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Virgin College Students' Reasons for and Reactions to Their Abstinence From Sex: Results From a 23-Year Study at a Midwestern U.S. University
Abstract and Figures
Sexual activity is normative in college. Thus, college students who are virgins are a minority; they are also an understudied group. This study extended a prior investigation (Sprecher & Regan, 199642.
Sprecher, S., & Regan, P. C. (1996). College virgins: How men and women perceive their sexual status. Journal of Sex Research, 33, 3–15.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®], [CSA]View all references) that focused on U.S. college virgins' reported reasons for and reactions to virginity. Data were collected from the same university over an additional 18 years and from more than 700 additional virgin students. We found differences between male and female virgins that showed that men are more reluctant virgins. For example, the only reason for being a virgin that male virgins endorsed to a greater degree than did female virgins was “my partner was not willing.” Men also had more negative affective reactions to being a virgin than did women. We also found some variation in reasons for and reactions to virginity based on sociodemographic variables such as religiosity and ethnicity. A temporal analysis revealed that reasons for being a virgin that referred to a fear (e.g., fear of AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections) became less important over the 23-year period. We discuss our findings in the frameworks of evolutionary and social exchange theories.
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... However, prior work has tested how ethnicity/race broadly is associated with virginity beliefs and FCAR. [15][16][17] Black and Hispanic college students reported more positive reactions to their virginity than White and Asian college students. 17 In another virginity beliefs' and attitudes' study, Black males reported more positive benefits of sex than White males, and White females reported more positive benefits of sex than Black females. ...
... [15][16][17] Black and Hispanic college students reported more positive reactions to their virginity than White and Asian college students. 17 In another virginity beliefs' and attitudes' study, Black males reported more positive benefits of sex than White males, and White females reported more positive benefits of sex than Black females. 15 In other work, ethnicity/race has been related to FCAR, such that Black women reported more negative FCAR than Asian and Latina women. ...
... 4 However, research has not tested whether biological sex moderates the relations between ERI and sexual attitudes. Building on the prior work that tested ethnicity/race as a predictor of virginity beliefs and FCAR, [15][16][17] we examine whether ERI exploration, resolution, and affirmation are associated with Black students' virginity beliefs and FCAR. ...
Objective: The present study examined whether ethnic-racial identity (ERI) exploration, resolution, and affirmation informed individuals' beliefs about virginity (ie, virginity as a gift, stigma, process) and first coital affective reactions (FCAR; ie, positive and negative), and whether these relations varied by biological sex. Participants and method: The sample consisted of 184 Black college students (Mage = 19.79, SD = 2.08) enrolled in a large Southern university. Participants completed a virginity beliefs measure, first coital affective reaction measure, and an ethnic-racial identity measure. Results: Findings indicated that for Black females, greater ERI exploration was associated with decreased virginity as a gift beliefs; and ERI resolution was associated with increased virginity as a gift beliefs. Additionally, for Black males and females, ERI affirmation resulted in more positive FCAR, less negative FCAR, and less views of virginity as a stigma. Conclusion:Finding implications are presented in the context of future research.
... In the research on reasons for and reactions to virginity, variation has been examined primarily based on gender. Female virgins have been found to feel more positively about their virginity status than male virgins (Sprecher & Regan, 1996;Sprecher & Treger, 2015). Women also tend to rate more reasons as important for their virginity (ethics, fear of outcomes), whereas the primary reason men rate as more important than women is not having a willing partner (Sprecher & Regan, 1996). ...
... There are other individual difference variables beyond gender, however, that are likely to explain variation in reasons for and reactions to virginity. Some prior research (Sprecher & Treger, 2015) has considered other demographic variables beyond gender, such as ethnicity and religious involvement. 1 In the present study, attachment orientation is considered, which is one of the most commonly examined individual difference variables in the relationship literature (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2018). ...
... It is also speculated that young adult virgins with a secure attachment style will feel more positively and less negatively about their virginity status than young adults with other attachment styles. Finally, it was also explored how virgins of different attachment styles may vary in their perceived likelihood of becoming sexually active in the near future, and in the pressure they receive to remain a virgin versus to become sexually active, which are other variables that have been considered in recent research on virginity (Sprecher & Treger, 2015). ...
Prior research has shown that among sexually active people, attachment orientation is associated with motives for having sex. This study examined how attachment orientation is also associated with reasons for not having sex. More specifically, the study focused on whether attachment orientation was associated with reasons for not having sex among young adult virgins, as well as their emotional reactions to their virginity status. The sample consisted of 671 “virgin” college students obtained as part of a larger study. They completed an anonymous survey which included a measure of attachment orientation, ratings of the importance of several reasons for being a virgin, and emotional reactions to their virginity status. Results indicated that fearful and dismissing attachment young adults were more likely than secure attachment young adults to say they were still virgins because they were not ready to have sex (e.g., not been in love enough). Differences based on attachment style were also found for affective reactions to the virginity status. Preoccupied attachment young adults had the most negative reaction to their virginity status.
