Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1976, Vol. 44, No. 1. 7-19
Sexual Attitudes and Experience: Attitude and Personality Correlates and Changes Produced by a Course in Sexuality Marvin Zuckerman, Richard Tushup, and Steven Finner University of Delaware The study investigated the changes in sexual attitudes and behavior that might be effected by a course in human sexuality. The subjects were 555 students enrolled in courses in personality psychology and human sexuality. Males were more permissive in attitudes and had experience with a greater number of partners than females. Attitudes and experience were more highly related in females. Students taking the sex course were more permissive and experienced than students in the control course. The course seems to have changed attitudes in both sexes, but it changed behavior only in males, relative to changes occurring in the control group. Religious attitudes and personality correlates of sexual attitudes and experience are reported.
Recent years have witnessed a phenomenal increase in college courses in human sexuality. Little is known of the impact of these courses on the attitudes and behavior of the students taking them. Apart from the expected increase in sexual information, a course taught by a faculty with permissive attitudes toward sexual expression may result in attitude changes toward greater permissiveness in the students taking the course. Whether this results in changes in sexual experience during the course is problematical. While the text, audiovisual materials, and discussion may be erotically stimulating, the literature on the effects of such stimulation on behavior (Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, 1970) suggests that the stimulation only results in transient increases in the established sexual pattern but does not lead to the initiation of new forms of sexual behavior or a search for new partners. However, the erotic stimulation in these studies is usually brief, while the stimulation from a 14-week course could conceivably effect significant behavioral changes in many students. Attitudinal and behavioral changes may also depend on the type of student attracted to such courses. Reiss (1967) has proposed Requests far reprints should be sent to Marvin Zuckerman, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19711.
that: "The lower the traditional level of sexual permissiveness in a group, the greater the likelihood that social forces will alter individual levels of sexual permissiveness" (p. 160). Extrapolating from studies (e.g., Berger, Gagnon, & Simon, 1970) that show a positive correlation between sexual experience and interest in erotic materials, it was predicted that the students drawn to a course in human sexuality would be more permissive in attitudes and more sexually experienced than the general college population. Studies by Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, and Gebhard (1953) and Reiss (1967) show that males tend to have more permissive attitudes toward premarital sex than females. In other words, females set higher standards of emotional and social relationships as prerequisites to sexual activity than do men. The present study examined current sex attitudes and premarital experience to see if the self-imposed double standard still exists. The relationships between devout churchgoing and sexual nonpermissiveness have been noted by both Kinsey et al. (1953) and Reiss (1967). Since the primary religions in the United States tend to look askance at premarital and extramarital sex, it is not surprising that persons who practice these religions also have nonpermissive attitudes toward these sexual expressions and tend to limit their own sexual behavior in nonmarital situations.
MARVIN ZUCKERMAN, RICHARD TUSHUP, AND STEVEN FINNER
Surprisingly little is known about personality correlates of sexual attitudes and experience. Maslow (1966), in a study of the determinants of marital happiness, found that highly dominant women were more likely to masturbate, have premarital sex, and to volunteer for sex research studies. DeMartino (1974) also found a relationship between sex drive and dominance in women of high intelligence. Zuckerman, Bone, Neary, Mangelsdorff, and Brustman (1972) have suggested that the search for variety in sexual experience is an aspect of a general sensation-seeking trait. Various aspects of this trait are measured by the Sensation-Seeking Scale (SSS; Zuckerman, 1971). The Disinhibilion subscale contains a number of items relating to the preference for partying, drinking, gambling, and sexual experience. Other subscales refer to sensation seeking through sports, dangerous activities, travel, drugs, music, art, and interesting friends. In the Zuckerman et al. (1972) study it was found that sexual experience in undergraduates was not just related to the Disinhibition scale but was also significantly correlated with all of the other four scales in males and with two of the other four in females. METHOD Subjects The subjects were SSS single students (224 males and 331 females) from four classes at the University of Delaware given between the fall of 1972 and the fall of 1973. A course in human sexuality was taught in two classes, designated as the expcriTAHLI': t JVs AND MKAN AGKS OK (!KOUI>R Males
Females
Group
n
M age
n
M age
Experimental 1st year 2nd year
40 61
22.1 20.9
99 121
20.4 20.2
Control 1st year 2nd year
43 80
20.1 19.8
43 68
19.3 19.6
mental groups in Table 1. The other two classes were courses in personality psychology, identified as the control groups in Table 1. Table 1 shows the numbers of male and female subjects in each of the four classes and the mean ages of each group. The 321 subjects in the experimental groups were significantly older than the 234 subjects in the control groups, necessitating the use of covariance methods to control this factor in comparisons between the groups. The subjects consisted of all of those students present when the initial versions of the sex questionnaires were given on the first or second class meeting day. Rctests were done at the end of both the experimental and control classes given in the fall of the second year. A subset of 47 males and SO females in the control groups and 41 males and 96 females in the experimental groups took both prccourse and poslcoursc questionnaires, thus constituting the subjects used in the analyses of changes in attitudes and experience. Students in the second-year control group were given a number of personality tests and a religious attitude scale as part of their course: The Ns for each scale vary as a function of the number of students present on a day when a particular test was given.
Courses The first author taught both psychology course classes and those sections of the sexuality courses dealing with sexual physiology, behavior, dysfunction, and homosexuality. The psychology course conlamed only one section on sex, which was taught from a primarily biological view with no use of explicit materials. The course in human sexuality consisted of large class lectures, using explicit movies and slides, followed by smaller discussion groups in which students related the lectures to personal attitudes, feelings, and experiences. Panels and speakers from outside the campus were used for special topics such as dysfunction and homosexuality.
