Regarding adolescent sexual activity decision-making, did this study include any questions on religious beliefs?
Yes, we looked at a range of religions and religious beliefs. Simply stated, religion itself appears to have no impact on an adolescents’ sexual behavior. Secondly, mothers’ religiosity (how religious or spiritual she says she is) also has no effect on her teenagers’ sexual behaviors. We have also looked at individual teenagers church attendance and that too does not appear to have a significantly positive impact. Did teens in the survey indicate that they thought of long-term implications of pregnancy in their decision to engage in sexual activity or not? The question about long-term implications itself was not asked in that direction. There is evidence, however, that the capacity to project one’s self into the future is a developmental phenomenon that emerges in adolescence. Many adolescents don’t have a long-term view of most things, nor have sense of what the long-term consequences are. That having been said, the same is true for many adults. Even if there is a slight positive tren
