Ira L. Reiss

The Scaling of Premarital Sexual Permissiveness

Guttman scales for measuring premarital sexual permissiveness are presented and analyzed. The scales have been tested on national adult samples and on student samples. A difference appears in the scale order of questions for the high permissive and low permissive groups. This difference centers about the high permissive groups giving less relative support to affectionless kissing and petting behavior while giving more relative support to coital behavior. The basic 12-item scale may be broken down into several subscales for particular research problems. These scales allow one to classify respondents into various premarital sexual standards and to measure the level of sexual permissiveness.

The International encyclopedia of sexuality

This volume is an essential supplement to the most ambitious and comprehensive cross-cultural sex survey ever undertaken, in any language or any part of the world. The four volumes of The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality now summarize the sexual behavior patterns of 50 countries.Written by 60 leading sexologists and experts in the respective countries and cultures, each lengthy entry of Volume 4 explores areas such as heterosexual relationships, children, adolescents, adults, gender-conflicted persons, unconventional sexual patterns, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, sexual dysfunctions, and therapies. It also includes discussions of sexual issues for older persons as well as physically and mentally challenged individuals. The new countries covered include: Austria, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Morocco, Nigeria, Norway, Papua New Guinea, The Philippines, Portugal, Turkey, and Vietnam. As noted, the work also presents significant updates, by some 20 specialists, of the countries covered in Volumes 1 through 3--originally published in 1997--which take readers into the new millennium.This eagerly awaited Volume 4 to The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality makes this entire set an even more indispensable reference work for sexologists, psychotherapists, anthropologists, and anyone involved in cross-cultural studies.

A Multivariate Model of the Determinants of Extramarital Sexual Permissiveness.

A major purpose of this article is to present the beginning elements of a causal model of extramarital sexual permissiveness and thereby encourage future development of the understanding of this important type of human relationship. Our procedure involved using the National Opinion Research Centers General Social Surveys. Four of these surveys contained a question on extramarital sexual permissiveness (1973, 1974, 1976, 1977). We utilized all four years to examine and test out parts of our model but only the 1977 survey contained the full set of variables in our model. Our final trimmed path model contained nine variables. Other variables were examined and found wanting in some way. The data from the 1977 survey fit our model rather closely. We were also able to test the model with one variable missing using the 1974 NORC survey and found it held up quite well. Tests for interaction were undertaken and although no single variable seemed to require a separate model, there were some interesting specific interactions. In addition, six variables not included in the NORC surveys were suggested for inclusion in an expanded version of the proposed model. A typology of eight items was proposed as a Guttman scale measure of extramarital sexual permissiveness. Finally, suggestions were made for future strategic research and theory development in this area.

Some Observations on Ideology and Sexuality in America

In the last several years the public debate on sexuality has increasingly indicated that strong ideological biases are operating in our sexual lives. In order to illustrate and scientifically analyze these biases, five substantive areas of public controversy are examined for evidence of our ideological tenets concerning human sexuality: (1) abortion, (2) genetic differences, (3) exploitation and pornography, (4) sexual normality, and (5) sexual history. Two broad ideologies are derived from this examination: Traditional-Romantic and Modemrn-Naturalistic, and several tenets of each type are ,formally stated. Both of these conflicting ideologies blind their adherents to the broader set of choices and perspectives that are available in the area of human sexuality. The ideology of science offers a way of understanding these conflicting ideologies. Thus, social science research into such ideologies must be encouraged, despite the potential clash with personal ideologies.

Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Among Negroes and Whites

Results from a sample of 903 students and 1515 adults indicate that Negroes and whites differ considerably in the ways in which premarital sexual attitudes are produced and maintained. The white group is less permissive, and its permissiveness is inversely related to church attendance and belief in romantic love and positively related to the number of times in love. In the Negro group these associations were either absent or in the opposite direction. A similar pattern distinguished men from women within each racial group. The theory advanced to explain these findings proposes that the lower the traditional level of sexual permissiveness in a group, the greater the likelihood that social factors will alter individual levels of permissiveness.