Sex Questionnaire Scales The sex questionnaire, which was given to all subjects, contained the following scales: The Parental Attitudes scale consisted of the S-item Suppression of Sex scale from the Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PART, Schaefer & Bell, 1958) plus the 5 items from the reversed PART scale constructed by Zuckerman (1959) to control the acquiescence response set in the PARI. Two additional items were added dealing with attitudes toward exposing children to pornography. The 12 items are intended to measure parental altitudes toward manifestations of sexual curiosity and behavior in children. The Heterosexual Experience scale (Zuckcrman, 1973) is an extension of prior Guttman-type scales of sexual experience. It consists of 14 items (2 of which were not included in the original scale because of high frequency of endorsement) ranging from kissing without tongue contact to manual petting, oral stimulation of the breast, genital ma-
SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE nipulation, oral-genital contact, and coitus in various positions. For each of the 14 items the subject rates his experience on a S-point scale from 1 (never) to 5 (10 times or more). The total score is obtained by adding the weighted responses for all 14 items. The Number of Heterosexual Partners scale consists of one item: "With how many different persons of the opposite sex have you had sexual relations in your lifetime?" The subject responds on a S-point scale from 1 (none) to S (four or more). The Homosexual Experience scale was developed so it could be applied to both males and females. This scale was limited to four items: genital manipulation (active and passive) and oral-genital stimulalation (active and passive). For each of the four items the subject responded on the weighted scale of 1 (never) to S (10 times or more). The total score on the scale was obtained by adding the weighted responses to the four items. The Number of Homosexual Partners scale consists of one item: "With how many different persons of your own sex have you had sexual relations in your lifetime?" The subject responds on a S-point scale from 1 (none) to S (four or more). Masturbation is another one-item scale to which the subject responds never (1) ; once or twice (2) ; several times (3) ; more than several, less than 10 times (4), or 10 times or more (S). The Orgasmic Experience scale consists of eight items describing various ways in which orgasm can be achieved: masturbation, petting, genital manipulation, heterosexual intercourse, homosexual intercourse, oral stimulation from another, dreams, and fantasy alone. Orgasm is defined as a "sudden spasmodic discharge of sexual tensions." The subject is asked to rate how many times he/she has reached orgasm through each of these methods from 1 (never) to S (10 times or more). The score on the scale is the sum of the weighted responses to the eight items. This scale is similar to Kinsey's "total outlet" measure, which was defined as the "sum of orgasms derived from the various types of sexual activity in which that individual engaged" (Kinsey et al., 1953, pp. 510-511).
Personal Attitude Scales Reiss (1967) developed premarital sexual permissiveness scales by including items that describe four affectionate conditions (engaged, love, strong affection, and no affection) for three types of sexual activity (kissing, petting, coitus). The attitude scales used in this study arc modifications of the Reiss scale, separating the social relationship (marriage and engagement) from the emotional relationship (love and affection) and incorporating the more explicit list of activities used in the Sexual Experience scale. The Social Relationship attitude scale consists of 14 items representing the 14 activities in the Heterosexual Experience scale described earlier. For each item the subjects are asked to indicate the conditions under which they would consider the particular activity "alright, or not alright" for someone of their own sex. The item response options are: 1 — never
alright, 2 = alright with someone you are married to, 3 = alright with someone you are engaged to or intend to marry, 4 = alright with someone you know well, and 5 = alright with anyone, no matter how long you have known them. The total score on the scale is the sum of the weighted responses to each of the 14 items. A high score represents permissiveness. The Emotional Relationship attitude scale also consists of the 14 activities described in the Heterosexual Experience scale, but here the subjects are asked to indicate when the activities arc "alright or not alright" under the following conditions: 1 = never alright regardless of how much you love the person, 2 = alright if you are deeply in love with the person, 3 ~ alright if you feel strong affection towai d the person, 4 — alright if you really like the person, and 5 = alright regardless of how you generally feel about the person. Again, a high score indicates permissiveness. Volunteering for Film, a one-item scale, was included to measure the strength of the desire to view erotic materials. This would presumably indicate another aspect of sexual permissiveness. The item reads as follows: "Would you like to volunteer for an experiment in which you would rate your reactions to an erotic film ? 1 — definitely, 2 = probably, 3 — maybe, 4 — no." This is the only attitude scale scored in the direction of nonpermissiveness; that is, a high score indicates no desire to view an erotic film. The question was put in the form of volunteering for an experiment since this created the possibility that the subject might be asked to follow through on his statement.
Religious Attitude Scales l The religious attitude scales were taken from the scales developed by Faulkner (1972). Two scales were selected: (a) The ideological beliefs scale measures the strength of an individual's belief in a personal omnipotent God, the literal truth of the bible, miracles, etc.; and (b) the ritualistic scale measures the extent to which the subject reports compliance with the practices of religion, for example, going to church, praying, reading the Bible, etc.
Personality Scales The SSS (general scale) was developed by Zuckerman, Kolin, Price, and Zoob (1964) to attempt to provide a measure of individual differences in a hypothetical trait "optimal level of stimulation and arousal." A factor analysis (Zuckerman, 1971) indicated that in addition to the general factor four more specific groups of items could be distinguished: (a) Thrill and adventure seeking consists of items 1 This part of the study was done as a class project by three undergraduates, Frank Larry, Ginny Schiole, and Patti Gondolfmi, for a course in personality psychology. The authors would like to thank them for making their data available for inclusion in this article.
MARVIN ZUCKERHAN, RICHARD TUSHUP, AND STEVEN FINNEK
10
TABLE 2 RETEST RELIABILITIES AND COEFFICIENTS OF REPRcmaciuiLiry AND SCALABILITY
No. items
Scale Parental Attitude Attitude—Social Relations Attitude—Emotional Relations Heterosexual Experience Homosexual Experience Masturbation Orgasmic Experience No. Heterosexual Partners No. Homosexual Partners
Volunteering for Film
Scoi e range
12
4 48
14 14 14 4 1 8 1 1 1
14-70 14-70 14-70 4 20 1-5 8- 40 1-5 1-5 1-5
Retcst reliabilities Control Experimental FeFeMale male Male male .63 .83 .48 .94 .84 .76 .75 .01 .56 .79
.44
.86 .76 .92 .67 .90 .84 .85 .26 .65
.64 .64 .72 .80 .49
.6.)
