Nontraditional gender roles and the sexual experiences of heterosexual college students

The purposes of this study of heterosexual college students were (1) to specify gender differences and similarities in sexual beliefs and experiences, (2) to determine the prevalence of women enacting traditional male roles in dating and sexual interactions, and (3) to examine the relationship between women's enactment of traditional male roles and their sexual experiences. Findings for this predominantly Caucasian sample indicated that there were no significant gender differences in age of first intercourse, frequency of intercourse, oral sex participation, prevalence of coitus and anal sex, rating of how often sex partners satisfied their sex needs and desires, and reactions to recent intercourse. Although less than men's frequencies, sizable proportions of women acknowledged they had multiple sex partners and sex without emotional involvement. Support for an increased proportion of females engaging in the traditional male roles of initiating sexual involvement and dates and paying date expenses was also found. Findings also suggested that there are no simple patterns between women's sexual experience and nontraditional roles but that this association depends on the specific role as well as the status and quality of a woman's current sexual relationship. Findings were discussed in terms of their potential to contribute to women's sexual decisions.     

How Gendered Attitudes Relate to Women’s and Men’s Sexual Behaviors and Beliefs

This study examines associations between endorsement of a sexual double standard, gender role attitudes, and sexual behaviors and beliefs. First year university students in the northeastern United States (N = 434; 52 % female; 33 % Black, 29 % Latino, 39 % White; ages 17–19) participated during their first year of college. Endorsement of a sexual double standard was associated with more conventionally gender-stereotyped sexual behaviors and beliefs, specifically, more sexual partners and fewer perceived barriers to condom use for young men, and more perceived barriers to condom use for young women. Women who were more conventional about men’s roles in society tended to use condoms less, whereas women who were more conventional about women’s roles tended to use condoms more. Men who were more conventional about men’s roles tended to have fewer sexual partners. Findings suggest the importance of examining gender’s role in sexual behaviors and beliefs by assessing multiple gendered attitudes, rather than simply considering biological sex.     

A Mediation Model of Sexual Assault among Latter-Day Saints

Socialization that occurs within some conservative Christian contexts might facilitate development of attitudes and beliefs that increase women’s risk for sexual assault. Patriarchal community structure and rigid gender role adherence place women in subordinate roles and maintain gender inequality. Within conservative, dogmatic contexts, comprehensive sex education and education about assault might be minimal, and rape myths are hypothesized to be more prevalent. This study assessed sexual assault experiences (victimization and perpetration) in a sample of 208 male and female college students affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). Women reported victimization of all forms of sexual coercion at higher rates than men reported perpetration. In addition, traditional gender role adherence mediated the link between dogmatic, religiously fundamentalist beliefs and acceptance of rape mythology for both men and women. Traditional gender role adherence also mediated the link between religious fundamentalism and sexual assault behaviors for men.     

Gender,Age, and Rape-Supportive Rules

Social rules regarding sexual behavior indicate when sex may be desired, expected, or obligatory. Some of these rules legitimize a man's initiation of sex with a woman regardless of the woman's desires or intentions; such situations could potentially lead to rape. Middle school, high school, and university students completed a Rules About Sex Questionnaire on which they indicated the situations in which a man could assume a woman wants to have sex. The results indicated that girls and women endorsed fewer rules than did boys and men. University students endorsed the fewest rules, and middle school students endorsed the most rules. Endorsement of rules was associated with boys' and men's self-reported sexually coercive behavior and with beliefs about who should initiate sex. The findings may be useful in the design of sexual assault prevention programs for adolescents.     

Gender’s Role in Misperceptions of Peers’ Sexual Motives

The sexual double standard influences men’s and women’s sexual attitudes and behavior, leading men and women to consider distinct sexual motives, or reasons whether or not to engage in sexual intercourse. The goal of the present paper was to document how the sexual double standard shapes perceptions of peers’ sexual motives. We build on past research by using open-ended questions and measuring perceptions of both same-gender and other-gender peers. The sample included 154 heterosexual college students (50 % female, 49 % European American, 25 % Latino American, 26 % African American) recruited via probability sampling. When we compared perceptions of men’s and women’s sexual motives, we found that participants seemed to rely on the sexual double standard. Participants were more likely to attribute a female-stereotyped motive (e.g., romantic relationship characteristics, feeling “ready”, emotional investment) and less likely to attribute a male-stereotyped motive (“easy”, arousal, physical appearance) to female peers than to male peers. However, when we compared participants’ own motives to perceptions of their peers’ motives, participants overestimated male-stereotyped motives and underestimated female-stereotyped motives in peers, regardless of peer gender, possibly in congruence with stereotypes of hookup culture. These findings demonstrate that, although individuals sometimes rely on the sexual double standard to attribute sexual motives to others, misperceptions of peers’ sexual motives may also be influenced by stereotypes of hookup culture. These misperceptions contribute to pluralistic ignorance that may influence college students’ sexual behaviors.     

