Archives of Sexual Behavior, VoL 4, No. 1, 1975
Premarital Coitus and Commitment Among College Students I Robert A. Lewis, Ph.D., 2 and Wesley R. Burr, Ph.D. 3
In contrast to some popular speculations about a massive increase in sexual behavior labeled "permissiveness without commitment," this survey o f 2453 undergraduate students from four geographical areas in the United States provides data which suggest a behavioral pattern o f "permissiveness with commitment." This pattern o f "coitus with commitment" was evident not only for females, but for males as well. With minor exceptions, the pattern was detected for both sexes in all four geographical'regions. Speculation is made about ways in which this pattern may be one outcome o f the alleged intersex convergence in sexual attitudes and behavior among American college youth. Implications are drawn for the increment o f theory. KEY WORDS: coitus; commitment; college students; permissiveness; sexual attitudes; courtship; premarital intercourse.
INTRODUCTION One important issue in the research on premarital sex is the question of how sexual attitudes and behavior are related to the developmental stages of courtship. Unfortunately, the findings from previous research are contradictory. Ehrmann (1959) found a positive, monotonic relationship between courtship involvement and permissiveness of sexual behavior among college females and a curvilinear relationship for males. Tl~at is, the males were less permissive at the beginning and end of their courtshlp experience than they were in the inter~This is a revised version of a paper presented at the annual meetings of the Southern Sociological Society, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 5, 1972. 2Associate Professor of Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. 3Associate Professor of Child Development and Family Relationships, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. 73 ©1975 Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New Y o r k , N.Y. 10011. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, w i t h o u t written permission of the publisher.
74
Lewis and Burr
mediate stages. Bell and Blumberg (1959) also found that the degree of a coed's sexual intimacy was positively related to the stage at which she defined her dating or courtship relationship. More recently, however, Bell and Chaskes (1970) have implied from time data that the formal commitment of engagement seemed to be a less important condition for many coeds engaging in premarital coitus in 1968 than was true in 1958. If engagement is indeed less a rationale for the legitimizing of coitus by contemporary coeds, does this mean that courtship commitment is no longer related to the incidence of coitus among college females? Reiss (1969) has argued from attitudinal data that both males and females in the United States appear to be moving away from abstinence and the double standard to a pattern of "permissiveness with affection," by which he seems to imply permissivness with some commitment to the continuance of a relationship. Other authors as well have suggested a decline in the double sex standard (Reiss, 1960, 1967; Bell, 1966; Smigel and Selden, 1968): Some researchers also have reported a growing convergence in sexual attitudes and values for males and females (Pope and Knudsen, 1965; Christensen and Gregg, 1970), while some by means of replicative time studies have recently documented an intersex convergence in sexual behavior as well (Christensen and Greg, t970; Kaats and Davis, 1970; Robinson et al., 1972). Reiss (1967, p. 156) has suggested that the amount of courtship participation is positively related to permissiveness of attitudes. If it is true that individuals are "participating" more in the courtship process as they move toward marriage, it is possible to deduce from his theoretical proposition that a positive and monotonic relationship should exist between the stage of courtship and permissive sexual behavior (Burr, 1973). This paper reports some additional data about the relationship between commitment in courtship and sexual permissiveness and suggests some implications of the findings for sociological theory in the areas of human sexuality and the family.
METHOD
The data were gathered during 1967-1968 from 2453 undergraduate students at seven colleges and universities throughout the United States. The institutions were chosen to provide some geographical comparison. The _Midwest sample was composed of 631 students from a small, private (coed) college, a church-related (coed) college, and a large university in Minnesota. The Northwest sample was 509 students from a state college in Oregon; the Southwest sample was 416 students from a state college in southern California; and the Southeast sample was 897 students from a technological college in Texas and a state university in Georgia.
75
Premarital Coitus and Commitment Among College Students
Questionnaires were administered at each school during class hours to a purposive sample of undergraduates from sociology classes chosen to include all class ranks and both sexes. A total of 856 males and 1597 females completed usable questionnaires.
