A Cross Generational Study on the Attitudes Toward Premarital Sex

Kim A. Young
Missouri Western State College
December 3, 1995

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to try to determine if there was a difference in the attitudes about the acceptability of premarital sex between two generations. Previous research has shown that while sexual behaviors and attitudes became more relaxed after the invention of "the pill", the trends of college students after 1974 appear to becoming more conservative. A survey that I created was given to 93 college students in 3 psychology classes. These students were asked to send a copy of the survey to one of their parents and return their completed survey to me. The parent survey was to be mailed to my home. I received a total of 94 responses that fell into the two age categories that I had decided to study. There were 21 respondents in the 38-45 age group and 73 in the 18-25 age group. I then compared the data by creating a spreadsheet and then doing a 2x2 MANOVA on the computer. There was a significant result in 7 out of the 20 questions when comparing the two age groups and in 2 out of the 20 questions when comparing the males and the females. I believe that this data shows a distinct trend of the younger generation toward being more accepting of premarital sex than the older age group, but I also think that love is playing a more significant role in whether or not sexual activities are taking place within a relationship. Overall, I would say that this study shows a definite trend toward less conservative attitudes and more openness about sex than has been seen in the past.

Introduction

Many studies on the public attitudes about sexual conduct have been done in the past. Many of these have concentrated on homosexual behaviors, deviant behaviors, and other sexual practices that are outside the mainstream views of American Society. There are few that have dealt solely with the attitudes of society on premarital sexual practices. Ira Reiss has been the major figure in the development of a sociological analysis of premarital sex through his conceptualization and research efforts (Bell, 1966). According to Reiss (1990) premarital sexual intercourse changed dramatically during the last sexual revolution. Since the late 1970's the percentage of women having premarital intercourse has surpassed the 80 percent mark. In a study of premarital sexual activity since the 1960's, Masters, Johnson, and Kolodny (1986) said that the pill made premarital sex considerably safer and permitted millions to think of sex as relational and recreational rather than procreational.

Other research has been done on the value trends of college students. In surveys given to college students between 1974 and 1989 several questions concerning sexual attitudes were asked and it was determined that there was a move toward conservative attitudes on premarital sex after 1974 (Hoge and Hoge, 1992). This seems to contradict the finding of the other researchers mentioned here, but the sexual behavior of an individual does not necessarily reflect his or her attitudes about sex(LaPiere, 1934).

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference in the attitudes about premarital sex between college age, 18-25, students and the previous generation, 38-45. It also looked at the differences of males and females of both age groups and compared their attitudes.

Methods

Subjects

The subjects for this study were taken from three psychology classes at Missouri Western State College. A survey on sexual practices and beliefs was filled out by 93 students in child psychology, abnormal psychology, and general psychology. They were then asked to mail a blank survey to one of their parents. I received 28 surveys in the mail over the next 3 weeks. Some of the students in the classes were non-traditional students. These students mailed a copy of the survey to one of their children if that child was 18 years of age or older.

Materials

The survey that was used was one that I created myself. It consisted of 20 questions that dealt with sexual practices, attitudes, and basic demographics such as age, sex, and marital status. The subjects were each given two surveys and two prestamped enveloped, one of which was preaddressed to me. You will find a copy of this survey at the end of this paper.

Procedure

The surveys were handed out to the students who happened to be in attendance on the day that I randomly chose to visit each class. They were each asked to fill out a survey, return it to me, and then mail the other survey and the blank envelop inside the preaddressed envelop to a parent or a child of age 18 or older. Each subject who participated that day was given extra credit by the instructor of the class.

