Among college virgins, religious conviction drives only a minority of abstention.

Evidence

I asked the virgins who completed the Secret Survey in January 1996 why they had remained virgins. Only 22% (mainly Highs) cited religious reasons. Another 16% reported they were saving themselves for marriage (but not because of their religious beliefs). The most common answer (27%) was they were waiting for a sufficiently serious love relationship, the “right person.” Some 11% were ready and willing but had “not had the opportunity.” “Being scared” and fear of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases rounded out the responses. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2245

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the vault’s claims about authoritarian religiosity vs. actual motivated behavior — here religious reasons barely top a fifth of abstention motives even among Highs.