“She said teens who are religious tend to delay having sex, but that has nothing to do with virginity pledges or abstinence-only sex education programs.”

Public schools do not appear to be the appropriate forum for encouraging the beliefs found effective by this study. The study also apparently may not have controlled for honesty or intelligence. Since many who took the pledge, violated it, and didn’t even recall having made the pledge, those religious students that did not take the pledge may have had more mature self awareness of what they were actually honestly willing to commit their older selves too, in circumstances they may not yet be able to anticipate. It is also not clear whether the author included all who took the virginity pledge, or applied the same religious filter that he used on the non-pledgers. That would appear to be the more valid control.