FINDINGS Table I summarizes the data about the highest degree of intimacy that subjects had ever experienced at four levels of commitment: on a first date, in infrequent dating, in going steady, and during engagement. There were consistently larger proportions of coeds who had experienced coitus at each increasing level of commitment. Percentage differences of 16% between the dating and going-steady stages and 21% between the going-steady and the engagement stages thus suggest that for females there was a positive, monotonic relationship between commitment and permissiveness. As expected, the percentages of those ever experiencing coitus by dating stage were markedly higher for males than for females. Although the percentage differences between stages were smaller for males, a steady increment was also evident for them, and this increment suggests that, contrary to earlier findings, sexual intercourse was positively and monotonically related to commitment for the males in the survey. Table II reports the percentage of subjects who had engaged in premarital coitus at various dating stages 6 months prior to the administration of the questionnaires. A comparison of Tables 1 and II reveals remarkably consistent figures; i.e., in both tables the percentages increased through each higher stage of commitment for both males and females. These data add further evidence of a positive, monotonic relationship between coital experience and commitment for both sexes.
Table I. Percent Ever Having Premarital Intercourse by Sex and Level of Commitmenta Level of commitment
Males
On first date Infrequent dating Going steady Engaged N
30 33 48 59 837
Females 2 3 19 40 1565
N
×2
2402 2369 2057 881
426.4b 439.5b 189.7b 30.7b
aThe collective N is much larger than the entire sample, since most subjects had experienced more than one level of commitment. bp < 0.01, dr= 1.
76
Lewis and Burr Table II. Percent Currently Having Premaxital Intercourse by Level of Commitment Level of commitment On first date Infrequent dating Going steady Engaged N
Males
Females
21 27 42 56
2 3 23 36
560
1032
N
x2
1592 1532 1235 545
172.7 a 187.0a 47.5 a 20.0a
ap < 0.01, df = 1.
Table IIL Percent of Females Ever Having Premarital Intercourse by Level of Commitment and Geographical Region Level of commitment On first date Infrequent dating Going steady Engaged N
Midwest Northwest
Southwest
Southeast
1 2 19 43
2 5 20 45
2 2 26 40
1 2 16 35
359
295
342
568
N
×2
1564 1540 1337 566
1.8 (N.S.) 9.3a 12.3 b 4.1 (N.S.)
ap < 0.05, df = 3. bp < 0.01, df = 3.
Table IV. Percent of Males Ever Having Premaxital Intercourse by Level of Commitment and Geographical Region Level of commitment On first date Infrequent dating Going steady Engaged N
ap < 0.01,df = 3. bp < 0.05, df = 3.
Midwest
Northwest
Southwest
Southeast
14 18 38 69
27 32 53 65
34 32 46 50
42 46 54 51
248
204
62
322
N 836 827 718 314
×2 54.5 a 49.6 a 13.9 a 8.00
Premarital Coitus and Commitment Among College Students
77
Since there are some data (Packard, 1968) suggesting geographical differences in premarital sexual attitudes and behavior, the geographical variable was controlled to see if this influenced the relationship between commitment and permissiveness. This analysis is displayed in Tables III and IV. With two slight exceptions, the monotonic relationship appears in each of the geographical regions. 4 It is interesting to also note that the shape of the relationship is somewhat different for the sexes and in the different regions for the females; i.e., the females seem to be more influenced by commitment than the males, and the Midwest and Northwest females more influenced than the Southwest and the southeast females.
IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY
The data from this survey support the commitment proposition that the stage of commitment in courtship varies with the permissiveness of sexual behavior The data in the present study do not permit making any inferences about the causal nature o f this proposition, but they do add weight to the evidence that such a relationship exists and that it is positive and monotonic. It also seems important, however, to attempt to account theoretically for the previous research that found a curvilinear relationship between commitment and permissiveness for males. One possible explanation is that normative constraints may have influenced the relationship noted in the commitment proposition more strongly in the 1950s. In situations where normative societal definitions proscribed premarital coitus for females, constraints may have reduced the overall amount o f coitus females experienced (Chfistensen, 1969) but not affected the shape of the relationship in the commitment proposition for the females. However, it seems reasonable that normative constraints might have influenced the shape of the relationship for males. When a male had relatively little personal commitment to a female and little investment of himself in her social reputation, normative constraints would have influenced him relatively little. However, when he was relating to a female as a possible marriage partner, he would have had more investment in her conformity to the social norms and he himself would have been more influenced by these norms. The result is that in the 1950s his partiThese two exceptions existed for the Southwest and Southeast males (Table IV). That is, the Southwest males were slightly less permissive at the infrequent-dating stage than at the first-date stage, and the Southeast males were somewhat less permissive at the engagement stage than at the going-steady stage. The lower correlation between coitus and level of commitment for the Southwest group may reflect a more permissive culture in that region and what Reiss calls the "permissiveness without affection.., sophisticated sex standard." For the Southeast group, the low correlation may be a reflection of a more conservative culture, a pronounced double standard and homosocial structure within that region. Unfortunately, there are no data for testing these assumptions.
