SOCIOSEXUALITY AND HIGHER EDUCATION: HOW SEXUALLY ACTIVE ARE COLLEGE STUDENTS?

Publication Date

4-5-2019

Document Type

Poster

Degree Type

Undergraduate

Department

Sociology/Anthropology

Mentor

Susan Sprecher

Mentor Department

Sociology/Anthropology

Abstract

Many years ago, Gangestad and Simpson (1990) created a Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI) to measure individual differences in willingness to engage in casual, uncommitted sex. The scale measures past sexual behavior, expectation for future sexual behavior, and attitudes toward engaging in casual sex. People with a high score on the SOI have an unrestricted sociosexual orientation, and those with a lower score have a more restricted sociosexual orientation. Considerable research has been done to examine demographic variables associated with scores on SOI. As one example, and based on data collected at Illinois State University, Sprecher, Treger, and Sakaluk (2013) analyzed data collected in a sociology class over a 23-year period to examine not only cohort differences but also differences based on gender and ethnicity. The main findings from the study were that men had more unrestricted socio-sexuality then women. It was also discovered that ethnicity played a role in sexual permissiveness in men (with black men being more permissive than white, Hispanic, and Asian men) but no ethnic differences were found for women. We are extending that prior research by conducting secondary data analysis on the same large data set (over 7,000 individuals) to examine how other demographic characteristics (e.g., plans for education, parental divorce status) are associated with SOI scores. We expect to find that those who have higher educational aspirations will have lower SOI scores than those who do not plan on continuing their education. Also, we expect to find that a high grade-point average (GPA) is associated with a low SOI score. Additionally, we would like to examine whether socioeconomic status is associated with one's sexual permissiveness. Preliminary analyses have been conducted, and an example finding is that SOI scores are not correlated with plans for education, but they are negatively correlated with GPA. Thus, those who have better grades score lower on the SOI scale. More findings will be presented in the poster.

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