A Sociological Journey into Sexuality.

The Freudian, Marxian, and sociobiological explanations of sexuality are not well designed for answering questions concerning differences among societies or groups in their sexual lifestyles. A macro-level, societal explanation of sexuality is needed to answer such questions. Such a theory is lacking in sociology but is developed in this paper. Sexuality is defined as a societal product whose importance lies more in its physical pleasure and selfdisclosure aspects than in its reproductive potential. Those qualities are universally valued because they are the building blocks of social relationships. This paper proposes that sexuality is universally linked to the social structure in three specific areas: (a) marital jealousy, (b) gender role power, and (c) beliefs about normality. Variations and interrelations of these three linkages are explained by the logical structure of this sociological theory. Evidence concerning the theory is explored by examining the Standard Cross Cultural Sample, National Opinion Research Center surveys, and individual research on other societies. The sociological explanation presented here applies to both heterosexual and homosexual relationships and to both industrial and nonindustrial societies. A number of specific, interrelated propositions that explain societal variations within the three universal linkage areas are explored. The logical structure of the theory is developed as the context of those propositions. The paper also treats the relevance of this theory for the applied professions dealing with sexuality.

Premarital sex as deviant behavior: an application of current approaches to deviance.

Premarital sexual intercourse is viewed as deviant behavior by most parents in our culture and with sufficient intensity to qualify this substantive area for inclusion in the subfield of deviant behavior. However, Title has been done to apply the basic propositions developed within the field of deviance to premarital coitus. In this paper I apply key aspects of three basic approaches: (1) labeling, (2) anomie, and (3) social and cultural supports, to this substantive area and indicate the ways in which this application may throw light on the strengths and weaknesses of each of these approaches and on their relevance for various types of deviance. Suggestions are made for developing a general theory of deviance using some of the conclusions of this paper.

The Universality of the Family: A Conceptual Analysis

George P. Murdocks conception of the universal aspects of the family is examined by reference to the ethnographic literature. The results indicate that the nuclear family is not universal and that only the nurturant socialization function is universal. A revised conception of the family is offered which views the family institution as a small kinship structured group with the key function of nurturant socialization of the newborn. Nuturant socialization of the newborn is conceptualized as a functional prerequisite of human society, and some type of small kinship structured group is viewed as a structural prerequisite of human society for the fulfillment of this function. Three types of evidence are brought to bear on the universality of this definition: (1) cross-cultural evidence, (2) studies of nonhuman primates, and (3) studies of mother separation in human societies. The evidence tends to support the universality of the family definition proposed in this paper.

Social class and premarital sexual permissiveness: a re-examination.

Data from samples of 903 students and 1515 adults were used to investigate the hypothesis that persons of higher social status are less permissive than lower-status persons regarding premarital sexual behavior. In neither sample did the expected negative relation between class and permissiveness appear, but among persons displaying conservative characteristics generally, the relationship was negative. Among those with liberal characteristics, the relationship was positive. Conversely, general liberalism enhanced sexual permissiveness more in higher than in the lower-class groups. These findings are consistent with the theory that in groups or classes where the traditional level of sexual permissiveness is low, social forces are more likely to alter individual levels of premissiveness. The evidence also supports the thesis that the more generally liberal a group, the sharper the differences in attitudes between liberals and conservatives in that group.

Trouble in paradise: The current status of sexual science

Abstract The scientific study of sexuality has achieved a level of development and a form that often goes unappreciated even by some who are part of this field. In this article I attempt to clarify some aspects of the nature of this field. This is more than a state of the field article; an attempt is made to integrate and to organize our thinking in this area by examining two positions: (a) the lack of any developed global sexual science discipline, and relatedly, (b) that the many scientific advances since Kinsey were made in several disciplines and not in any global discipline. It is important that the nature of sexual science be discussed in this fashion if we are to appreciate the directions we are moving in and the choices we have before us.