.80 .76 .37
.19
.56 .85 .72 .95 .80 .77 .80 .94 .27 .73
Coefficient of reptoducibility FeMule male .96 .96 .93 .98
1.00
Coefficient of scalability FeMale male .96 .91
.89 .91
.98 .94
.77
1 .00
.76
.Vo/f, Reliabilities are foi each of four samples. Coefficients of Keproducibilily and Scalability aic for combined males (A; and combined females (Ar = 331) foi G u t t m a n scale analyses.
.81 1.00
:
221)
expressing a desire to engage in outdoor sports or Table 2 contains the retest reliabilities on activities involving elements of speed or danger, and all scales and the scalability coefficients on (l>) Experience seeking includes items expressing the four scales. The retest reliabilities are based need for varied experiences sought through the mind and the senses and through an unconventional life on the subjects who took the questionnaire style and association with unusual people, (c) Dis- both at the beginning and end of the course inhibilion contains items reflecting a "swinger" pat- with a 15-week interval. Of course, significant tern, that is, variety in sexual partners, wild parties, social drinking, and gambling. It is the only scale changes in mean levels on many scales occontaining sexual attitude items, (d) Boredom sus- curred in both control and experimental ceptibility contains items expressing a dislike of groups, but in spite of this the coefficients repetition of experience, routine work, predictable, in Table 2 show consistency for individuals dull or boring people, and restlessness when condi- on most of the scales in most of the groups. tions are unchanging. Reliability and validity data Two exceptions should be noted: for all five scales are provided in the Zuckerman el 1. The Parental Attitudes scale showed al. (1972) study, as well as many other studies by others listed in the unpublished manual. 2 significant but low retest reliabilities (.44The Personality Research Form (PRF; Jackson, .64). Since content and response-set factors 1967) is a questionnaire designed to measure the work in opposition, the use of reversed items traits defined by Murray (1938). The manual preto control acquiescence can reduce reliability. sents reliability and validity data. The scales show unusually high correlations with behavior ratings by 2. The Number of Homosexual Partners peers. scale yielded a reliability of .37 or less in The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI; Shosthree of the four samples and only .5,6 in the trom, 1966) was developed around the construct of other. The poor reliability of this scale could "self-actualization" as defined by Maslow (19S4) and others. The scales stress the interpersonal aspects of be a function of inaccurate reporting and a self-actualization more than the achievement aspects, lack of specificity in the item since it does that is, open expressions of feelings, self-respect, not define "sexual relations" in the way that inner directness, etc. The manual provides reliability the Homosexual Experience scale does. and validity data.
RESULTS Reliabilities and Scalabilities Since a number of the scales in the Sex Questionnaire are new, the question of their reliability should be considered. The Personal Attitude and Experience scales lent themselves to Guttman scaling, and, although they were not scored on a Guttman scale, an examination of their scalability provides information on their internal reliability.
Four scales were subjected to Guttman scaling using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) Guttman scaling program. All males and all females were combined for these analyses since large Ns are especially desirable for this kind of analysis. 2 A limited number of copies of the Manual and Research Report for the Sensation-Seeking Scale are available from the first author for those interested in using the scale in research.
SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE
An examination of Table 2 shows that all of the scales easily meet the criteria for Guttman scales: coefficients of reproducibility over .9 and coefficients of scalability higher than .6. The two attitude scales and the Homosexual Experience scale approached perfect reproducibility. Even though the Heterosexual Experience scale had acceptable reproducibility, it was somewhat less than the .97 coefficients found in the Zuckerman (1973) study. Analyses oj Group Differences on Sex Questionnaire Scales Prior to Courses The results of the 555 subjects on the first administration of the sex questionnaire were analyzed in a 2 X 2 X 2 analysis of covariance design for unequal Ns, with age as the covariate. The cells of the design consisted of the eight groups in Table 1. The main effects were year (first vs. second year of the study); groups (experimental, the sex course, vs. control, the psychology course); and sex of subjects (male vs. female). The interactions (year X group, year X sex, group X sex, and year X group X sex) were also analyzed. Table 3 shows the adjusted means for groups and sex and the ratios for the main effects. Only 2 of the 40 interactions for the 10 scales were significant, and these will be discussed in relation to the main effects. Only 2 of the 10 main effects for year were significant. There had been no reason to expect differences here except for possible sampling differences. Subjects in the second year
11
of the study had more permissive parental attitudes toward sex and had less experience with masturbation. Seven of the 10 differences between groups were highly significant. Examining the means, it can be seen that the subjects taking the sex course had more permissive parental and personal attitudes toward sex, setting fewer social or emotional criteria for sexual activities; a greater range of heterosexual experience with a greater number of heterosexual partners; more homosexual experience; and were more interested in volunteering to see erotic films. These findings, controlled for age differences, confirm the hypothesis that persons who elect to take a course in human sexuality are more likely to come from the more permissive and experienced part of the student population. Table 4 shows the percentages of the psychology and sex course students with coital experience. Seventy-seven percent of the sex course females had some coital experience, contrasted with 63% of the psychology class females. Ninety-one percent of the sex course males had some coital experience in comparison to 63% of the psychology students. Both of these differences are significant. Table 4 also shows some interesting changes from a similar sample, from the same psychology courses, given the sex experience scale in 1970 (Zuckerman, 1973). In 1970 the percentages of students with coital experience approximated the Packard (1968) data for
TABLE 3 ADJUSTED MEANS AND F RATIOS FOR MAIN EFFECTS Score range Parental Attitude Attitude—Social Relations Attitude —Emotional Relations Heterosexual Experience Homosexual Experience Masturbation Orgasmic Experience No. Heterosexual Partners No. Homosexual Partners Volunteering for Film
4-48 14 70 14-70 14-70 4-20 l--5» 8-40 l-5>> 1-51' 15"
Adjusted At Kx periMale mental Control
44.0 58.9 49.5 56.1 4.60 3.82 20.0 3.07 1.40 2.30
42.S 52.4 43.1 48.8 4.19 3.44 17.5 2.08 1.11 2.7c 1 = none. 2 = one, 3 = two, 4 three,, 5 = four or more. Would you like to volunteer for an experiment. .? 1 — definitely, 2 = probably, 3 — maybe, 4 — no. * p < .0*. ** p < .01. *** p < .001. **** p < .0001.
