Norms of premarital sexual behavior: a cross-cultural study

Ethos • Vol/Iss. 3 (3) • Published In • Pages: 381-402 •
By Broude, Gwen J.

Hypothesis

"Societies characterized by high accessibility of caretakers [child care] will have permissive premarital sex norms. Societies characterized by low accessibility of caretakers will ave restrictive premarital sex norms" (393)

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Chi squareSupportedp<.001UNKNOWNUNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Accessibility Of CaretakersIndependentChild Care
Premarital Sex NormsDependentCleanliness Training

Related Hypotheses

Main AuthorHypothesis
Murdock, George Peter"Societies with local communities having large populations . . . are characterized by restrictive sexual norms. . . . Where local groups are small in size . . . norms of premarital sex behavior tend strongly to be permissive" (404)
Broude, Gwen J.No significant relationships were found between premarital sex norms and the following caretaking-anxiety variables: display of affection, age of independence training, ease of independence training, age of weaning, number of caretakers (395, 396)
Broude, Gwen J."When each independent variable is tested against premarital sex norms while holding the others constant, only three [i.e., accessibility of caretakers, class stratification, and cultural complexity] retain their power to predict permissiveness and restrictiveness with statistical certainty" (398)
Schlegel, AliceRestrictiveness of premarital sex norms for adolescent girls will be concordant with restrictiveness of premarital sex norms for adolescent boys (121).
Broude, Gwen J.There is a relationship between premarital sex norms and sex anxiety in adulthood as measured by the Minturn, Grosse and Haider (1969) scale (387, 388)