Factors predicting the probability of initiating sexual intercourse by context and sex

Despite men initiating sex more than women there is considerable variance within the sexes. This study is the first to consider the impact of multiple predictors from the literature, and investigates how factors, such as relationship length, sociosexuality, and different aspects of self‐perceived mate value among others, independently and interactively predict initiation of sexual intercourse in both short‐term sexual and long‐term romantic mating contexts, testing predictions from Sexual strategies theory. For long‐term relationships, positive partner bond increased initiative to sexual intercourse for women. For men, self‐perceived independence increased probability of taking the initiative, while relationship attachment decreased probability. For short‐term relations, the desire component of the sociosexual orientation inventory increased probability of initiation for both sexes, while male initiative was increased by pleasure reasons for sex. The impact of individual predictors on initiating intercourse is influenced by being included in a multidimensional model, and relationship context affects the impact of the predictors.     

College Men's Perceived Likelihood to Perpetrate Sexual Aggression

This study implemented a prospective design to explore the relationship between college men's perceived likelihood to perpetrate sexual aggression and their perpetration of sexual aggression over a three-month interim (N = 414). Compared to men's report of their likelihood to use physical force to obtain sex play or sexual intercourse, college men reported higher levels of perceived likelihood to use arguments or pressure to obtain sex play or sexual intercourse as well as drugs and alcohol to obtain sexual intercourse. Prospective analyses revealed that the majority of men who perpetrated sexual aggression over the follow-up period indicated that they were at some risk to do so at the pretest assessment. Implications for sexual assault prevention programming are discussed.     

Patient–Provider Communication About Sexual Health: The Relationship with Gender, Age, Gender-Stereotypical Beliefs, and Perceptions of Communication Inappropriateness

This investigation examined patient–provider communication about sexual health related to gender and age. Data were collected from 277 individuals, aged 18–60, via convenience and snowball sampling at a large university in southwestern United States. Results indicate women are more proactive about their sexual health than men and tested for STDs more frequently. Women, more than men, initiate discussions with their healthcare provider about sexual health matters and healthcare providers are more likely to initiate communication about such matters with women than men. Men hold stronger gender-stereotypical beliefs than women, are less likely to initiate conversations about sexual issues with their provider, and believe sexual discussions with their partner are inappropriate. Age relates to sexual activity initiation and perceived STD risk.     

Attachment,sexual experience,and sexual pressure in romantic relationships: A dyadic approach

The goal of this research was to extend the previously documented associations between attachment style and sexual experiences in samples of adolescents and college students to adult couples in committed romantic relationships. A sample of 273 French‐Canadian heterosexual couples aged 18–35 years completed measures of attachment‐related anxiety and avoidance, sexual coercion, and sexual experiences in their relationships. Avoidant attachment was related to two strategies for limiting intimacy in sexual relationships: avoidance of sexual encounters and avoidance of sexual fantasies about one’s partner (the latter for women only). Anxious attachment appeared to interfere with comfortable intimacy, especially among men, who viewed their partner as avoiding sex and who applied more insistent pressure to have sex.     

Associations between insecure attachment and sexual experiences

Associations between insecure attachment and sexual experiences were tested in a sample of 328 college students. Variations in adult attachment previously have been shown to relate to sexual behaviors, with the current study extending earlier work by examining different sexual outcomes and by testing factors that may account for these relations. Avoidant attachment was expected to relate to engagement in casual sex (i.e., a greater number of sexual partners and lower percentage of partners within committed relationships), with less restrictive sexual beliefs mediating the relations. In contrast, anxious attachment was expected to relate to more unwanted but consensual sexual experiences, and to more negative affect about sexual experiences, with low self‐esteem mediating the relations. Results showed some support for the hypotheses. Avoidant attachment was related to the type (but not number) of sexual partners, with sexual beliefs mediating the relations. A greater number of unwanted but consensual sexual experiences related to anxious and avoidant attachment for women and to avoidant attachment for men. Anxiety related to negative affect for women and men, and self‐esteem served as a partial mediator of these relations.     

