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Sexual Orientation and the Sleep–Wake Cycle: A Preliminary Investigation Qazi Rahman, B.Sc.1 and Kevin Silber, B.Sc.1,2
The sleep–wake cycle as a function of sexual orientation was investigated. Male and female, heterosexual and homosexual subjects completed a sexual-orientation questionnaire and four sets of recording sheets of activities for a 16-day period. Mean sleep duration was calculated from the record sheets using waking-up and going-to-sleep times. It was predicted that homosexual males and females would awake earlier, go to sleep later, and thus have shorter sleep duration compared to heterosexuals. This was supported by the results. Although a sexual orientation by sex interaction just failed to reach significance, additional analyses of the results indicated that differences in sleep duration between heterosexuals and homosexuals were markedly related to sex. The possibility that these results reflect dimorphic features of the human supra-chiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is discussed. KEY WORDS: homosexuality; sleep; sex differences; supra-chiasmatic nucleus (SCN).
INTRODUCTION Throughout the 1990s, a number of findings have suggested a predominantly biological basis for human homosexuality. A finding by Swaab and Hofman (1990) reported that the volume of the supra-chiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in homosexual males was 1.7 times larger and contained 2.1 times as many arginine-vasopressin (AVP) neurons than in heterosexual males. It is acknowledged that the SCN of the brain is the principal neural substrate of circadian rhythmicity, and in particular of the sleep–wake cycle in mammals, including humans (Rusak and Zucker, 1979; Ralph and Menaker, 1988; Hofman and Swaab, 1993). 1 Division
of Psychology, School of Sciences, Staffordshire University, College Road, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, ST4 2DE, England. 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed. 127 C 2000 Plenum Publishing Corporation 0004-0002/00/0400-0127$18.00/0 °
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The AVP neurons of the SCN, which augment relay of photic information from the environment to brain regions, exhibit a marked endogenous rhythmicity. The volume of AVP-cell population is 1.4 times as large during the daytime (1000– 1800 hours) than during the night (2200–0600 hours) and contains 1.8 times as many AVP immunoreactive neurons. Peak values in both AVP volume and cell number are apparent during the early morning (0600–1000 hours), that is, during the dark-to-light transition (Hofman and Swaab, 1993). Hofman and Swabb (1994) also reported that the AVP neuronal rhythmicity of older subjects (subjects more than 50 years of age) exhibits a reversed pattern to the above, with high instead of low values at night. This is consistent with the observations that older people’s sleep is characterized by more frequent wakefulness during the night and more daytime naps (Webb, 1982; Renfrew et al., 1987). This evidence would thus suggest a direct association between AVP neuronal rhythmicity and sleep-wakefulness, indicating that increased magnitude of AVP neurons is correlated with wakefulness and low AVP neuronal magnitudes with sleep in individuals younger than 50 years old. More importantly, this further suggests that the sleep-waking cycle may be utilized as a “marker” of underlying SCN dimorphisms in one segment of the population. Granted the dimorphism of the SCN-AVP complex in sexual orientation and its role as the principal neural substrate in the organization of the sleep–wake cycle, it becomes possible to postulate an association between the sleep–wake cycle (a nonsexual behavioral consequence) and sexual orientation in terms of SCN neuronal functioning. Indeed, Hall and Kimura (1993) reported that homosexuals (males and females) arose earlier and retired earlier than heterosexual males, and also that homosexual males arose earlier than heterosexual males. However, in considering the foregoing discussions, the present study expects that because homosexual males have an enlarged SCN-AVP, they will awake earlier than heterosexuals, capitalizing on the peak in AVP neurons during the early morning, and sleep later than heterosexuals because an enlarged SCN-AVP complex may delay the observed decrease in AVP neuronal population density that occurs during the night. More significantly, these two predictions would implicate a shorter sleep duration for homosexuals than for heterosexuals. Note that this prediction is also expected of homosexual females as compared to heterosexual females, as Hall and Kimura (1993) showed that homosexual females differed in arising and retiring times than heterosexuals generally. METHOD Design The study was carried out as a two-way factorial design, with sex as one independent variable and sexual orientation (heterosexual and homosexual) as the other. The dependent variables were mean sleep duration measured across a 16-day
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period, mean going-to-sleep time, and mean waking time. To minimize lifestyle effects, all subjects were asked to fill out data sheets starting on a Thursday. This ensured that two weekends were included for all subjects. Three exclusion criteria for subject selection were included: (1) subjects who were 50 years of age or older, (2) subjects who were not exclusively homosexual or heterosexual in terms of both current and future self-identification on the sexual orientation questionnaire, and (3) subjects for whom a period of ill health was recorded for 4 days or more.