MARVIN ZUCKERMAN, RICHARD TUSHUP AND STEVEN FINNER
12
TABLE 4 PKRCKNTAGKS OF COLLKGK STUDENTS WITH SOMK COITAL EXPERIENCE N Female
%
/ male VH female
58 53
688 101
43 40
5.54*** 1.77*
123
63
117
63
0
116
91
147
77
2.25**
st udy
Per od
Subjects
Male
Packard (1958) /uckermaii (1973)
late 1 )60s 1970
644 83
Xuckerman et al.
1972 1973
U.S . colleges Un crsity of Delaware — 1 ychnlogy Un crsity of Delaware vrholoKy Un ersily of Delaware —
1972
1973
%
K 'X
Sample /s 1.43 5..19***
3.48*+* 2.48**
*/) < .10. ** p < .05. *** p < .001.
the U.S. college population obtained in the late 1960s. In the recent sample obtained in 1972-1973 the percentage of females with coital experience at. the University of Delaware rose from 40 to 63, a 50% increase in 3 years! The corresponding increase in experienced males was only S3 to 63, about 20% and not significant. If these data can be generalized to the national college population, it would appear that the sexual revolution, which hit Delaware in the early 1970s, has indeed had an impact upon females, with a lesser influence on males. In Table 3 it can be seen that the sex of the subjects was also a highly significant influence on attitudes and experience. Again, 7 of the 10 differences were significant. Males had more permissive personal attitudes toward sex, setting fewer social or emotional criteria for sexual activities. Although the range of heterosexual experience was not different for males and females, males had these experiences with a greater number of partners. Males had significantly more masturbation experience and a greater range of homosexual experience but not a. greater number of homosexual partners. It should be noted that the number of males and females with any homosexual experience was small, and the differences were based on the tails of highly skewed distributions. Males also had more orgasmic experience than females and were more likely to volunteer to see erotic movies. These results confirm the hypothesis that males have more permissive attitudes toward
sex, confirming the Kinsey et al. (1953) findings that males are more "promiscuous" in premarital sex; that is, they have more partners. However, the data in Table 4 and the lack of difference on the Heterosexual Experience scale in Table 3 suggest that the "double standard" for premarital coital experience is disappearing. There was no difference at all in the percentages of males and females with premarital experience in the 1972-1973 psychology courses. Although the difference was significant in the 1972-1973 sex courses, this could be accounted for by a 2-year age difference between males and females in the first sex course. This difference was adjusted in the covariance analyses in Table 3. The two significant interactions could be due to chance, but since they might be of some interest they were as follows: (a) The difference between the experimental and control groups on orgasmic experience was significant for males but not for females, and (b) the difference between the experimenter and control groups on parental attitudes was significant for the 1972 groups, but not for the 1973 groups. Altitudes versus Experience Table S shows the correlations between the two personal attitude scales and three sexual experience scales within each of the eight samples, the mean correlations for all male and female samples, and the / tests between the mean correlations. The results indicate that both types of attitudes were more highly
SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE
correlated with the heterosexual experience and orgasmic experience scales for females than for males. In three of the four male samples there was practically no correlation at all between attitudes and these two experience scales, whereas in three of the four female samples they were significantly correlated. The third experience variable, number of heterosexual partners, was equally correlated with attitudes in male and female groups. The assumption of a correlation between attitudes and range of experience seems to hold for females but not for males, whereas for number of partners it holds for both sexes.
E S3
13
*!* sit
Religious Practices and Beliefs versus Sexual Attitudes and Experience Table 6 shows the correlations between Faulkner's (1972) two scales of religious practices and beliefs and sexual attitudes and experience. For males, religious ideology correlated negatively and significantly with both attitude scales and both heterosexual experience scales, that is, more religious subjects having less permissive sexual attitudes and less sexual experience. For females, religious ideology correlated significantly with both sexual attitude scales but only with the Number of Sexual Partners scale and not with the Range of Heterosexual Experience scale. The Ritual Practice scale correlated negatively and significantly with both sexual attitude scales and one of the two sexual experience scales in males. The Ritual Practice scale correlated significantly with only one of the two sexual attitude scales and neither of the sexual experience scales for females.
w m
W B
§2
O
Personality versus Sexual Attitudes and Experience Table 7 shows the correlations between the Sensation Seeking Scales, the PRF, the POI, and the sexual attitude and experience scales. All of the Sensation Seeking subscales, with the exception of the Boredom Susceptibility scale, correlated positively and significantly with sexual attitude and experience scales. An exception is orgasmic experience for females, which correlated only with the Experience Seeking scale.
3 8
| ||w |||w .I ssi 1ssi ^ (UOJrf ^ wojn]
3 tiSSJ 3 StJS •a aao a KKO
ivvvv * IS*:
MARVIN ZUCKERMAN, RICHARD TUSHUP, AND STEVEN FINNER TABLE 6 CORRELATIONS BETWEEN RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES (RITUAL) AND SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE
Scale Attitude-Social Relationships Attitude -Emotional Relationships Heterosexual Experience No. Heterosexual Partners
Ideology Males Females .57*** .44** .36** .32*
Ritual Males
Females
.34*
.20
.55*** .45** .38**
.31*
.19
.41** .31*
.25 .05 .26
Note, Data from control 1973 airoup, males n -•• 47, females n = 41. * * < .05. *** p
Sexual Attitudes and Experience: Attitude and Personality Correlates and Changes Produced by a Course in Sexuality Marvin Zuckerman, Richard Tushup, and Steven Finner University of Delaware The study investigated the changes in sexual attitudes and behavior that might be effected by a course in human sexuality. The subjects were 555 students enrolled in courses in personality psychology and human sexuality. Males were more permissive in attitudes and had experience with a greater number of partners than females. Attitudes and experience were more highly related in females. Students taking the sex course were more permissive and experienced than students in the control course. The course seems to have changed attitudes in both sexes, but it changed behavior only in males, relative to changes occurring in the control group. Religious attitudes and personality correlates of sexual attitudes and experience are reported.
