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in the eye of the signer, I said.
There may be very good reasons for the peer pressure but if the person who goes along with it only does so because of the pressure (not because they believe in the reasons) then they aren't going to feel particularly bound by the commitment.
The reason why you commit is more important than the commitment. Believing that it is best to wait until marriage and not explicitly making the promise is likely (in my view) to be more effective than not really believing it but making the promise anyway (which would explain why effectiveness goes down as a "program" induces more kids in a population to do it; when a small population does it, it is the kids who already have internalized that idea but as you expand you get the kids who just want a piece of jewelry or are doing it because Susan is doing it).
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