78
Lewis and Burr
cipation in coitus might have been more extensive in intermediate stages of courtship than at the advanced stages. In sum, what this suggests is that proscriptive normative definitions have not changed the monotonic aspect of the relationship in the commitment proposition for females, but they may have contributed to an earlier curvilinear relationship for males. There are some data that argue for the validity of the preceding theoretical argument. Bell and Chaskes (1970), Christensen and Gregg (1970), and Kaats and Davis (1970) present data suggesting that societal constraints have become less binding in some areas of the United States from the 1950s to the 1960s. That is, particularistic norms have superseded universalistic norms (Bates and Cloyd, 1956). This would lead one to the expectation that. if the theory being proposed here is true, there would be a curvilinear relationship between commitment and permissiveness for males in the 1950s and a monotonic relationship for males in the 1960s. The fact that Ehrmann (1959) found a curvilinear relationship in the 1950s and the present study found a monotonic relationship in the 1960s thus provides some evidence for the theoretical proposition tested here. A related issue that recently has received considerable attention in the literature on premarital sex is the empirical question of whether there has been a substantial increase in individuals who have ever participated in premarital coitus. It was found in this survey that 59.5% of the males and 28.7% of the females had participated at least once in coitus. These overall proportions do not seem to differ markedly from similar sex research conducted prior to 1967 (Kaats and Davis, 1970). In fact, the incidence of coitus for these college males was nearly identical to the approximately 60% consistently reported since the turn of the century. However, the percentage for the college females (28.7) was somewhat higher than the figures in comparable earlier studies, which ranged from 13 to 25% (Ehrmann, 1959; Freedman, 1965; Reiss, 1966; Robinson et al., 1968; Davis, 1970), and considerably lower than the 41% noted more recently at the University of Colorado in 1967 (Kaats and Davis, 1970)and the 43% noted by Luckey and Nass (1969) from their sample of 21 colleges and universities. In sum, the data of this survey support a growing number of studies which suggest an intersex convergence of sexual attitudes and behavior for males and females; i.e., males and females in more equal numbers are limiting coitus to those with whom they have defined a relationship as one of some affection and commitment. As such, these findings are intelligible in light of Christensen's proposition that "Movement toward greater permissiveness in sexual norms tends to converge both attitude and behavior between males and females" (Christensen, 1969, p. 217). If premarital coitus is increasingly experienced by both males and females within the contexts of commitment and affection, this behavior will further undergird the institutionalization of coitus within the courtship system (Gagnon, 1966; Sprey, 1969).
Premarital Coitus and Commitment Among College Students
79
ACKNOWLEDGMENT T h e a u t h o r s are grateful t o Daniel F. H o b b s , Jr., for his critical c o m m e n t s and h e l p f u l suggestions.
