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Is virginity the new rock 'n' roll? That intriguing question was posed not long ago by no less dignified a publication than the British Medical Journal. While virginity isn't exactly igniting most high school and college campuses with the same excitement as, say, a Saturday afternoon football pep rally, a growing number of adolescents are making the choice to postpone their first sexual experience until marriage, believing that doing otherwise may be risky business. At …

…of Advocates for Youth, points to research showing that when adolescents have taken "virginity pledges" as part of sex-education programs -- but then eventually break those pledges and become sexually active -- they are more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors. "These young people are at more risk of having unprotected sex because they don't have information about contraception, or they have been told that condoms don't work so they feel they shouldn't use them