Attitudes of Rural Youth toward Premarital Sexual Permissiveness

Abstract

This study is concerned with a comparative analysis of the premarital sexual attitudes of rural high-school students in a Mississippi community. Reiss's items were subjected to Guttman analysis in order to measure the dependent variable. As indicated by other studies, the degree of affection present in a relationship was a major factor in determining acceptability of advanced sexual activity. Overall, neither Negro nor white students displayed a widespread predisposition toward promiscuous behavior. Several variations between the racial systems in the sociocultural factors which influence attitudes of permissiveness were noted.