Yet another reason the anti-sex Christianist enclaves in the Red States are so—forgive the expression—fucked up. A new identical twins study at the University of Virginia:

The researchers analyzed data on 534 same-sex twin pairs in the United States gathered at three time points over a seven-year period. By examining surveys of twins, the investigators were able to eliminate the genetic and socio-economic variables that otherwise might influence the behaviors of adolescents.

“We got a very surprising finding, particularly that early sex seems to forecast less antisocial behavior a few years later, rather than more,” said Kathryn Paige Harden, the study’s lead author and a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia.

Well, I always knew sex was good for something!

“Our hypothesis as a result of this finding is that teens who become involved in intimate romantic relationships early are having sex early and more often, but that those intimate relationships might later protect them from becoming involved in delinquent acts later,” Harden said. “People assume there is an association between early sex and later delinquency. It could be because teen sex transgresses parental expectations and is seen as impulsive or influenced by peer pressure. But people’s concerns about early sex leading to delinquency may not be warranted.”

Harden does acknowledge that early adolescent sexuality is linked to early pregnancy and disease, but these risks are not inevitable. She notes that in other Western countries, such as Australia, there are similar rates and patterns of teen sexual activity as in the United States, but drastically lower rates of teen pregnancy. She attributes this to a poor level of sexual health knowledge in the United States, ineffective contraceptive use and lower abortion rates.

So, abstinence programs cause crime? Looks like it!

Leave it to the Conservatives to come up with a solution to a non-existent problem that makes life worse for everybody. Iraq, anyone?