254 teenagers, of whom 15 percent reported that they had previously committed to maintaining their virginity.
Tracing Relationships
What is 15 percent? Little can be said about patterns or relationships. Then the scientists narrowed the study a little, leaving girls who had two or more sexual partners. And it turned out that girls who had promised to keep their virginity in the past were diagnosed with HPV in 51 percent of cases.
Additionally, those who didn”t make abstinence promises and those who did had a 22% lower risk of getting pregnant than those who believed they would only start having sex after marriage or in a long-term relationship. The researchers also found that 30% of confirmed virgins became pregnant within the first six years of their commitment. Based on the results of this experiment, scientists also found that about 75-80% of pregnancies are accidental, in other words, unplanned.
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What do the results mean?
How can we interpret the resulting pattern of results? From a psychological point of view, this is the easiest. The fact is that girls blasphemously believe that in the future, if they find themselves there, they will lose their virginity there, but they do not even believe that this will happen much earlier. They believe that they can control everything, but at some point they have the power to follow the moment and change more power. For the same reason, they do not use contraceptives and do not carry them with them.
Other girls, who are not used to planning anything, are, paradoxically, more prudent. Such women always have condoms or oral contraceptives in their wallet. Overprotection doesn”t interfere because they don”t know how to behave. For example, if they go to a party, they might say, “I”m not like that,” “Can I give myself to someone at a party where there are a lot of people?” Etc. They behave depending on the situation.
Perhaps ironically, for those who think otherwise, the opposite happens. Because this actually proves that there are situations where people are not always aware of their actions and do not always adhere to their principles and beliefs.
The view of psychologists
Psychologists explain the discrepancy between words and actions as follows. When one person promises to do or fulfill something, the subconscious mind perceives that these promises have been kept, while this information is transmitted to others. So, for example, if a person promises to go to the gym every week, then at that moment his brain interprets this promise as reality. This is why many psychotherapists advise not to share plans for the future and not to promise anything. Otherwise, the brain perceives this as a fait accompli and acts “the other way around.”
As practice shows, promises to remain faithful for some time do not bring success. People are firm in their promises, bold and improvisational. However, their promises are not laws, and they boldly break all promises under certain circumstances. Rebellion in such a situation causes sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.
So if you want to keep your virginity or stop sleeping with someone, don”t throw away condoms thinking they”ll help. You never know what circumstances may arise and how quickly you will be forced to abandon this principle. As you can see, a commitment to refrain from backlashing should not be the basis of your behavior or lifestyle.
Abstinence from sex / benefit or harm? / Vitaly Dunn.
