Premarital sexual standards among U.S. college students: comparison with Russian and Japanese students

Sprecher, S.; Hatfield, E.

Archives of Sexual Behavior 25(3): 261-288

1996


ISSN/ISBN: 0004-0002
PMID: 8726551
DOI: 10.1007/bf02438165
Document Number: 498955
The study of the sexual permissiveness of young adults has been popular topic in sociology and social psychology, especially since the empirical and theoretical work of Reiss. We extended previous research on premarital sexual standards by examining the degree of sexual permissiveness and the endorsement of the traditional double standard in a large sample of young adults in the United States (N = 1043). In addition, comparative data were collected from young adults in two other countries: Russia (N = 401) and Japan (N = 223). American subjects expressed more acceptance of premarital sex than did the Russian and Japanese subjects. Men were more sexually permissive than women in the U.S. and in Russia but not in Japan. The degree to which the double standard was endorsed also depended on culture and gender. Russian subjects were more likely to endorse the double standard than Japanese and American subjects. However, American men were most likely to endorse the traditional double standard concerning sex early in the dating relationship.

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Premarital sexual standards among U.S. college students: comparison with Russian and Japanese students