Changing Attitudes toward Premarital Sex: Cohort, Period, and Aging Effects

Data drawn from three Gallup polls (1962-1973), the 1972-1998 General Social Surveys, & a 1965 survey by the National Opinion Research Center are drawn on to explore changes in attitudes toward premarital sex since 1960. A model combining nonlinear age, period, & cohort effects on attitude c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public opinion quarterly 2003-07, Vol.67 (2), p.211-226
Main Authors: HARDING, DAVID J., JENCKS, CHRISTOPHER
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Age Differences
Age groups
Attitude Change
Attitudes
Cohort Analysis
Cohort effect
History
Liberalism
Liberalization
Long-term analysis
Marriage
Mathematical models
Men
Parsimony
Political attitudes
Polls & surveys
Premarital Sex
Public opinion
Questionnaires
Research Notes
Sexual Behavior
Sexual behaviour
Social Attitudes
Social conditions & trends
Social surveys
Social values
Statistical significance
Studies
Trends
U.S.A
United States of America
Women
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Summary:Data drawn from three Gallup polls (1962-1973), the 1972-1998 General Social Surveys, & a 1965 survey by the National Opinion Research Center are drawn on to explore changes in attitudes toward premarital sex since 1960. A model combining nonlinear age, period, & cohort effects on attitude change is developed, using parsimony as a criterion. The model allows direct mapping of the findings to an intuitive verbal account without positing any nonadditive interactions between variables. Results indicate that cohorts turning age 18, 1920s-1970s, became more liberal in their attitudes. However, the finding that new cohorts of youth reaching age 18 had the same attitudes across the 1970s-1990s argues against any linear period effect; a model demonstrating nonlinear additive effects of age & cohort is constructed. A liberalizing period effect is noted, while evidence within cohorts indicates that age (30+) has a conservatizing effect that cannot be explained in terms of period effects. In general, attitudes toward premarital sex have become more liberal since the early 1960s, with most of the increase in liberalism occurring 1969-1973, with a more moderate increase, 1973-1982; no clear trend for the period 1982-1998 is revealed. 1 Table, 4 Figures, 11 References. K. Hyatt Stewart
ISSN:0033-362X
1537-5331
DOI:10.1086/374399