UNDATED (CNN) -- The HPV vaccine does not cause increased sexual activity among pre-teen girls.
That's the conclusion of a new study in this week's edition of the journal "Pediatrics."
The controversial vaccine inoculates people against the human papillomavirus.
The virus is a common sexually transmitted disease that causes a variety of illnesses, including cervical and throat cancers.
Researchers looked at the number of pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and contraceptive use in more than 13-hundred pre-teen girls who received the vaccine.
They followed the girls for three-years and found no significant increase in any of these sexual activities.
The authors note while it's known that having sex at an early age with multiple partners is a risk factor for getting H-P-V, their study is the first to find that getting vaccinated does not modify these young girls' sexual behavior.