REFERENCES Bates, A. P., and Cloyd, J. S. (1956). Toward the development of operations for defining group norms and member roles. Sociometry 19: 26-39. Bell, R. R. (1966). Premarital Sex in a Changing Society, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Bell, R. R., and Blumberg, L. (1959). Courtship intimacy and religious background. MarriageFamily 21: 356-360. Bell, R. R., and Chaskes, J. B. (1970). Premarital sexual experience among coeds, 1958-1968. J. Marriage Family 32: 81-84. Burr, W. R. (1973). Theory Construction and the Sociology o f the Family, Wiley, New York. Christensen, H. T. (1969). Normative theory derived from cross-cultural family research. J. Marriage Family 31: 209-222. Christensen, H. T., and Gregg, C. F. (1970). Changing sex norms in America and Scandinavia. J. Marriage Family 32: 616-627. Davis, K. E. (1970). Sex on campus: Is there a revolution? Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. Ehrmann, W. W. (1959). Premarital Dating Behavior, Holt, New York. Freedman, M. B. (1965). The sexual behavior of American college women: An empirical study and historical survey. Merrill-Palmer Quart. Behav. 11 : 33-48. Gagnon, J. H. (1966). Talk about sex, sexual behavior, and sex research. Paper presented to the Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family, Kansas City. Kaats, G. R., and Davis, K. E. (1970). The dynamics of sexual behavior of college students. J. Marriage Family 32: 390-399. Luckey, E. B., and Nass, G. D. (1969). A comparison of sexual attitudes and behavior in an international sample. J. Marriage Family 31:364-379. Packard, V. (1968). The Sexual Wilderness, McKay, New York. Pope, H., and Knudsen, D. D. (1965). Premarital sexual norms, the family, and social change. J. Marriage Family 27: 314-323. Reiss, I. L. (1960). Premarital Sexual Standards in America, Free Press, Glencoe, Ill. Reiss, I. L. (1966). The sexual renaissance in America: A summary and analysis. J. Social Issues 22: 123-137. Reiss, I. L. (1969). Premarital sexual standards. In Broderick, C. B., and Bernard, J. (eds.), The Winston, New York. Reiss, (1969). Premarital sexual standards. In Broderick, C. B., and Bernard, J. (eds.), The Individual, Sex, and Society: A Siecus Handbook for Teachers and Counselors, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore. Robinson, I. E., King, K., Dudley, C. J., and Clune, F. J. (1968). Change in sexual behavior and attitudes of college students. Family Coordinator l 7:119-123. Robinson, I. E., King, K., and Balswick, J. O. (1972). The premarital sexual revolution among college students. Mimeographed paper. Smigel, E. O., and Seiden, R. (1968). The decline and fall of the double standard. Ann. Am. Acad. Political Social Sci. 376 : 6-17. Sprey, J. (1969). On the institutionalization of sexuality. J. Marriage Family 31: 432-440.
Premarital Coitus and Commitment Among College Students I Robert A. Lewis, Ph.D., 2 and Wesley R. Burr, Ph.D. 3
In contrast to some popular speculations about a massive increase in sexual behavior labeled "permissiveness without commitment," this survey o f 2453 undergraduate students from four geographical areas in the United States provides data which suggest a behavioral pattern o f "permissiveness with commitment." This pattern o f "coitus with commitment" was evident not only for females, but for males as well. With minor exceptions, the pattern was detected for both sexes in all four geographical'regions. Speculation is made about ways in which this pattern may be one outcome o f the alleged intersex convergence in sexual attitudes and behavior among American college youth. Implications are drawn for the increment o f theory. KEY WORDS: coitus; commitment; college students; permissiveness; sexual attitudes; courtship; premarital intercourse.
INTRODUCTION One important issue in the research on premarital sex is the question of how sexual attitudes and behavior are related to the developmental stages of courtship. Unfortunately, the findings from previous research are contradictory. Ehrmann (1959) found a positive, monotonic relationship between courtship involvement and permissiveness of sexual behavior among college females and a curvilinear relationship for males. Tl~at is, the males were less permissive at the beginning and end of their courtshlp experience than they were in the inter~This is a revised version of a paper presented at the annual meetings of the Southern Sociological Society, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 5, 1972. 2Associate Professor of Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. 3Associate Professor of Child Development and Family Relationships, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. 73 ©1975 Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New Y o r k , N.Y. 10011. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, w i t h o u t written permission of the publisher.
