Are there benefits for teens who remain pure? We have some new research today about the surprising benefits to teen virginity.
Glenn Stanton, an author, researcher and family expert at Focus on the Family wrote a recent article in the Federalist about teen virginity.
In it, he takes a look at a new, unique study from the U.S. Center for Disease Control that examined a wide array of high school students’ health behaviors in light of their sexual activity.
Stanton writes, “The virginal students rate significantly and consistently better in nearly all health-related behaviors and measures than sexually active teens” and “teens who have sexual contact with the same or both sexes have remarkably lower percentages of healthy behaviors overall than their heterosexually active peers.”
He notes those behaviors include binge drinking, illegal drugs, dating violence and even the use of tanning beds.
While Stanton points out, “It’s difficult to determine from this CDC report alone just how these various measures are related to one another,” he does believe, “the sexual choices and values our young people hold have real-life consequences far beyond sexuality itself.”
He writes, “Obviously, there’s a curious and meaningful relationship between our teens’ sexual values and activity and a substantial number of unanticipated but very consequential health behaviors.