... Research suggests that college students' perceptions and motivations to engage in sexual behavior play a role in sexual risk and receptivity to seeking intervention (Patrick & Lee, 2010). College males have been found to have lowered levels of perceived sexual risk and are more reluctant to abstain from sex than females (Sprecher & Treger, 2015;Patrick & Lee, 2010). Black college teens are also found to express more permissive sexual attitudes than White college teens (e.g., Sprecher et al., 2013). ...
... The survey findings are noteworthy because they signal gaps in college students' awareness of sexual risk and safe sex practices as well as a need for comprehensive sexual health education. Despite the curriculum being designed for sexually active females, the present findings indicated that the curriculum is well positioned to target male college students found previously to have lower levels of perceived sexual risk than their female counterparts (Sprecher & Treger, 2015). Awareness and attitude changes observed for the sexually abstinent subgroup (e.g., increased awareness of sexual risk) may also demonstrate the importance of comprehensive sexual health education in preparing participants to make informed decisions in the future (Gardner, 2015). ...
The study evaluated safe sex attitudes and intentions from a comprehensive, peer-led sexual health program for teenage students enrolled in three rural colleges in Mississippi. The methods consisted of pretest and posttest survey items regarding attitudes and intentions toward safe sex from 149 participants and a peer educator focus group on curriculum delivery and participation. Intentions and motivations for contraception and sexual risk awareness significantly improved at posttest for all participants. The focus group suggested that peer-led approaches are critical for engaging students, fostering participation, and addressing students’ sexual health needs in culturally sensitive ways.
... Sexual double standards exist (Crawford & Popp, 2003;Essizoğlu et al., 2011) such as the view that virginity is a virtue in women but a negative trait in men. Men are more likely to view virginity as a stigma (Carpenter, 2002), to be reluctant virgins, and to have more negative affective reactions to being a virgin (Sprecher & Treger, 2015). Additionally, at first intercourse, in general men report more pleasure and anxiety, but less guilt than women (Sprecher, 2014). ...
... Because disclosure of virginity status is more normatively a concern for single young adults and teens (Sprecher & Treger, 2015), we excluded individuals who identified as widowed, divorced, or married. Additionally, because virginity is often seen as a heterosexual phenomenon, or at the very least is defined differently for non-heterosexual individuals (Huang, 2018), for this project we excluded individuals who did not identify as heterosexual. ...
Virginity is an invisible status and thus something that individuals typically must decide whether to disclose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the disclosure of virginity status (DVS), which refers to the extent an individual has revealed or concealed whether they subjectively identify as being a virgin or not to selected individuals or groups. Young adults (N = 760) completed an online survey about sexuality. DVS appears to conform to a structure of disclosure to family, to peers, and to religious figures; lying about virginity status to family/peers and to religious figures emerged as distinct factors. Differences in DVS by gender and virginity status suggest that DVS may be dependent upon gendered sexual scripts of the group the target of disclosure belongs to.
Background:
Studies on virgins remain scarce. This study explores the characteristics of virgin young adults, the reasons for remaining virgin, and its potential social and health implications.
Methods:
Data were drawn from the 2017 Swiss study on sexual health and behaviour among young adults. A total of 5175 participants (mean age 26 years ± 0.01) were divided into virgins and non-virgins. Virginity was defined as never having had a sexual partner, defined as a person with whom the participant has had sexual contact with or without penetration.
Results:
A total of 275 (5.3% (95% CI: 4.7-6.0), 58% males) were virgins. Virgins had higher odds of being male (aOR: 2.27 (95% CI: 1.62-3.17)) and reporting poorer health (1.43 (1.07-1.92)). They had lower odds of living on their own (0.24 (0.18-0.32)), being satisfied with their social life (0.78 (0.72-0.85)), having experimented with substances (e.g. drunkenness, 0.27 (0.19-0.67)) and having used online dating (0.52 (0.26-1.12)) or pornography (0.67 (0.42-0.94)). The main reason for remaining virgin was 'I have not found the right person' for females, and 'I have not had the occasion' for males.
Conclusions:
Among young adults, 1 in 20 is a virgin. Virgins do not seem to have gone through the usual experimentations of adolescence, are less socially driven and reported more health challenges. The main reason for remaining a virgin reveals gender-stereotyped responses. Sexual inactivity among young adults should be considered by health professionals to ensure the absence of distress and open discussion for potential questions.
Gender norms can influence women and men adopting different beliefs toward their own virginity. The current online cross-sectional questionnaire study was applied in a sample of German-speaking heterosexual-identified women (n = 536) and men (n = 181; Mage = 23.6, SD = 3.7). In men negative virginity loss experiences and sexual performance anxiety were especially prevalent when virginity loss occurred at an age that was inconsistent with men’s virginity beliefs. In women age at virginity loss was not linked to virginity loss experiences or sexual performance anxiety, but the holding of virginity beliefs that deviated from gender norms was associated with those variables.
Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2021.1958963 .
Past research on virginity loss definitions revealed that emerging adults’ definitions of virginity loss are associated with emerging adults’ own sociodemographic characteristics. However, previous research has not systematically studied whether emerging adults applied different criteria for virginity loss depending on the context of the judged behavior. The current study used vignettes to explore which contextual factors of an intimate partnered behavior influence emerging adults’ definition of virginity loss. Each of the 987 participants (75% women/25% men; Mage = 23.7, SD = 3.8) was assigned to one of 16 vignette conditions. The main character’s gender, sexual orientation, and commitment to the partner were manipulated in the vignettes, describing the main character engaging in intimate partnered behavior with either a woman or a man. Participants had to indicate whether 13 intimate partnered behaviors qualified as virginity loss in the given context. Emerging adults applied different standards for virginity loss definitions depending on the involved partners’ gender. They counted more behaviors as virginity loss in conditions where two people of the same gender engaged in intimate partnered behavior. Healthcare practitioners concerned with emerging adults’ sexual health should be aware of these double standards for virginity loss definitions.
Introduction:
Although early sexual intercourse may be associated with increased depressive symptoms, little research has examined whether first intercourse in late adolescence is associated with changes in mental health.
Methods:
This paper uses 3 years of longitudinal data from previously sexually abstinent late adolescent students at a large state university in the northeastern United States (N = 144, 53.5% male, M age = 18.5 years old, 47.2% White, 26.4% Asian/Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 20.1% Hispanic/Latino, 18.1% Black/African American) to examine whether levels of psychological distress changed after first intercourse.
Results:
Students' distress decreased after first intercourse, although this effect was only significant two or more semesters after first intercourse. There were no gender differences in these associations.
Conclusions:
Findings suggest first intercourse was, on average, associated with decreased psychological distress for both male and female late adolescents.
We examined emerging adults (EAs) motivations against sex (MAS) and how these related to their self-reported sexual behavior. Study 1 examined the relationship between demographic variables and three MAS. Study 2 examined the relationship between MAS and the number of sexual partners (LSP). In Study 1, less permissive casual sex attitudes were associated with all MAS. Women and those with less sexual experience endorsed value and not ready motives. In Study 2, those endorsing value and not ready motives had fewer LSP, but those who endorsed health motives reported more LSP. Results hold implications for EA sexual health education.
Virginity is part of our existence in the world as embodied sexual subjects.
What is the value of virginity? What are the characteristics of virginity pledgers? How is virginity testing carried out? Can a hymen be restored? What are the characteristics of adolescent sexuality? What are the features of early sexual experience? What are the adverse health outcomes? What are the characteristics of sexual assault in childhood and adolescents? How does the cleaning process occur? What is the virgin cleaning myth?
Biblical verses dealing with these verses are studied from a contemporary viewpoint.
The data includes measures collected for the two experiments reported in “False-Positive Psychology” [1] where listening to a randomly assigned song made people feel younger (Study 1) or actually be younger (Study 2). These data are useful because they illustrate inflations of false positive rates due to flexibility in data collection, analysis, and reporting of results. Data are useful for educational purposes.
Nervous, inexperienced, confused. For most, losing your virginity is one of life's most significant moments, always to be remembered. Of course, experiences vary, but Laura Carpenter asks: Is there an ideal way to lose it? What would constitute a "positive" experience? What often compels the big step? And, further, what does "going all the way" really mean for young gays and lesbians? In this first comprehensive study of virginity loss, Carpenter teases out the complexities of all things virgin by drawing on interviews with both young men and women who are straight, gay or bisexual. Virginity Lost offers a rare window into one of life's most intimate and significant sexual moments. The stories here are frank, poignant and fascinating as Carpenter presents an array of experiences that run the gamut from triumphant to devastating. Importantly, Carpenter argues that one's experience of virginity loss can have a powerful impact on one's later sexual experiences. Especially at a time of increased debate about sexual abstinence versus safe sex education in public schools, this important volume will provide essential information about the sex lives of young people.
The sample in this study consisted of 697 students from 20 schools in Missouri who indicated on a survey of sexual attitudes and behaviors that they had not had sex. The subjects completed the 18-item Reasons for Abstinence Scale and identified those items that were reasons why they had not had sex. The most frequent reasons for not having sex were related to fears of pregnancy and disease (including HIV/AIDS). The least frequent reasons were related to problems concerning the cost and availability of birth control and protection. Principal components factor analysis revealed three factors that were labeled "fear-based postponement," "emotionality and confusion," and "conservative values." Factor scores differed by gender, grades, alcohol consumption, family structure, father's education, and urbanicity. The discussion centers on the need to design different prevention strategies to build protective factors that result in "sexual resilience" in target groups of adolescents.