OK, last week the media had a heyday, because abstinence pledges don't seem to affect anything. This Einstein points out that the data compares apples-to-apples (how unfair!), and abstinence pledgers are still more chaste than the general population. Which, frankly, proves I'm right - if chastity-ring kids are just as sexually active as their conservative, religious peers regardless of pledging, then the abstinence pledge does nothing: it's simply a game the adults play to feel better about their morals. If the kid is going to have sex! , they're going to do it, abstinence pledge or not. If the person in the link above says progressive, godless teens are sluttier, well, let's see the data - but the data on religious, restrained kids still shows that they're just as slutty whether they've pledged their virginity or not.