The Influence of Observed Alcohol Consumption on Perceptions of Initiation of Sexual Activity in a College Dating Situation

Corcoran and Bell (1990) found differences between men and women's expectancies for the likelihood of sexual intercourse on a first date depending on how much the other had to drink. The present study examined the subjects' perceptions of likelihood of male and female initiation of sexual intercourse in a story in which the drinking of male or female characters was varied. Subjects read a story of a first date in which one character. either the male or female, consumed a couple of cocktails. The other character either "also had a couple of cocktails.""drank soft drinks," or "became slightly intoxicated." A manipulation check showed that the subjects were responding to story variables in their ratings of characters intoxication. Men were perceived to be more likely than women to initiate intercourse across all drinking conditions, although results indicate that all subjects believed that sexual activity was more likely to be initiated when story characters consumed alcohol rather than soft drinks. These results further demonstrated that this expectancy for initiation of sex appears to be triggered by the presence of alcohol and did not significantly increase for a higher dose of alcohol. More research is necessary to clarify the role of alcohol in sexuality among adolescents and young adults.     

Changes in HIV treatment beliefs and sexual risk behaviors among gay and bisexual men, 1997-2005.

OBJECTIVE: Beliefs about HIV treatment effectiveness and the impact of HIV treatments on HIV transmission risks were initially related to sexual risk-taking in the late 1990s when multidrug HIV treatments first became available. This study examined changes in beliefs about the effects of HIV treatment for preventing HIV transmission and their association to sexual risk behaviors between the years 1997 and 2005. DESIGN: Anonymous surveys were administered to a convenience sample of gay and bisexual men attending a large community event in Atlanta, Georgia in 1997 (N = 498) and again at the same community event in 2005 (N = 448). Analyses were performed for men living with HIV/AIDS and for men who have not been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rates of unprotected anal intercourse in the previous 3 months. RESULTS: There were significant increases in high-risk sexual practices that coincided with increased beliefs that HIV treatments can reduce the chance of transmitting HIV. However, optimistic beliefs about the health benefits of HIV treatments decreased over the 8 years and were not related to risk behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Beliefs about how HIV treatments impact HIV infectiousness remain associated with HIV transmission risk behavior and interventions targeting at-risk as well as HIV-positive men who have sex with men must directly address these beliefs and perceptions.     

The influence of sex and sex role orientation on sexual coercion

One hundred female and 77 male college students completed a questionnaire in which they indicated whether they had ever used physical or verbal coercive strategies to initiate sexual behavior with a partner, or had ever engaged in sexual behavior in response to a partner's coercive initiatives. Results showed that males are far more likely than females to initiate coerced sexual behavior and females are more likely to be victimized. In addition, masculine persons reported using coercive strategies more than other sex role orientation types. However, this was due principally to the fact that males were masculine types much more frequently than females. Therefore, sex (that is, being male or female) seems a more critical factor in determining, initiating, or responding to sexual coercion than sex role orientation.     

Comparison of Marine and College Women's HIV/AIDS-Relevant Sexual Behaviors1

This study compares the heterosexual risk behaviors, perceptions of vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, and predictors of condom use of two groups of women with very different sexual and contraceptive histories and habits–college women and women in Marine Corps recruit training. The Marines' s]exual behaviors put them at greater risk of contracting HIV than the college students; that is, Marines reported more frequent intercourse with more partners, used condoms less frequently, and had less knowledge about HIV/AIDS transmission. Consistent with these differences, college students displayed a larger illusion of unique invulnerability than did the Marines. In general, the women who had more sexual partners and more frequent sexual intercourse were less likely to report regularly using condoms. In addition, the data provide support for Weinstein and Nicholich's (1993) recent suggestion that the relation between risk perception and risk behavior is different for different groups of people.     

Ethnic differences in female sexual victimization

This study examined the link between ethnicity, early sexual victimization experiences and college sesual assault in a sample of 383 undergraduate women. One third of the sample (32.9%) had experienced some form of sexual assault during college (22% of whom reported that they had been raped), and 52 percent had experienced unwanted sexual activity before the age of 18 (17.5% of whom reported that a family member or trusted family friend asked for or forced sexual activities). There were substantial differences among the Black, White, Hispanic and Asian women on two of four measures of college sexual assault. Black women had the highest and Asian women the lowest incidence of forced intercourse through verbal threats or pressure. Hispanic women had the highest and Black women the lowest incidence of attempted rape. Black and White women were almost three times as likely as Hispanic women to have had experiences that meet the legal definition of rape, but do not consider themselves rape victims. There were significant differences in college victimization experiences as a result of experiencing incest before age 18, experiencing extrafamilial sesual abuse before age 18, and the use of alcohol. Ethnicity interacted with alcohol use and early experiences with extrafamilial sexual abuse. However, the effect of incest on college victimization was similar for the women in the study, regardless of ethnicity.     

