STD rate among teen virgins

[Avatar4321]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040309/ap_on_he_me/virginity_study_3

Yeah you read the title right. Thats the name of this article. my first question when seeing it was...how on earth to virgins get stds? I mean it makes no sense does it?

And then they compared the numbers of a group of people who engaged in premarital sex, with a group of people who pledged to be abstinent, and then broke the pledge and engaged in premarital sex. And lo and behold, they are shocked that both groups have the same rate of stds. I mean who would have thought that two groups of people engaging in premarital sex could possibly have the same std rates. I mean this is just a stop the presses story.

And then they go and state that the rates are the same because those who pledge to be abstinent and break that pledge are less likely use condoms. Which i think is what the real headline should be: Study shows rate of STDS same in groups that use condoms and those who dont. How about everyone else?

 

[nbdysfu]

Agreed. Two stones is better than one. Encourage abstinence and safe sex.

The weird thing though is that the percentage differences they qoute don't really prove their point that well.

"the STD rates for whites who pledged virginity was 2.8 percent compared with 3.5 percent for those who didn't pledge...For blacks, it was 18.1 percent and 20.3 percent... For Hispanics, it was 6.7 percent and 8.6 percent. "

In all of those groups these statistics suggest that you are more likely to catch stds if you don't abstain. There's no way around it, early humans learned not to nap in the sun for too long. Why can't we figure out how to hold our horses?

And also:

"The analysis also found that in communities where at least 20 percent of adolescents pledged to remain virgins, the STD rates for everyone combined was 8.9 percent. In communities with fewer than 7 percent pledgers, the STD rate was 5.5 percent."

If the pledges at most = less than a fifth of the sample, how is that fair for blaming them for all 8.9 percent?

Additionally, unless the STDs were administered using lab techniques, rather than the real world where chance comes into play, how can you say that that didn't play a part?

 

[Avatar4321]

I agree. I think its the asian rates that throw off the numbers. which make me wonder if the asian group was an honest sample.. I just find it hard to believe that three out of four racial groups had success with abstinence and then one had major differences. Maybe there is a cultural reason or maybe the study is just way off.