74
Lewis and Burr
mediate stages. Bell and Blumberg (1959) also found that the degree of a coed's sexual intimacy was positively related to the stage at which she defined her dating or courtship relationship. More recently, however, Bell and Chaskes (1970) have implied from time data that the formal commitment of engagement seemed to be a less important condition for many coeds engaging in premarital coitus in 1968 than was true in 1958. If engagement is indeed less a rationale for the legitimizing of coitus by contemporary coeds, does this mean that courtship commitment is no longer related to the incidence of coitus among college females? Reiss (1969) has argued from attitudinal data that both males and females in the United States appear to be moving away from abstinence and the double standard to a pattern of "permissiveness with affection," by which he seems to imply permissivness with some commitment to the continuance of a relationship. Other authors as well have suggested a decline in the double sex standard (Reiss, 1960, 1967; Bell, 1966; Smigel and Selden, 1968): Some researchers also have reported a growing convergence in sexual attitudes and values for males and females (Pope and Knudsen, 1965; Christensen and Gregg, 1970), while some by means of replicative time studies have recently documented an intersex convergence in sexual behavior as well (Christensen and Greg, t970; Kaats and Davis, 1970; Robinson et al., 1972). Reiss (1967, p. 156) has suggested that the amount of courtship participation is positively related to permissiveness of attitudes. If it is true that individuals are "participating" more in the courtship process as they move toward marriage, it is possible to deduce from his theoretical proposition that a positive and monotonic relationship should exist between the stage of courtship and permissive sexual behavior (Burr, 1973). This paper reports some additional data about the relationship between commitment in courtship and sexual permissiveness and suggests some implications of the findings for sociological theory in the areas of human sexuality and the family.
METHOD
The data were gathered during 1967-1968 from 2453 undergraduate students at seven colleges and universities throughout the United States. The institutions were chosen to provide some geographical comparison. The _Midwest sample was composed of 631 students from a small, private (coed) college, a church-related (coed) college, and a large university in Minnesota. The Northwest sample was 509 students from a state college in Oregon; the Southwest sample was 416 students from a state college in southern California; and the Southeast sample was 897 students from a technological college in Texas and a state university in Georgia.
75
Premarital Coitus and Commitment Among College Students
Questionnaires were administered at each school during class hours to a purposive sample of undergraduates from sociology classes chosen to include all class ranks and both sexes. A total of 856 males and 1597 females completed usable questionnaires.
FINDINGS Table I summarizes the data about the highest degree of intimacy that subjects had ever experienced at four levels of commitment: on a first date, in infrequent dating, in going steady, and during engagement. There were consistently larger proportions of coeds who had experienced coitus at each increasing level of commitment. Percentage differences of 16% between the dating and going-steady stages and 21% between the going-steady and the engagement stages thus suggest that for females there was a positive, monotonic relationship between commitment and permissiveness. As expected, the percentages of those ever experiencing coitus by dating stage were markedly higher for males than for females. Although the percentage differences between stages were smaller for males, a steady increment was also evident for them, and this increment suggests that, contrary to earlier findings, sexual intercourse was positively and monotonically related to commitment for the males in the survey. Table II reports the percentage of subjects who had engaged in premarital coitus at various dating stages 6 months prior to the administration of the questionnaires. A comparison of Tables 1 and II reveals remarkably consistent figures; i.e., in both tables the percentages increased through each higher stage of commitment for both males and females. These data add further evidence of a positive, monotonic relationship between coital experience and commitment for both sexes.
Table I. Percent Ever Having Premarital Intercourse by Sex and Level of Commitmenta Level of commitment
Males
On first date Infrequent dating Going steady Engaged N
30 33 48 59 837
Females 2 3 19 40 1565
N
×2
2402 2369 2057 881
426.4b 439.5b 189.7b 30.7b
aThe collective N is much larger than the entire sample, since most subjects had experienced more than one level of commitment. bp < 0.01, dr= 1.
76
Lewis and Burr Table II. Percent Currently Having Premaxital Intercourse by Level of Commitment Level of commitment On first date Infrequent dating Going steady Engaged N
Males
Females
21 27 42 56
2 3 23 36
560
1032
N
x2
1592 1532 1235 545
172.7 a 187.0a 47.5 a 20.0a
ap < 0.01, df = 1.
Table IIL Percent of Females Ever Having Premarital Intercourse by Level of Commitment and Geographical Region Level of commitment On first date Infrequent dating Going steady Engaged N
Midwest Northwest
Southwest
Southeast
1 2 19 43
2 5 20 45
2 2 26 40
1 2 16 35
359
295
342
568
N
×2
1564 1540 1337 566
1.8 (N.S.) 9.3a 12.3 b 4.1 (N.S.)
ap < 0.05, df = 3. bp < 0.01, df = 3.