Subjects Initially, an opportunity sample of 200 subjects was selected. Homosexual subjects were recruited from various gay and lesbian organizations, public houses, and venues in the Staffordshire area. Heterosexual subjects were recruited from undergraduate degree programs at a British university. Following sample decay and exclusion criterion assessment, 53 subjects with completed data sets remained, of which 24 were exclusively homosexual (13 males with a mean age of 28 years and 11 females with a mean age of 31 years), and 29 subjects were exclusively heterosexual (13 males with a mean age of 33 years and 16 females with a mean age of 34 years).
Materials Each subject was provided with activity record sheets to cover the 16-day data collection period. These asked subjects to record their main activities in 2-hour blocks and their times of waking up and going to sleep. The record sheets were accompanied by a guidelines statement on what sort of activities to fill in. In addition, a sexual orientation questionnaire (derived from Coleman, 1987) assessed sexual orientation by asking for responses to two questions: one for a self-identification of current sexuality and the other for a self-identification of future sexuality. Each was measured on a 5-point scale as either exclusively homosexual, predominantly homosexual, bisexual, predominantly heterosexual, or exclusively heterosexual.
Procedure Subjects were asked to record their main activities in 2-hour blocks each day for 16 days. Emphasis was placed on the need to record, as accurately as possible, the times that they woke up and the times that they went to sleep. The emphasis was made on the pretext that activity durations were to be recorded as a proportion of the total waking time for that day. All subjects were to begin completing record sheets on the following Thursday from 0600 hours onward. All completed data sets
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were then passed to a naive, independent rater for the application of the exclusion criteria. This was done to ensure consistency in judging whether 4 or more days of ill health had occurred. Mean sleep duration was then calculated, using goingto-sleep and waking-up times. All subjects were appropriately debriefed. RESULTS A 2 × 2 factorial ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of sexual orientation (F(1, 49) = 25.951, p = 0.0001). Homosexuals (X = 7.12) had a shorter sleep duration than did heterosexuals (X = 8.68). There was no main effect of sex (F(1, 49) = 1.557, p = 0.29). The interaction just failed to reach significance (F(1, 49) = 3.634, p = 0.06), but was deemed close enough to warrant further analysis using simple effects. Justification for this is born out by Fig. 1, which illustrates that some of the variance between the sexuality groups may be additionally related to sex. The simple effects analyses revealed significant differences between heterosexual and homosexual males (F(1, 49) = 24.468, p = 0.0001), between heterosexual and homosexual females (F(1, 49) = 5.089, p = 0.03), and between homosexual males and homosexual females (F(1, 49) = 4.546, p = 0.04). No significant difference between heterosexual males and heterosexual females was observed (F(1, 49) = 0.241, p = 0.63). An analysis of mean waking-up times revealed a significant main effects of sexual orientation (F(1, 49) = 4.323, p = 0.04), but no significant effect of sex (F(1, 49) = 0.024, p = 0.88) and no significant interaction (F(1, 49) = 0.001, p = 0.97). Table I shows that homosexuals awake earlier (X = 08:40 hours) than do heterosexuals (X = 09:18 hours). The pattern for going-to-sleep times is somewhat different (Table I). Once again, there was a significant main effect of sexual orientation (F(1, 49) = 21.301, p = 0.0001). However, in this analysis, main effect of sex just failed to reach significance (F(1, 49) = 3.537, p = 0.07), whereas the interaction (Fig. 2) was significant (F(1, 49) = 8.813, p = 0.005). A simple effects analysis revealed that although there was a significant difference between the going-to-sleep times of homosexual Table I. Mean Waking-up and Going-to-Sleep Time (Clock Time) as a Function of Sex and Sexual Orientationa Waking-up times
Going-to-sleep times
Group
Mean
Combined means
Mean
Combined means
Heterosexual male Heterosexual female Homosexual male Homosexual female
09:17 (01:08) 09:19 (01:12) 08:38 (01:10) 08:42 (00:45)
09:18 (01:09) 08:40 (00:59)
00:26 (00:47) 00:40 (01:04) 02:03 (00:16) 01:01 (00:34)
00:34 (00:57) 01:35 (00:40)
a Standard
deviations are presented in parentheses.