Recent years have witnessed a phenomenal increase in college courses in human sexuality. Little is known of the impact of these courses on the attitudes and behavior of the students taking them. Apart from the expected increase in sexual information, a course taught by a faculty with permissive attitudes toward sexual expression may result in attitude changes toward greater permissiveness in the students taking the course. Whether this results in changes in sexual experience during the course is problematical. While the text, audiovisual materials, and discussion may be erotically stimulating, the literature on the effects of such stimulation on behavior (Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, 1970) suggests that the stimulation only results in transient increases in the established sexual pattern but does not lead to the initiation of new forms of sexual behavior or a search for new partners. However, the erotic stimulation in these studies is usually brief, while the stimulation from a 14-week course could conceivably effect significant behavioral changes in many students. Attitudinal and behavioral changes may also depend on the type of student attracted to such courses. Reiss (1967) has proposed Requests far reprints should be sent to Marvin Zuckerman, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19711.
that: "The lower the traditional level of sexual permissiveness in a group, the greater the likelihood that social forces will alter individual levels of sexual permissiveness" (p. 160). Extrapolating from studies (e.g., Berger, Gagnon, & Simon, 1970) that show a positive correlation between sexual experience and interest in erotic materials, it was predicted that the students drawn to a course in human sexuality would be more permissive in attitudes and more sexually experienced than the general college population. Studies by Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, and Gebhard (1953) and Reiss (1967) show that males tend to have more permissive attitudes toward premarital sex than females. In other words, females set higher standards of emotional and social relationships as prerequisites to sexual activity than do men. The present study examined current sex attitudes and premarital experience to see if the self-imposed double standard still exists. The relationships between devout churchgoing and sexual nonpermissiveness have been noted by both Kinsey et al. (1953) and Reiss (1967). Since the primary religions in the United States tend to look askance at premarital and extramarital sex, it is not surprising that persons who practice these religions also have nonpermissive attitudes toward these sexual expressions and tend to limit their own sexual behavior in nonmarital situations.
MARVIN ZUCKERMAN, RICHARD TUSHUP, AND STEVEN FINNER
Surprisingly little is known about personality correlates of sexual attitudes and experience. Maslow (1966), in a study of the determinants of marital happiness, found that highly dominant women were more likely to masturbate, have premarital sex, and to volunteer for sex research studies. DeMartino (1974) also found a relationship between sex drive and dominance in women of high intelligence. Zuckerman, Bone, Neary, Mangelsdorff, and Brustman (1972) have suggested that the search for variety in sexual experience is an aspect of a general sensation-seeking trait. Various aspects of this trait are measured by the Sensation-Seeking Scale (SSS; Zuckerman, 1971). The Disinhibilion subscale contains a number of items relating to the preference for partying, drinking, gambling, and sexual experience. Other subscales refer to sensation seeking through sports, dangerous activities, travel, drugs, music, art, and interesting friends. In the Zuckerman et al. (1972) study it was found that sexual experience in undergraduates was not just related to the Disinhibition scale but was also significantly correlated with all of the other four scales in males and with two of the other four in females. METHOD Subjects The subjects were SSS single students (224 males and 331 females) from four classes at the University of Delaware given between the fall of 1972 and the fall of 1973. A course in human sexuality was taught in two classes, designated as the expcriTAHLI': t JVs AND MKAN AGKS OK (!KOUI>R Males
Females
Group
n
M age
n
M age
Experimental 1st year 2nd year
40 61
22.1 20.9
99 121
20.4 20.2
Control 1st year 2nd year
43 80
20.1 19.8
43 68
19.3 19.6
mental groups in Table 1. The other two classes were courses in personality psychology, identified as the control groups in Table 1. Table 1 shows the numbers of male and female subjects in each of the four classes and the mean ages of each group. The 321 subjects in the experimental groups were significantly older than the 234 subjects in the control groups, necessitating the use of covariance methods to control this factor in comparisons between the groups. The subjects consisted of all of those students present when the initial versions of the sex questionnaires were given on the first or second class meeting day. Rctests were done at the end of both the experimental and control classes given in the fall of the second year. A subset of 47 males and SO females in the control groups and 41 males and 96 females in the experimental groups took both prccourse and poslcoursc questionnaires, thus constituting the subjects used in the analyses of changes in attitudes and experience. Students in the second-year control group were given a number of personality tests and a religious attitude scale as part of their course: The Ns for each scale vary as a function of the number of students present on a day when a particular test was given.
Courses The first author taught both psychology course classes and those sections of the sexuality courses dealing with sexual physiology, behavior, dysfunction, and homosexuality. The psychology course conlamed only one section on sex, which was taught from a primarily biological view with no use of explicit materials. The course in human sexuality consisted of large class lectures, using explicit movies and slides, followed by smaller discussion groups in which students related the lectures to personal attitudes, feelings, and experiences. Panels and speakers from outside the campus were used for special topics such as dysfunction and homosexuality.
