Harold T. Christensen

Changing Sex Norms in America and Scandinavia.

A study was undertaken to determine trends in sexual attitudes and behavior over time between the sexes and cross-cultural. 3 different college cultures - a very restrictive Mormon culture a moderately restrictive Midwestern culture and a highly permissive Danish culture - were studied in 1958 and reinterviewed in 1968. Attitudes concerning the censorship of pornography virginity at marriage and premarital sex clearly showed a liberalizing over time. In each group sampled there was greater liberalization among the females and a convergence of attitude and behavior of the 2 sexes during the decade. There was less of a gap between attitudes and behavior in 1968 than in 1958. More Americans than Danes more females than males and more respondents in 1958 than in 1968 had their 1st coital experience in a commitment relationship. The American norm seems to be toward more premarital sex with commitment and the Danish norm seems to be going toward free and promiscuous sex.

Value-behavior discrepancies regarding premarital coitus in three western cultures.

University student responses to questionnaires indicated both higher scores on sexual permissiveness and higher rates of premarital coitus in Denmark as compared with two samples from the United States (though intercultural differences in male coital rates could be explained, at least partially, by differences in age distribution among the samples). Of these latter, Midwestern students showed higher permissiveness scores and higher coital rates than did students in the more restrictive Mormon culture of the Intermountain West. In all three samples, males showed higher permissiveness scores and coital rates than females, though these sex differences were relatively small in the permissive culture (Denmark). In the Danish culture approval of premarital coitus ran ahead of actual practice, whereas in the American cultures the reverse was true-with accompanying feelings of guilt. Certain negative effects from premarital coitus showed up highest in the restrictive American cultures (Midwestern and especially Intermountain), suggesting that the difficulty may be partially the result of value-behavior discrepancies.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Attitudes Toward Marital Infidelity

Some generalizations from the earlier reports, which are relevant to our cross-cultural emphasis, are as follows : Every statistical measure that was used showed the Danish culture to be the most permissive and the Intermountain culture the most restrictive regarding premarital intimacy, with the Midwestern culture in between though generally closer to the Intermountain than to the Danish. With respect to attitudes, Danish respondents more frequently approved of premarital coitus, approved of earlier starts in relation to marriage of each level of intimacy (necking, petting, and coitus), thought in terms of a more rapid progression from the beginning of° intimacy in necking to its completion in coitus, and favored a longer period of coital activity prior to marriage. With respect to behavior, many more persons in the Danish sample actually engaged in premarital coitus and the incidences of both illegitimacy, and premarital

Student views on mate selection.

by the author at the University of Wisconsin. In conjunction with Dr. Ariel S. Ballif, it was now slightly revised and administered to a number of classes in courtship and marriage at Brigham Young University. It was given early in each quarter so that answers would not be influenced by class discussion. Anonymity was maintained by not requiring signatures. Nearly one hundred percent usable returns were received, from I,157 persons in all. Results from that part of the survey which pertained to make selection are summarized in Table I. Students were given these instructions:

Studies in Child Spacing: I--Premarital Pregnancy as Measured by the Spacing of the First Birth from Marriage

The present study has revealed the relationship between the structure of womens secondary associations, according to racial, religious, ethnic, and social prestige factors, and the social structure of the city. The cleavage existing in the social structure of a city-as seen ecologically, occupationally, racially, religiously, and ethnically-is reflected in or may be regarded as a cause of the differentiation of womens organizations. Race appears to be the sharpest form of cleavage; religion the most pervasive; ethnic differences contributory; and social prestige a dominant or permeable element.

Selected Aspects of Child Spacing in Denmark

but attention to the .rpacntg aspects of human fertility is of recent origin and has had only meager development. Yet, in many ways spacing within the family may have as much sociological import as numbers or rates. It would be meaningful, for example, to know how and under what circumstances premarital conception affects the marriage; or to determine if the length of intervals separating births is in any way related to either mental health or family stability. This paper is to report on selected aspects of child spacing in a sample of Danish families. In broad outline, at least, it parallels the writer’s earlier research dealing with the same subject but based on samples from the United States.l ) Nafure of the S’lIlIple. Through cooperation from the Statistical Of f me of the city of Copenhagen, a sample was drawn of marriages occurring within that city during 1938. Selection of this particular year partly resulted from the fact that it was one of the years then under intensive study by the Statistical Office (though

The measurement of premarital sexual permissiveness: A comparison of two Guttman scales.

