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Abstract
This analysis of newspaper articles about virginity pledges published from 1987 to 2001 describes prominent news frames on sex education. The articles focused on True Love Waits, a nationwide virginity pledge campaign encouraging abstinence, and results from Add Health (TLW), a longitudinal study that included questions to evaluate the effects of virginity pledges. Our results show how news frames and sources can vary for related events. Reporting on virginity pledges was often not grounded in science, and reporting on the science of pledges did not reflect a broader context. In this case, reporting may have encouraged support for abstinence-only programs.
Acknowledgments
We thank Jane Brown, Andy Perrin, Wendy Wolford, and Krista Perreira for providing thoughtful commentary on drafts of this manuscript.
Notes
1Numbers may not add to 100% due to rounding.
2The miscellaneous category groups all sources linked only once to that frame.