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Fig. 1. Mean sleep duration (hours) for the sexual orientation by sex interaction. Standard deviations are presented in parentheses.
and heterosexual males (F(1, 49) = 28.717, p = 0.0001), there was no significant difference between the mean going-to-sleep times of homosexual and heterosexual females (F(1, 49) = 1.358, p = 0.25). Also, although there was a significant difference between homosexual males and homosexual females (F(1, 49) = 10.763, p = 0.002), there was no significant difference between heterosexual males and heterosexual females (F(1, 49) = 0.652, p = 0.42). Figure 2 shows that heterosexual males went to sleep much earlier (X = 00:26 hours) than did homosexual males (X = 02:03 hours), whereas heterosexual females (X = 00:40) and homosexual females (X = 01:01) went to sleep at around the same time. Thus, compared to heterosexuals, homosexual males and homosexual females wake up earlier. However, only homosexual males go to sleep significantly later. This accounts for the sleep duration patterns seen in Fig. 1.
DISCUSSION Data supported our principal hypothesis and the initial findings of Hall and Kimura (1993): homosexuals arise earlier than heterosexuals. However, our data refute their contention that homosexuals retire earlier than heterosexuals. Indeed, they suggest that for homosexual males, the opposite is true.
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Fig. 2. Mean going-to-sleep time for the sexual orientation by sex interaction.
These findings suggest that the circadian pacemaker mechanism is being set earlier during the morning for all homosexuals and later during the night for homosexual males. This would therefore warrant an interpretation at the neurological level. We suggest that the differential sleep–wake cycle may be related to SCN morphology, which is reported to be dimorphic between homosexual and heterosexual male groups (Swaab and Hofman, 1990). In particular, the increased magnitude of the SCN-AVP neuronal complex observed in homosexual males may augment earlier waking-up and later going-to-sleep, and thus shorter sleep duration. This would be consistent with the normative AVP-neuronal rhythmicity reported by Hofman and Swaab (1993). The emphasis on AVP as the candidate neuronal population, for which the sleep–wake cycle may be a marker, is strengthened by investigations reporting that additional populations of neurons in the SCN, such as vasoactive-intestinal polypeptide (VIP), do not exhibit endogenous circadian
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rhythmicity (Shinohara et al., 1993; Swaab et al., 1994). Furthermore, VIP neuronal populations are not dimorphic across homosexual and heterosexual male groups (Zhou et al., 1995). Moreover, the results also suggest the possibility of dimorphism in SCN morphology and functioning between heterosexual and homosexual females, accounting for their contribution to the differential sleep–wake cycle observed. Clearly, this novel finding requires clarification by further neurological research. The simple effects analyses on the interaction between sexual orientation and sex for sleep duration revealed marked differences between groups and within groups (Fig. 1). This suggests that SCN-AVP morphology and functioning is differentially pronounced between heterosexual and homosexual males (consistent with Swaab and Hofman’s 1990 observations), and that a similar dimorphism may exist between heterosexual and homosexual females. In addition, the within-homosexual group difference suggests that any such similarity in SCN-AVP dimorphism may be modified by a sex difference. It is by no means obvious why sleep–wake differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals should be present, and even less obvious why there should be differences between male and female homosexuals. We offer two alternative explanations for our findings, one stress-related and the other teleological. Given that stress can lead to altered sleeping patterns, we might reason that male homosexuals are under greater stress from societal attitudes than are female homosexuals, and that both of these groups are under greater stress than heterosexuals. In addition, there are