Religion and Teenage Promiscuity

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Sexual Promiscuity and Religion Society has long believed that the church has generally functioned as a beacon of light in guiding vulnerable adolescents away from a life of promiscuity, and that it has accomplished this by teaching them good moral values and biblical standards for behavior. Various researchers have sought to examine whether or not the church-and religion on the whole-has indeed made the impact that it thinks it has, and the results have shown that the while the church may be making some positive impact on the life of teenagers, that it may not be sufficient in stemming the tide of teenage sexual promiscuity that is rampant in society today. An article published by the National Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy states that “teens who attend services frequently are less likely to have permissive attitudes about sexual intercourse” (Whitehead, 2006, p.3). Whitehead also found that “more frequent attendance is associated with later sexual initiation for white males and for females generally” (p.3). Although this applies to the North American Christian context, there is the possibility that the information is relevant to Caribbean nations as well. Research has shown that teenagers within the church are not far behind in their sexual activities as compared to their secular counterparts. Mays (2003) found that: The fact that teens in conservative congregations are only 10-15% behind the general population in respect to sexual activity may be surprising to some pastors, youth workers, and parents. By age 19, the poll revealed that 43% of those surveyed had experienced intercourse, with another 12% reporting sexual activity short of that (para. 1). Mays (2003) quotes from a survey which was done by The Barna Research Group which reported at least two major contributing factors to the problem of promiscuity among teenagers in the U.S. namely:

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