Oxana Palesh and Dr. Michael B. Ehlert, Psychology
Recent work on female and male attitudes toward sexual behavior indicate that the sexes view sexual activity differently. Buss reported that females feel greater concern about a partner’s emotional commitment, whereas males show greater concern toward a partner’s sexual commitment. Clark and Hatfield reported 1 that when an unknown attractive male asked a college female to have sex, none of the females accepted and many were offended; however, when the roles were reversed, 75% of the males accepted and many were flattered.1 Other research demonstrated related differences across 37 cultures worldwide.1 These differences can have profound affects on the quality of life males and females experience. 1,2
The present study surveyed American and Russian LDS members to obtain their stated responses to a partner’s hypothetical behavior. After reporting basic information (e.g., age, martial status), subjects read the following scenario (called actual): Please think of a specific romantic relationship that you have had in the past or that you have currently and indicate … what your feelings would be (distressing to enjoyable) if your partner did each of the following.
Fifty-two hypothetical actions followed (e.g., Complimented you on your appearance, Left you for another person). Subjects used a 9-point rating scale: distress (unbearable, high, medium, low), neutral, enjoyment (low, medium, high, tremendous). Next, subjects read a nearly identical scenario (called ideal) that asked them to “imagine [their] ideal, committed, romantic relationship”, then they responded to the same hypothetical actions.
This report focused on the responses of the single subjects [Russian: 23 females (RF), 11 males (RM); American: 67 females (AF), 36 males (AM)] to two hypothetical actions (1) Unexpectedly asked you to have sex with him/her and (2) Asked you how you felt about having sex the night before (assume you did)]. Most American subjects (94%) had been LDS for 10 or more years, while most the Russian subjects (85%) had been LDS between 6 months and 5 years.
The four panels in Figure 1 report the results for the two hypothetical actions (1 in Panels A and B; 2 in Panels C and D) and from the actual (Panels A and C) and ideal (Panels B and D) scenarios. The ordinate depicts the percent of total respondents for each group (identified at the bottom of the figure) that marked each option of the 9-point scale (unbearable distress is the left-most position for each group and tremendous enjoyment is the right-most position), with distress ratings (left four positions) presented below the zero-point and enjoyment ratings (right four positions) above. The neutral rating is presented in the middle position as an open bar above the zero point, and was excluded from the difference scores (percent of group marking an enjoyment option minus percent of group marking a distress option) given at the bottom of each panel. The numbers by the bars indicate the percent of the most frequently occurring answer for each group.
Panel A indicates that in the actual situation all but the RM group would be distressed if a partner unexpectedly asked to have sex, more so for the American respondents than the Russian. In the ideal scenario (Panel B), however, relative to the actual situation all groups reported higher enjoyment to the hypothetical action. A second important result in Panel B is the disparity between females and males: difference scores for both groups of males indicate enjoyment at the hypothetical action while the females are neutral (Russian) or decidedly distressed (American). Similar trends are evident when comparing the actual and the ideal for the second question (Panels C and D). A major difference between the two hypothetical actions is the relative frequency of a neutral rating. Few respondents marked neutral to the first action, while to the second action neutral occurred most frequently for each group. A second difference between the two actions is that the “feel about” action produced more enjoyment ratings.
Results indicate both culture and sex differences, but they depend on the type of situation. In the real situation females and RMs conformed with Clark and Hatfield’s results, while the AM group reported more distress than enjoyment to an invitation to sex, a contradictory result. The fact that the partner was familiar makes this result all the more striking. Results from the ideal situation, however, tend to confirm prior results: females reported more distress and males reported more enjoyment at a partner’s invitation to sex. One possible explanation for these results is time of membership in the LDS religion. If true, this suggests that LDS membership decreases the probability of sexual activity but not necessarily the desire for it. Presumably, as length of membership increases, the differences between the Russian and American LDS samples would decrease. Any conclusions must be made cautiously due to the small number of Russian LDS subjects and the fact that American LDS subjects were all BYU students.
References
- Buss, D.M., et al. (1992). Sex differences in jealousy: Evolution, physiology, and psychology. Psychological Science, 4, 251-255.
- Clark, R.D. & Hatfield, E. (1989). Gender differences in receptivity to sexual offers, Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 2, 39-55.
- Buss, D.M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain 3
Sciences, 12, 1-49. - Buss, D.M. (1994). The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of human mating. Basic Books: NY, NY.
- Daly, M. & Wilson, M.I. (1996). Violence against stepchildren, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 3, 77-81.