经济学人下载:婚前守贞可能的确有作用

Science and Technology Premarital sex The waiting game
科技 婚前性行为 等待的游戏

Chastity before marriage may have its uses after all
婚前守贞可能的确有作用

WHEN is it the right time to do the deed?
什么时候做爱做的事情合适呢？

If priests had their way, it would be shortly after the wedding ceremony—but recent studies show such advice is rarely heeded.
如果让神父们来说，这档事应当发生在在结婚典礼的不久之后——但是最近的研究显示，这样的建议很少得到人们的重视。

Roughly 85% of the American population, for example, approves of premarital sex.
比如说，大约85%的美国人赞同婚前性行为。

Faced with numbers like that, what hope do the Vatican and its ilk really have?
面对这样子的数据，梵蒂冈和它的同仁们又到底是做何想法呢?

More than they did a week ago. Until now, the argument that couples should wait until they are married before they have sex has rested on mere assertion and anecdote.
相对于已在一周前亲热过的情侣来说，现今依旧认为夫妇应将童贞留于婚后的论调，已仅仅成了一种口头宣言或是奇闻轶事。

Dean Busby and his colleagues at Brigham Young University, in Utah, however, have gathered some data which support delay.
然而，犹他州杨百翰大学的院长Busby和他的同事却收集了一些数据来支持延迟（婚前的）性行为的做法。

Fabian tactics
费边战术

Little is known about the influence of sexual timing on how relationships develop.
目前，还不清楚性交往的时间节奏安排对两性关系发展会产生怎样的影响。

Even so, opinions abound.
但即便如此，各种意见观点仍然比比皆是。

Some argue that the sexual organs, both physical and mental (for, as the old saw has it, the most powerful erotic organ is the mind) need a test drive to make sure the chemistry between a couple means they will stay together both in sickness and in health.
有人认为，性器官包括生理和心理两部分（比如，如古谚所言，最能引发人情欲的器官是人心），它们需要一种驱动性的考验以确保情侣两人身上的化学吸引能够维持长久，让两人能够同甘共苦。

Others suggest that couples who delay or abstain from sexual intimacy early on allow communication to become the foundation of their attraction, and that this helps to ensure that companionship and partnership keep them together when the initial flames of lust die down.
还有人认为，推迟过早的亲密性行为或者禁欲的情侣，他们之间的沟通理解成为了相互间吸引力的基础，这样以来，即使他们最初燃烧着的爱之欲火慢慢熄灭，他们也可以保持长久的友谊和伙伴关系。

To examine these suggestions more closely, Dr Busby and his colleagues recruited 2,035 married people ranging in age from 19 to 71,
为了更进一步的去检验这些意见观点，Busby博士和他的同事征集到了2,035对已婚夫妇的数据，他们的年龄从19岁到70岁不等，

and in length of marriage from less than six months to more than 20 years. Their religious affiliations varied widely; many had none.
婚龄从不满六个月到超过20年不等，而且他们的宗教信仰差异也非常之大，很多人没有宗教信仰。

All were asked to complete an online questionnaire normally used to help couples understand their strengths and weaknesses.
所有的夫妇都被要求填写一份网上问卷调查，以帮助夫妇了解自己的长处和弱点。

Among the nearly 300 questions, participants were asked when they first had sex with their partners, whether their sex lives were currently good, how they resolved conflicts, and how often they thought of ending their relationship.
在将近300个问题中，参与者被问及到他们第一次与自己伴侣发生性行为的时间，他们的性生活目前是否良好，和他们如何处理矛盾冲突以及他们考虑终结伴侣关系这种想法的频繁程度。

In addition, the questionnaire had 14 items that evaluated how good participants were at expressing empathy and understanding to their partners and how prone they were to be critical or defensive.
此外，这项问卷调查还有14个项目，评估参与者能够多好的向他们的伴侣表达自己的同情和理解，以及他们在面临批评或自我防御辩护时将倾向于做什么。

All questions, apart from those about frequency of sex, were answered on a five-point scale, with one indicating strong disagreement and five indicating strong agreement.
所有的问题，除了性爱频度以外，选择的回答都是五分制计量的，由初始的1分表达强烈的反对到5分表达强烈的赞同。

Because religiosity delays sexual activity, Dr Busby and his colleagues also asked participants how often they attended church, how often they prayed and whether they felt spirituality was an important part of their lives. They used the answers to control for religiosity.
由于笃信宗教可以延缓性活动，Busby博士和他的同事同样也询问调查参与者他们出入教堂参与教会活动的频率，他们多久祷告一次以及他们是否认为精神生活是他们生活中重要的一部分。

They also controlled for income, education, race and length of relationship.
他们采用的答案限定了信仰虔诚度，同样他们的答案也划分限制了不同的收入、受教育程度、种族以及两性关系维系长度。

Their report, just published in the Journal of Family Psychology, suggests that people who delay having sex do indeed have better relationships, on four different measures (see table).
他们刚刚在《家庭心理学杂志》发表的的报告认为，那些延缓推迟性行为的伴侣在四种不同的测量比较上（见文图）的确拥有一份更良好的两性关系。

That result applies to both men and women.
并且这个结果同时适用于男性和女性。

Unfortunately, Dr Busby’s method cannot distinguish the cause of this.
但不幸的是，Busby的方法不能区分到底是什么原因导致的这个结果。

It could be, as many moralists preach, that the delay itself is improving. It could, though, be that the sort of people who are happy to delay having sex are also better at relationships.
正如很多道德说教所言，这结果很有可能是因为延缓推迟（性行为）本身就正在经历改变。然而，这也有可能是因为乐于推迟性生活的人更善于经营两性关系。

Correlation, in other words, rather than causation.
换言之，这是一种相互左右的关系，而不是因果关系。

That is material for another study.
谈到婚姻则是另一份研究学问了。

If the result persists, though, even when personality is taken into account, it will provide useful ammunition for priests and marriage-guidance counsellors.
如果这个结论还是坚持其所持观点，那么即使考虑到人不同的性格问题，它也不免成为神父和婚姻指导顾问的强力攻击火药。