Results

I sorted the completed surveys into three groups; the 18-25 age group, the 38-45 age group, and the group of surveys that did not fit into either of these groups. The third group was discarded. I then created a spreadsheet and entered the coded information from each survey into it. I had a total of 94 subjects with 21 of those being in the 38-45 age group and 73 in the 18-25 group. At this time a 2x2 MANOVA was preformed on the data. In the comparison of age group by sex there was a significant finding on only question 7 (Ù(20,40) =.46,p<.05). It should be noted that any results found on question 7 in this study were highly skewed due the answer of 500 sexual partners submitted by one of the age group 2 males. When comparing the males and females of all the subjects significant results were found on questions 3 (Ù(20,40)=.01,p<.05) and question 18 (Ù(20,40)=.001,p<.05). The main focus of the study was one the differences between the two age groups and there were 6 questions that showed a significance. Question 1 (Ù(20,40)=.051,p=.05), question 11 (Ù(20,40)=.001,p<.05), question 12 (Ù(20,40)=.004,p<.05), question 5 (Ù(20,40)=.049,p<.05), question 6 (Ù(20,40)=.009,p<.05), and question 8 (Ù(20,40)=.008,p<.05). The averages of these results can be seen in Table 1.

Discussion

The results of this study appear to show that even though the 18-25 group[ are learning about sex and having sex at a younger age than the 38-45 group did, they are having sex with fewer people. It also tells us that females are more concerned with love and potential commitment than males are. This is a contrast to stereotypical past beliefs that said that "men use relationships to get sex and women use sex to get a relationship". My findings tend to support Masters, Johnson, and Kolodny(1986) when they state that the pill has made sex more relational and recreational, but I think they also support Hoge and Hoge(1986) in the belief that college student trends a re becoming more conservative. Premarital sex is obviously more accepted today than it was 20 years ago by college age students, but they are also becoming aware of the need for true emotional attachments in connection with physical pleasure.

There were two main problems with the research that I did for this study. One was that the high number of partners reported by the one older male should have been removed to keep the results from being so highly skewed and the other was that the number of younger subjects outnumbered the older subjects 3 to 1. I think the results may have been more significant if the subjects in each group had been equal. I would like to see further research done in this are to try and determine if peer pressure and the public pressure of AIDS commercials is having any effect on the number of people who are willing to engage in premarital sex.

References

Bell, R. (1966). Premarital sex in a changing society, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Hoge, D.R. & Hoge, J.L., (1992). The return of the fifties? Value trends at the University of Michigan, 1952 to 1989. Sociological Quarterly, 33. 611-623.
Lapiere, R.T., (1934). Not practicing what you preach. In R. R. Hock Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of psychological research. (pp.280-286). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Masters, W.H., Johnson, V.E., & Kolodny, R.C., (1986). Masters and Johnson on sex and human loving. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.
Reiss, I.L., (1990). An end to shame: Shaping our next sexual revolution, Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.

SURVEY

Age:__________
Sex: M F
Marital Status: S M W D
1. How old were you when you first learned about sex? _____
2. Where did you get the majority of your information about sex? (Circle one) mother father school church friends spouse other(specify)____________
3. Do you believe that it is important to love someone if you are going to have sex with them? Yes No
4 Are you sexually active? Yes No
5. Do you believe it is okay to have sex before marriage? Yes No
6. Is it okay to have sex before marriage if it is with the person you are planning to marry? Yes No
7. How many sexual partners have you had? ______
8. How old were you at the time of your first sexual intercourse? ______
9. Is it a sin to have sex with someone you are not married to? Yes No
10. Have all of your sexual encounters been consensual? Yes No
11. After the first time you had sex, did you tell anyone? Yes No
12. If you answered yes to question 11, how many people did you tell?
1-5 6-10 11-15 16 or more
13. Do you believe that all or most of your friends have had sex outside of marriage? Yes No
14. Do you talk openly with your friends about your sex life? Yes No
15. In a sexually active relationship, who is responsible for providing a means of birth control?(circle one) male female both neither
16. If a woman gets pregnant, should she marry the father of the child? Yes No
17. Is it alright to have sex on the first date? Yes No
18. Is it okay to have sex just for fun if both people involved agree and don't expect a relationship to develop? Yes No
19. Would you tell or have you told your parents about your sexual activities before marriage? Yes No
20. Did your parents have sex before they were married? Yes No Don't know

Table 1


                   YOUNGER    OLDER
Question 1         10 yrs     12 yrs
Question 5         75%        48%
Question 6         85%        57%
Question 7         3 partners 27 partners
Question 8         16 yrs     17.5 yrs

                   Male       Female
Question 3         70%        96%
Question 18        61%        24%

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