Two Guttman scales which measure premarital sexual attitudes were evaluated. The scales, which were administered to the same probability sample of college students, are the Intimacy Permissiveness Scale (IPS) developed by George R. Carpenter in conjunction with Harold T. Christensen; and the Premarital Sexual Permissiveness (PSP) scale provided by Ira L. Reiss. The reliability and the validity of the two scales were evaluated by means of Guttman scale analysis, factor analysis and construct validity procedures. The analysis indicates that the PSP scale meets the requirements of Guttman scaling on all the criteria established. The IPS metthe minimum .90 level for the coefficient of reproducibility, but was unacceptable on the other scale criteria. An acceptable, unidimensional four-item subscale was extracted from the ten-item IPS. Factor analysis revealed the IPS to be multidimensional; whereas the PSP scale was found to fit the conceptual framework which has been established for premarital sexuality. Validity checks revealed that a greater proportion of the variation on the dependent variable-premarital sexual permissiveness-was explained by selected independent variables when operationalized in terms of the PSP scale. This analysis is suggestive of future directions to be taken with regards to theory and research in the area of premarital sexuality.

Mormon Fertility: A Survey of Student Opinion

Mormon fertility is responsive to both religious and socioeconomic pressures; while maintaining itself at a level significantly above that of the rest of the nation, it is, at the same time, paralleling the general downward trend. Sampled Mormon university students desire larger families than do non-Mormons by about 50 per cent, but families smaller, nevertheless, than those that they came from. Slightly over half believe in birth control within marriage, a figure that is probably higher than for their ancestors but lower than for contemporary non-Mormons. The expense of child-rearing is given as the major reason for wainting to limit the family.

The Time-Interval Between Marriage of Parents and the Birth of Their First Child in Utah County, Utah

The phenomenon of child spacing, as one aspect of human fertility, is here dealt with in a preliminary way, with the hope that more complete studies of the subject will eventually appear. By analyses of 1,670 marriage cases, from selected years in Utah County, Utah, the average time-interval between marriage and a first birth was found to be increasing; and disproportionately short time-intervals were found to be associated with young age at marriage; homogeneity in residence and age; occupations of farming, unskilled labor, and semiskilled labor; low economic status as indicated by relief work; and residence in rural areas.

An Experiment in Honesty

medicine have been established in a few schools,22 and participation by sociologists in clinical teaching is mentioned in The Report on Teaching of Social and Environmental Factors in Medicine previously cited. Similarly, sociological jurisprudence which embodies more than strictly sociological material is being introduced into a few law schools. Educational sociology has been contributing to professional education for many years. Besides, schools of social work and schools of nursing have not only recommended sociological content for pre-professional training but have included courses in community organization and the family in their professional curricula. A number of emergent professions connected with agriculture are finding courses in rural sociology increasingly essential to adequate training. In addition to determining the specific sociological materials to be included in professional instruction the problems of timing and teaching must also be solved. What is to be required in pre-professional years and what is to be included in successive professional courses must be worked out in detail. Furthermore, what is to be taught by sociologists in professional schools and what sociology is to be incorporated into the materials given by non-sociologists remains to be determined through collaborative investigation. The broadening conceptions of professional responsibility and service are so recent that practice among professional schools is quite varied. There is no uniformity or consensus at present. Curricula are so crowded already that general revision will be necessary to dose the gap between what is desired and what is practiced. In the meantime a very significant effort is being made to do all that is possible to overcome the educational lag which exists at the moment. Postgraduate and in-service training is being employed to enable professional personnel to cope with the social changes which are occurring so rapidly. It is in short courses, institutes, conferences, and workshops for varied professional groups that sociologists can make. their immediate contributions.