Table IV. Percent of Males Ever Having Premaxital Intercourse by Level of Commitment and Geographical Region Level of commitment On first date Infrequent dating Going steady Engaged N
ap < 0.01,df = 3. bp < 0.05, df = 3.
Midwest
Northwest
Southwest
Southeast
14 18 38 69
27 32 53 65
34 32 46 50
42 46 54 51
248
204
62
322
N 836 827 718 314
×2 54.5 a 49.6 a 13.9 a 8.00
Premarital Coitus and Commitment Among College Students
77
Since there are some data (Packard, 1968) suggesting geographical differences in premarital sexual attitudes and behavior, the geographical variable was controlled to see if this influenced the relationship between commitment and permissiveness. This analysis is displayed in Tables III and IV. With two slight exceptions, the monotonic relationship appears in each of the geographical regions. 4 It is interesting to also note that the shape of the relationship is somewhat different for the sexes and in the different regions for the females; i.e., the females seem to be more influenced by commitment than the males, and the Midwest and Northwest females more influenced than the Southwest and the southeast females.
IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY
The data from this survey support the commitment proposition that the stage of commitment in courtship varies with the permissiveness of sexual behavior The data in the present study do not permit making any inferences about the causal nature o f this proposition, but they do add weight to the evidence that such a relationship exists and that it is positive and monotonic. It also seems important, however, to attempt to account theoretically for the previous research that found a curvilinear relationship between commitment and permissiveness for males. One possible explanation is that normative constraints may have influenced the relationship noted in the commitment proposition more strongly in the 1950s. In situations where normative societal definitions proscribed premarital coitus for females, constraints may have reduced the overall amount o f coitus females experienced (Chfistensen, 1969) but not affected the shape of the relationship in the commitment proposition for the females. However, it seems reasonable that normative constraints might have influenced the shape of the relationship for males. When a male had relatively little personal commitment to a female and little investment of himself in her social reputation, normative constraints would have influenced him relatively little. However, when he was relating to a female as a possible marriage partner, he would have had more investment in her conformity to the social norms and he himself would have been more influenced by these norms. The result is that in the 1950s his partiThese two exceptions existed for the Southwest and Southeast males (Table IV). That is, the Southwest males were slightly less permissive at the infrequent-dating stage than at the first-date stage, and the Southeast males were somewhat less permissive at the engagement stage than at the going-steady stage. The lower correlation between coitus and level of commitment for the Southwest group may reflect a more permissive culture in that region and what Reiss calls the "permissiveness without affection.., sophisticated sex standard." For the Southeast group, the low correlation may be a reflection of a more conservative culture, a pronounced double standard and homosocial structure within that region. Unfortunately, there are no data for testing these assumptions.
78
Lewis and Burr
cipation in coitus might have been more extensive in intermediate stages of courtship than at the advanced stages. In sum, what this suggests is that proscriptive normative definitions have not changed the monotonic aspect of the relationship in the commitment proposition for females, but they may have contributed to an earlier curvilinear relationship for males. There are some data that argue for the validity of the preceding theoretical argument. Bell and Chaskes (1970), Christensen and Gregg (1970), and Kaats and Davis (1970) present data suggesting that societal constraints have become less binding in some areas of the United States from the 1950s to the 1960s. That is, particularistic norms have superseded universalistic norms (Bates and Cloyd, 1956). This would lead one to the expectation that. if the theory being proposed here is true, there would be a curvilinear relationship between commitment and permissiveness for males in the 1950s and a monotonic relationship for males in the 1960s. The fact that Ehrmann (1959) found a curvilinear relationship in the 1950s and the present study found a monotonic relationship in the 1960s thus provides some evidence for the theoretical proposition tested here. A related issue that recently has received considerable attention in the literature on premarital sex is the empirical question of whether there has been a substantial increase in individuals who have ever participated in premarital coitus. It was found in this survey that 59.5% of the males and 28.7% of the females had participated at least once in coitus. These overall proportions do not seem to differ markedly from similar sex research conducted prior to 1967 (Kaats and Davis, 1970). In fact, the incidence of coitus for these college males was nearly identical to the approximately 60% consistently reported since the turn of the century. However, the percentage for the college females (28.7) was somewhat higher than the figures in comparable earlier studies, which ranged from 13 to 25% (Ehrmann, 1959; Freedman, 1965; Reiss, 1966; Robinson et al., 1968; Davis, 1970), and considerably lower than the 41% noted more recently at the University of Colorado in 1967 (Kaats and Davis, 1970)and the 43% noted by Luckey and Nass (1969) from their sample of 21 colleges and universities. In sum, the data of this survey support a growing number of studies which suggest an intersex convergence of sexual attitudes and behavior for males and females; i.e., males and females in more equal numbers are limiting coitus to those with whom they have defined a relationship as one of some affection and commitment. As such, these findings are intelligible in light of Christensen's proposition that "Movement toward greater permissiveness in sexual norms tends to converge both attitude and behavior between males and females" (Christensen, 1969, p. 217). If premarital coitus is increasingly experienced by both males and females within the contexts of commitment and affection, this behavior will further undergird the institutionalization of coitus within the courtship system (Gagnon, 1966; Sprey, 1969).