Sex Questionnaire Scales The sex questionnaire, which was given to all subjects, contained the following scales: The Parental Attitudes scale consisted of the S-item Suppression of Sex scale from the Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PART, Schaefer & Bell, 1958) plus the 5 items from the reversed PART scale constructed by Zuckerman (1959) to control the acquiescence response set in the PARI. Two additional items were added dealing with attitudes toward exposing children to pornography. The 12 items are intended to measure parental altitudes toward manifestations of sexual curiosity and behavior in children. The Heterosexual Experience scale (Zuckcrman, 1973) is an extension of prior Guttman-type scales of sexual experience. It consists of 14 items (2 of which were not included in the original scale because of high frequency of endorsement) ranging from kissing without tongue contact to manual petting, oral stimulation of the breast, genital ma-
SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE nipulation, oral-genital contact, and coitus in various positions. For each of the 14 items the subject rates his experience on a S-point scale from 1 (never) to 5 (10 times or more). The total score is obtained by adding the weighted responses for all 14 items. The Number of Heterosexual Partners scale consists of one item: "With how many different persons of the opposite sex have you had sexual relations in your lifetime?" The subject responds on a S-point scale from 1 (none) to S (four or more). The Homosexual Experience scale was developed so it could be applied to both males and females. This scale was limited to four items: genital manipulation (active and passive) and oral-genital stimulalation (active and passive). For each of the four items the subject responded on the weighted scale of 1 (never) to S (10 times or more). The total score on the scale was obtained by adding the weighted responses to the four items. The Number of Homosexual Partners scale consists of one item: "With how many different persons of your own sex have you had sexual relations in your lifetime?" The subject responds on a S-point scale from 1 (none) to S (four or more). Masturbation is another one-item scale to which the subject responds never (1) ; once or twice (2) ; several times (3) ; more than several, less than 10 times (4), or 10 times or more (S). The Orgasmic Experience scale consists of eight items describing various ways in which orgasm can be achieved: masturbation, petting, genital manipulation, heterosexual intercourse, homosexual intercourse, oral stimulation from another, dreams, and fantasy alone. Orgasm is defined as a "sudden spasmodic discharge of sexual tensions." The subject is asked to rate how many times he/she has reached orgasm through each of these methods from 1 (never) to S (10 times or more). The score on the scale is the sum of the weighted responses to the eight items. This scale is similar to Kinsey's "total outlet" measure, which was defined as the "sum of orgasms derived from the various types of sexual activity in which that individual engaged" (Kinsey et al., 1953, pp. 510-511).
Personal Attitude Scales Reiss (1967) developed premarital sexual permissiveness scales by including items that describe four affectionate conditions (engaged, love, strong affection, and no affection) for three types of sexual activity (kissing, petting, coitus). The attitude scales used in this study arc modifications of the Reiss scale, separating the social relationship (marriage and engagement) from the emotional relationship (love and affection) and incorporating the more explicit list of activities used in the Sexual Experience scale. The Social Relationship attitude scale consists of 14 items representing the 14 activities in the Heterosexual Experience scale described earlier. For each item the subjects are asked to indicate the conditions under which they would consider the particular activity "alright, or not alright" for someone of their own sex. The item response options are: 1 — never
alright, 2 = alright with someone you are married to, 3 = alright with someone you are engaged to or intend to marry, 4 = alright with someone you know well, and 5 = alright with anyone, no matter how long you have known them. The total score on the scale is the sum of the weighted responses to each of the 14 items. A high score represents permissiveness. The Emotional Relationship attitude scale also consists of the 14 activities described in the Heterosexual Experience scale, but here the subjects are asked to indicate when the activities arc "alright or not alright" under the following conditions: 1 = never alright regardless of how much you love the person, 2 = alright if you are deeply in love with the person, 3 ~ alright if you feel strong affection towai d the person, 4 — alright if you really like the person, and 5 = alright regardless of how you generally feel about the person. Again, a high score indicates permissiveness. Volunteering for Film, a one-item scale, was included to measure the strength of the desire to view erotic materials. This would presumably indicate another aspect of sexual permissiveness. The item reads as follows: "Would you like to volunteer for an experiment in which you would rate your reactions to an erotic film ? 1 — definitely, 2 = probably, 3 — maybe, 4 — no." This is the only attitude scale scored in the direction of nonpermissiveness; that is, a high score indicates no desire to view an erotic film. The question was put in the form of volunteering for an experiment since this created the possibility that the subject might be asked to follow through on his statement.
Religious Attitude Scales l The religious attitude scales were taken from the scales developed by Faulkner (1972). Two scales were selected: (a) The ideological beliefs scale measures the strength of an individual's belief in a personal omnipotent God, the literal truth of the bible, miracles, etc.; and (b) the ritualistic scale measures the extent to which the subject reports compliance with the practices of religion, for example, going to church, praying, reading the Bible, etc.
Personality Scales The SSS (general scale) was developed by Zuckerman, Kolin, Price, and Zoob (1964) to attempt to provide a measure of individual differences in a hypothetical trait "optimal level of stimulation and arousal." A factor analysis (Zuckerman, 1971) indicated that in addition to the general factor four more specific groups of items could be distinguished: (a) Thrill and adventure seeking consists of items 1 This part of the study was done as a class project by three undergraduates, Frank Larry, Ginny Schiole, and Patti Gondolfmi, for a course in personality psychology. The authors would like to thank them for making their data available for inclusion in this article.
MARVIN ZUCKERHAN, RICHARD TUSHUP, AND STEVEN FINNEK
10
TABLE 2 RETEST RELIABILITIES AND COEFFICIENTS OF REPRcmaciuiLiry AND SCALABILITY
No. items
Scale Parental Attitude Attitude—Social Relations Attitude—Emotional Relations Heterosexual Experience Homosexual Experience Masturbation Orgasmic Experience No. Heterosexual Partners No. Homosexual Partners
Volunteering for Film
Scoi e range
12
4 48
14 14 14 4 1 8 1 1 1
14-70 14-70 14-70 4 20 1-5 8- 40 1-5 1-5 1-5
Retcst reliabilities Control Experimental FeFeMale male Male male .63 .83 .48 .94 .84 .76 .75 .01 .56 .79
.44
.86 .76 .92 .67 .90 .84 .85 .26 .65
.64 .64 .72 .80 .49
.6.)
