The Double Standard at Sexual Debut: Gender, Sexual Behavior and Adolescent Peer Acceptance

Abstract

A sexual double standard in adolescence has important implications for sexual development and gender inequality. The present study uses longitudinal social network data (N = 914; 11–16 years of age) to test if gender moderates associations between adolescents’ sexual behaviors and peer acceptance. Consistent with a traditional sexual double standard, female adolescents who reported having sex had significant decreases in peer acceptance over time, whereas male adolescents reporting the same behavior had significant increases in peer acceptance. This pattern was observed net of respondents’ own perceived friendships, further suggesting that the social responses to sex vary by gender of the sexual actor. However, findings for “making out” showed a reverse double standard, such that female adolescents reporting this behavior had increases in peer acceptance and male adolescents reporting the same behavior had decreases in peer acceptance over time. Results thus suggest that peers enforce traditional sexual scripts for both “heavy” and “light” sexual behaviors during adolescence. These findings have important implications for sexual health education, encouraging educators to develop curricula that emphasize the gendered social construction of sexuality and to combat inequitable and stigmatizing peer responses to real or perceived deviations from traditional sexual scripts.

The Impact of Religious Commitment on Women’s Sexual Self-Esteem

“…Those with less permissive sexual attitudes may feel that they are in greater control of their sexual lives as a result of engaging in fewer and less risky sexual behaviors. This finding is consistent with the scholarship on the sexual double standard (Kreager et al 2016;Lefkowitz et al 2014;Rudman et al 2012).…”

Support of adolescents to resist peer pressure and coercion to sexual activity

“…Adolescence is often associated with risk behaviour (Rowe et al 2016), and it takes place as adolescents learn to establish their own identity. Adolescents are invited to cooperate in risk behaviour to obtain affirmation of their status in the group of peers (Kreager et al 2016). They often require support from adults such as their parents or nurses at clinics to develop the courage to resist risk behaviour and to take responsibility for their own actions.…”

Gender, High School Romantic Involvement, and College Enrollment*

“…Cultural scripts for romance are gendered, placing greater emphasis on being in and maintaining a romantic relationship for identity, self-concept, and social status for females than for males (Holland and Eisenhart, 1990;Simon, Eder, and Evans, 1992;Simon and Barrett, 2010;Soller, 2014). Cultural contexts also provide sexual scripts that include guidelines for sexual involvement; these are also gendered, with casual sex and having many partners considered more acceptable for males than for females (Carpenter, 2010;Kreager and Staff, 2009;Kreager et al, 2016).…”