Parental views on teenage sexual behavior∗

Abstract

In the present study parents' views of appropriate rules and behavior in teenage courtship were examined. Consideration was given to differences between democratic and autocratic attitudes concerning dating rules and teenage sexual behavior. Reiss (1967) has emphasized the importance of the liberal-conservative ethos as a predictor of courtship attitudes. He contended that a liberal or conservative life style was more important than social class in determining the degree of sexual permissiveness (Reiss, 1965). Reiss' findings emphasize the relevance of identifying subjects' liberal and conservative attitudes. Reiss also reported that equalitarianism with a departure from double standard adherence was approved by the majority of both his student and adult samples, but that a female's close ties to the family institution function as support to non-equalitarianism. Another of his specific findings was that in groups with lower levels of sexual permissiveness, social forces will have a greater likelihood of altering the individual's level of sexual permissiveness than in groups with higher levels of sexual permissiveness. The legitimacy of the proposition was questioned by Heltsley and Broderick (1969). Using religiosity as a measure of social forces they disputed this general finding and suggested the quality of the particular factor, in this case religion, influenced sexual permissiveness. The effective rejoinder by Reiss (1969) still leaves the proposition as one to consider in further research. Wake (1969, pp. 170-177) asserted that the double standard was nearly nonexistent for his sample of middle to upper socio-economic status mothers and fathers. Those parents were described as equally permissive toward sons' and daughters' sexual experiences. However, a progressive decrease in permissiveness was