.80 .76 .37
.19
.56 .85 .72 .95 .80 .77 .80 .94 .27 .73
Coefficient of reptoducibility FeMule male .96 .96 .93 .98
1.00
Coefficient of scalability FeMale male .96 .91
.89 .91
.98 .94
.77
1 .00
.76
.Vo/f, Reliabilities are foi each of four samples. Coefficients of Keproducibilily and Scalability aic for combined males (A; and combined females (Ar = 331) foi G u t t m a n scale analyses.
.81 1.00
:
221)
expressing a desire to engage in outdoor sports or Table 2 contains the retest reliabilities on activities involving elements of speed or danger, and all scales and the scalability coefficients on (l>) Experience seeking includes items expressing the four scales. The retest reliabilities are based need for varied experiences sought through the mind and the senses and through an unconventional life on the subjects who took the questionnaire style and association with unusual people, (c) Dis- both at the beginning and end of the course inhibilion contains items reflecting a "swinger" pat- with a 15-week interval. Of course, significant tern, that is, variety in sexual partners, wild parties, social drinking, and gambling. It is the only scale changes in mean levels on many scales occontaining sexual attitude items, (d) Boredom sus- curred in both control and experimental ceptibility contains items expressing a dislike of groups, but in spite of this the coefficients repetition of experience, routine work, predictable, in Table 2 show consistency for individuals dull or boring people, and restlessness when condi- on most of the scales in most of the groups. tions are unchanging. Reliability and validity data Two exceptions should be noted: for all five scales are provided in the Zuckerman el 1. The Parental Attitudes scale showed al. (1972) study, as well as many other studies by others listed in the unpublished manual. 2 significant but low retest reliabilities (.44The Personality Research Form (PRF; Jackson, .64). Since content and response-set factors 1967) is a questionnaire designed to measure the work in opposition, the use of reversed items traits defined by Murray (1938). The manual preto control acquiescence can reduce reliability. sents reliability and validity data. The scales show unusually high correlations with behavior ratings by 2. The Number of Homosexual Partners peers. scale yielded a reliability of .37 or less in The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI; Shosthree of the four samples and only .5,6 in the trom, 1966) was developed around the construct of other. The poor reliability of this scale could "self-actualization" as defined by Maslow (19S4) and others. The scales stress the interpersonal aspects of be a function of inaccurate reporting and a self-actualization more than the achievement aspects, lack of specificity in the item since it does that is, open expressions of feelings, self-respect, not define "sexual relations" in the way that inner directness, etc. The manual provides reliability the Homosexual Experience scale does. and validity data.
RESULTS Reliabilities and Scalabilities Since a number of the scales in the Sex Questionnaire are new, the question of their reliability should be considered. The Personal Attitude and Experience scales lent themselves to Guttman scaling, and, although they were not scored on a Guttman scale, an examination of their scalability provides information on their internal reliability.
Four scales were subjected to Guttman scaling using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) Guttman scaling program. All males and all females were combined for these analyses since large Ns are especially desirable for this kind of analysis. 2 A limited number of copies of the Manual and Research Report for the Sensation-Seeking Scale are available from the first author for those interested in using the scale in research.
SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE
An examination of Table 2 shows that all of the scales easily meet the criteria for Guttman scales: coefficients of reproducibility over .9 and coefficients of scalability higher than .6. The two attitude scales and the Homosexual Experience scale approached perfect reproducibility. Even though the Heterosexual Experience scale had acceptable reproducibility, it was somewhat less than the .97 coefficients found in the Zuckerman (1973) study. Analyses oj Group Differences on Sex Questionnaire Scales Prior to Courses The results of the 555 subjects on the first administration of the sex questionnaire were analyzed in a 2 X 2 X 2 analysis of covariance design for unequal Ns, with age as the covariate. The cells of the design consisted of the eight groups in Table 1. The main effects were year (first vs. second year of the study); groups (experimental, the sex course, vs. control, the psychology course); and sex of subjects (male vs. female). The interactions (year X group, year X sex, group X sex, and year X group X sex) were also analyzed. Table 3 shows the adjusted means for groups and sex and the ratios for the main effects. Only 2 of the 40 interactions for the 10 scales were significant, and these will be discussed in relation to the main effects. Only 2 of the 10 main effects for year were significant. There had been no reason to expect differences here except for possible sampling differences. Subjects in the second year
11
of the study had more permissive parental attitudes toward sex and had less experience with masturbation. Seven of the 10 differences between groups were highly significant. Examining the means, it can be seen that the subjects taking the sex course had more permissive parental and personal attitudes toward sex, setting fewer social or emotional criteria for sexual activities; a greater range of heterosexual experience with a greater number of heterosexual partners; more homosexual experience; and were more interested in volunteering to see erotic films. These findings, controlled for age differences, confirm the hypothesis that persons who elect to take a course in human sexuality are more likely to come from the more permissive and experienced part of the student population. Table 4 shows the percentages of the psychology and sex course students with coital experience. Seventy-seven percent of the sex course females had some coital experience, contrasted with 63% of the psychology class females. Ninety-one percent of the sex course males had some coital experience in comparison to 63% of the psychology students. Both of these differences are significant. Table 4 also shows some interesting changes from a similar sample, from the same psychology courses, given the sex experience scale in 1970 (Zuckerman, 1973). In 1970 the percentages of students with coital experience approximated the Packard (1968) data for
TABLE 3 ADJUSTED MEANS AND F RATIOS FOR MAIN EFFECTS Score range Parental Attitude Attitude—Social Relations Attitude —Emotional Relations Heterosexual Experience Homosexual Experience Masturbation Orgasmic Experience No. Heterosexual Partners No. Homosexual Partners Volunteering for Film
4-48 14 70 14-70 14-70 4-20 l--5» 8-40 l-5>> 1-51' 15"
Adjusted At Kx periMale mental Control
44.0 58.9 49.5 56.1 4.60 3.82 20.0 3.07 1.40 2.30
42.S 52.4 43.1 48.8 4.19 3.44 17.5 2.08 1.11 2.7c 1 = none. 2 = one, 3 = two, 4 three,, 5 = four or more. Would you like to volunteer for an experiment. .? 1 — definitely, 2 = probably, 3 — maybe, 4 — no. * p < .0*. ** p < .01. *** p < .001. **** p < .0001.
