The Relation of Parental Employment and Contextual Variables with Sexual Permissiveness and Gender Role Attitudes of Rural Early Adolescents

Abstract

This study examined the relationships between parental employment variables, mediating contextual variables, early adolescent's permissive sexual attitudes and behaviors, and gender role traditionalism among 128 rural adolescents. Permissive sexual attitudes were related to permissive sexual behavior, but neither was related to gender role traditionalism. No relationship was found between mothers' employment and adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviors. Similarly, the sexual attitudes, sexual behaviors, and traditionalism of the adolescents in this sample were not related to the employment variables of their parents, regardless of whether these variables were examined in bivariate or multivariate fashion. Adolescents' ages and perceptions of peer pressure were both positively related to sexual permissiveness, although these relationships appeared to be mediated by general parent-adolescent communication and parentadolescent communication about human sexuality. The only communication variable related to an occupational variable was communication with father, which was positively correlated with fathers' occupational status.