Father–Daughter Communication About Sex Moderates the Association Between Exposure to MTV’s 16 and Pregnant/Teen Mom and Female Students’ Pregnancy-Risk Behavior

MTV’s hit programs 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom have been the subject of national debate since their inception. Supporters contend that the shows inhibit pregnancy-risk behavior. Critics contend that the shows glamorize adolescent motherhood and encourage pregnancy-risk behavior. The present study explored the possibility that the association between viewing 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom and student females’ pregnancy-risk behavior depends on the extent to which females’ parents communicated with them about sex while they were growing up. Survey data were gathered from 313 female students. A disordinal interaction was found between father–daughter sexual communication, viewing frequency, and recent intercourse behavior. Frequent viewing was associated with an increased probability of having engaged in recent intercourse for females whose fathers did not communicate with them about sex while growing up. Conversely, frequent viewing was associated with a decreased probability of having engaged in recent intercourse for females whose fathers often communicated about sex with them while growing up. No interaction was found between mother–daughter sexual communication, viewing frequency, and recent intercourse behavior. These results suggest that fathers may play an especially important role in determining how sexual media socialize their daughters.     

Sexual harassment of university students

The sexual harassment of junior, senior, and graduate student women and men by male and female professors, graduate assistants, and staff was investigated to determine students' personal experiences in the classroom, outside the classroom, and in job-related settings. Usable survey responses were returned by 393 students, and incidents were detailed by 38 women and 9 men who noted their responses to the harassment and its effects. Attitudes toward and acceptance of sexually harassing behaviors were measured by a 10-item Tolerance for Sexual Harassment Inventory (TSHI). The frequency of initiation of sexual behaviors was also assessed. More women than men reported being sexually harassed. Male and female perceptions of classroom behaviors were in agreement for most items. Men and women differed significantly on the TSHI, with men more tolerant of sexual harassment than women, and highly significant age differences were found, indicating a greater acceptance of sexual harassment by younger students. There was little difference between male and female students in the frequency of their initiating sexual behaviors. The TSHI was assessed; reliability coefficients and a factor analysis are presented.This research was supported by a grant from the College of Arts and Sciences. We are grateful to Betty Jones and Joan Bentley for their secretarial assistance.     

Come-ons and Put-offs: Unmarried Students' Strategies for Having and Avoiding Sexual Intercourse

One-hundred and twenty male and 109 female unmarried college students participated in a questionnaire study of actual and expected male-female differences in the use of 10 strategies for having and avoiding sexual intercourse. As predicted, both men and women viewed strategies for having sex as used predominantly by males and strategies for avoiding sex as used predominantly by females. However, sex-role attitudes were unrelated to students' expectations of sexual encounters. Both traditional and profeminist students expected that strategies for having sex would be used predominantly by males and strategies for avoiding sex would be used predominantly by females. It appeared that students still stereotyped having sex as a male goal and avoiding sex as a female goal. Men and women were unexpectedly similar in their personal strategies for influencing a sexual encounter. Both men and women reported using more indirect strategies to have sex and more direct strategies to avoid having sex. These findings suggest that when men and women share the same goals (such as having or avoiding sex), expected differences between male and female influencing agents disappear     

Gender and ethnic differences in sexual attitudes at a Hispanic-serving university

The authors studied sexual attitudes in 328 university students from 10 undergraduate classes at a Hispanic-serving university near the Texas-Mexico border. Men (n = 128) and women (n = 199) rated their level of agreement with 38 items on a revised sexuality questionnaire. There were 283 self-identified Hispanic students and 44 self-identified non-Hispanic students in the sample. For the most part, these students agreed with one another, although there were statistically significant differences, with women being less permissive or more sex negative than men were on items relating to oral sex, premarital intercourse, love and sex, masturbation, Playboy magazine, and pornography. For the entire sample, 26 of the 38 items showed statistically significant gender differences. For Hispanics only, 23 of the 38 items showed statistically significant differences, with gender differences those of the sample as whole. There were 8 statistically significant differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students, with Hispanic students tending to be more conservative. The authors discuss findings that are contradictory to D. M. Buss's (1999, 2000) evolutionary psychology jealousy theory, namely that women in the present study were more jealous than men were on the sexual intercourse item.