And while the vast majority of single people do eventually have sex sometime outside of marriage, Mormon teens were unusually likely to act on their beliefs. Only 12.6 percent of Mormon teens had had sex, compared to 18 percent of evangelicals and Catholics, 15 percent of mainliners and 19 percent of Jewish teens. (Mormon teens are also, incidentally, much more likely than any other religious group to report using birth control at first sex, perhaps partly because more Mormons are married before they have sex, but maybe also because the rest REALLY don't want their moms to find out.)
"Mormons are distinctive, absolutely, and even from their conservative evangelical cousins", as Regnerus told me. His new research focuses on the sex lives of teens, but other research suggests LDS church members are far less likely to have children out of wedlock, more likely to marry, and to have somewhat larger families (Utah is the only state where non-Hispanic white women have on average slightly more than two children).
All that delayed gratification adds up to good things for children and society. Not to mention, ambitious Young Readers take note, an unusually straight shot at the White House. Or at least, one less thing to worry about.