Premarital Coitus and Commitment Among College Students
79
ACKNOWLEDGMENT T h e a u t h o r s are grateful t o Daniel F. H o b b s , Jr., for his critical c o m m e n t s and h e l p f u l suggestions.
REFERENCES Bates, A. P., and Cloyd, J. S. (1956). Toward the development of operations for defining group norms and member roles. Sociometry 19: 26-39. Bell, R. R. (1966). Premarital Sex in a Changing Society, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Bell, R. R., and Blumberg, L. (1959). Courtship intimacy and religious background. MarriageFamily 21: 356-360. Bell, R. R., and Chaskes, J. B. (1970). Premarital sexual experience among coeds, 1958-1968. J. Marriage Family 32: 81-84. Burr, W. R. (1973). Theory Construction and the Sociology o f the Family, Wiley, New York. Christensen, H. T. (1969). Normative theory derived from cross-cultural family research. J. Marriage Family 31: 209-222. Christensen, H. T., and Gregg, C. F. (1970). Changing sex norms in America and Scandinavia. J. Marriage Family 32: 616-627. Davis, K. E. (1970). Sex on campus: Is there a revolution? Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. Ehrmann, W. W. (1959). Premarital Dating Behavior, Holt, New York. Freedman, M. B. (1965). The sexual behavior of American college women: An empirical study and historical survey. Merrill-Palmer Quart. Behav. 11 : 33-48. Gagnon, J. H. (1966). Talk about sex, sexual behavior, and sex research. Paper presented to the Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family, Kansas City. Kaats, G. R., and Davis, K. E. (1970). The dynamics of sexual behavior of college students. J. Marriage Family 32: 390-399. Luckey, E. B., and Nass, G. D. (1969). A comparison of sexual attitudes and behavior in an international sample. J. Marriage Family 31:364-379. Packard, V. (1968). The Sexual Wilderness, McKay, New York. Pope, H., and Knudsen, D. D. (1965). Premarital sexual norms, the family, and social change. J. Marriage Family 27: 314-323. Reiss, I. L. (1960). Premarital Sexual Standards in America, Free Press, Glencoe, Ill. Reiss, I. L. (1966). The sexual renaissance in America: A summary and analysis. J. Social Issues 22: 123-137. Reiss, I. L. (1969). Premarital sexual standards. In Broderick, C. B., and Bernard, J. (eds.), The Winston, New York. Reiss, (1969). Premarital sexual standards. In Broderick, C. B., and Bernard, J. (eds.), The Individual, Sex, and Society: A Siecus Handbook for Teachers and Counselors, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore. Robinson, I. E., King, K., Dudley, C. J., and Clune, F. J. (1968). Change in sexual behavior and attitudes of college students. Family Coordinator l 7:119-123. Robinson, I. E., King, K., and Balswick, J. O. (1972). The premarital sexual revolution among college students. Mimeographed paper. Smigel, E. O., and Seiden, R. (1968). The decline and fall of the double standard. Ann. Am. Acad. Political Social Sci. 376 : 6-17. Sprey, J. (1969). On the institutionalization of sexuality. J. Marriage Family 31: 432-440.