MARVIN ZUCKERMAN, RICHARD TUSHUP AND STEVEN FINNER
12
TABLE 4 PKRCKNTAGKS OF COLLKGK STUDENTS WITH SOMK COITAL EXPERIENCE N Female
%
/ male VH female
58 53
688 101
43 40
5.54*** 1.77*
123
63
117
63
0
116
91
147
77
2.25**
st udy
Per od
Subjects
Male
Packard (1958) /uckermaii (1973)
late 1 )60s 1970
644 83
Xuckerman et al.
1972 1973
U.S . colleges Un crsity of Delaware — 1 ychnlogy Un crsity of Delaware vrholoKy Un ersily of Delaware —
1972
1973
%
K 'X
Sample /s 1.43 5..19***
3.48*+* 2.48**
*/) < .10. ** p < .05. *** p < .001.
the U.S. college population obtained in the late 1960s. In the recent sample obtained in 1972-1973 the percentage of females with coital experience at. the University of Delaware rose from 40 to 63, a 50% increase in 3 years! The corresponding increase in experienced males was only S3 to 63, about 20% and not significant. If these data can be generalized to the national college population, it would appear that the sexual revolution, which hit Delaware in the early 1970s, has indeed had an impact upon females, with a lesser influence on males. In Table 3 it can be seen that the sex of the subjects was also a highly significant influence on attitudes and experience. Again, 7 of the 10 differences were significant. Males had more permissive personal attitudes toward sex, setting fewer social or emotional criteria for sexual activities. Although the range of heterosexual experience was not different for males and females, males had these experiences with a greater number of partners. Males had significantly more masturbation experience and a greater range of homosexual experience but not a. greater number of homosexual partners. It should be noted that the number of males and females with any homosexual experience was small, and the differences were based on the tails of highly skewed distributions. Males also had more orgasmic experience than females and were more likely to volunteer to see erotic movies. These results confirm the hypothesis that males have more permissive attitudes toward
sex, confirming the Kinsey et al. (1953) findings that males are more "promiscuous" in premarital sex; that is, they have more partners. However, the data in Table 4 and the lack of difference on the Heterosexual Experience scale in Table 3 suggest that the "double standard" for premarital coital experience is disappearing. There was no difference at all in the percentages of males and females with premarital experience in the 1972-1973 psychology courses. Although the difference was significant in the 1972-1973 sex courses, this could be accounted for by a 2-year age difference between males and females in the first sex course. This difference was adjusted in the covariance analyses in Table 3. The two significant interactions could be due to chance, but since they might be of some interest they were as follows: (a) The difference between the experimental and control groups on orgasmic experience was significant for males but not for females, and (b) the difference between the experimenter and control groups on parental attitudes was significant for the 1972 groups, but not for the 1973 groups. Altitudes versus Experience Table S shows the correlations between the two personal attitude scales and three sexual experience scales within each of the eight samples, the mean correlations for all male and female samples, and the / tests between the mean correlations. The results indicate that both types of attitudes were more highly
SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE
correlated with the heterosexual experience and orgasmic experience scales for females than for males. In three of the four male samples there was practically no correlation at all between attitudes and these two experience scales, whereas in three of the four female samples they were significantly correlated. The third experience variable, number of heterosexual partners, was equally correlated with attitudes in male and female groups. The assumption of a correlation between attitudes and range of experience seems to hold for females but not for males, whereas for number of partners it holds for both sexes.
E S3
13
*!* sit
Religious Practices and Beliefs versus Sexual Attitudes and Experience Table 6 shows the correlations between Faulkner's (1972) two scales of religious practices and beliefs and sexual attitudes and experience. For males, religious ideology correlated negatively and significantly with both attitude scales and both heterosexual experience scales, that is, more religious subjects having less permissive sexual attitudes and less sexual experience. For females, religious ideology correlated significantly with both sexual attitude scales but only with the Number of Sexual Partners scale and not with the Range of Heterosexual Experience scale. The Ritual Practice scale correlated negatively and significantly with both sexual attitude scales and one of the two sexual experience scales in males. The Ritual Practice scale correlated significantly with only one of the two sexual attitude scales and neither of the sexual experience scales for females.
w m
W B
§2
O
Personality versus Sexual Attitudes and Experience Table 7 shows the correlations between the Sensation Seeking Scales, the PRF, the POI, and the sexual attitude and experience scales. All of the Sensation Seeking subscales, with the exception of the Boredom Susceptibility scale, correlated positively and significantly with sexual attitude and experience scales. An exception is orgasmic experience for females, which correlated only with the Experience Seeking scale.
3 8
| ||w |||w .I ssi 1ssi ^ (UOJrf ^ wojn]
3 tiSSJ 3 StJS •a aao a KKO
ivvvv * IS*:
MARVIN ZUCKERMAN, RICHARD TUSHUP, AND STEVEN FINNER TABLE 6 CORRELATIONS BETWEEN RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES (RITUAL) AND SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE
Scale Attitude-Social Relationships Attitude -Emotional Relationships Heterosexual Experience No. Heterosexual Partners
Ideology Males Females .57*** .44** .36** .32*
Ritual Males
Females
.34*
.20
.55*** .45** .38**
.31*
.19
.41** .31*
.25 .05 .26
Note, Data from control 1973 airoup, males n -•• 47, females n = 41. * * < .05. *** p