lifestyle factors for male homosexuals that would play an important role in shaping their sleeping patterns (although we made every effort in our methodology to minimize these by using similar age groups and recording over the same-day sequence for all subjects). This hypothesis would fit the pattern seen for homosexual males but not homosexual females, as it could be argued that stress would be more likely to disrupt the ability to go to sleep rather than to cause an earlier waking (Kayles and Kayles, 1987). The second hypothesis can be derived from a consideration of the adaptive function that such sleep patterns might serve. In the context of a hunter-gatherer society, we could imagine that some males would have had the role of defenders and would come to adopt a short sleep duration. That these males would develop as homosexuals might arise out of the lack of mating opportunity that such a role would engender. The differential pattern of sleep duration in homosexual females might arise by suggesting a secondary caregiving role to those females who have failed to reproduce. As caregivers they might go to sleep at a normal time (because the children would be asleep then), but might arise early in tandem with the early rising time of small children. This female group’s homosexuality might then arise by virtue of their nonreproductive role in society. Although direct neurological data have not been considered here, we suggest two lines of research enquiry in this area that could usefully consider SCN-AVP morphology in the light of the above findings. One might consider whether the
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differential sleep–wake cycle observed in the present study fluctuates concurrently with seasonal AVP-neuronal rhythmicity (Hofman and Swaab, 1993). The other is a consideration of the sleep–wake cycle of transsexuals. This may prove insightful because Swaab et al. (1992) reported SCN dimorphism within this group (see also Zhou et al., 1995). Although there are still, inevitably, a number of behavioral and neurological questions left unanswered, this study demonstrates that sexual orientation is a phenomenon that yields particular nonsexual behavioral correlates. As far as the sleep–wake cycle is concerned, sleep duration would appear to be a function of both sex and sexual orientation. REFERENCES Coleman, E. (1987). Assessment of sexual orientation. J. Homosex. 14: 9–24. Folkard, S., and Monk, T. H. (1983). Chronopsychology: Circadian rhythms and human performance. In Gale, A., and Edwards, J. A. (eds.), Physiological Correlates of Human Behavior: Volume 2. Attention and Performance. Academic Press, Inc., London. Hall, J. A., and Kimura, D. (1993). Homosexuality and circadian rhythms. Neuropsychopharmacology 9: 126. Hofman, M. A., and Swaab, D. F. (1993). Diurnal and seasonal rhythms of neuronal activity in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of humans. J. Biol. Rhythms 8: 283–295. Hofman, M. A., and Swaab, D. F. (1994). Alterations in circadian rhythmicity of the vasopressinproducing neurons of the human suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) with ageing. Brain Res. 651: 134–142. Kayles, J. D., and Kayles, A. (1987). Evaluation and treatment of insomnia. Psychiatr. Ann. 17: 459– 464. LeVay, S. (1991). A difference in hypothalamic structure between heterosexual and homosexual men. Science 253: 1034–1037. Ralph, M. B., and Menaker, M. (1988). A mutation of the circadian system in golden hamsters. Science 241: 1225–1227. Renfrew, J. W., Pettigrew, K. D., and Rappoport, S. I. (1987). Motor activity and sleep-duration as a function of age in healthy men. Physiol. Behav. 41: 627–634. Shinohara, K., Tominaga, K., Isobe, T., and Inouye, S. I. T. (1993). Photic regulation of peptides located in the ventrolateral subdivision of the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the rat: Daily variation of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, gastrin-releasing peptide and neuroptide-Y. J. Neurosci. 13: 793–800. Swaab, D. F., Fliers, E., and Partimen, T. S. (1985). The suprachiasmatic nucleus of the human brain in relation to sex, age and senile dementia. Brain Res. 342: 37–44. Swaab, D. F., Gooren, L. T. G., and Hofman, H. A. (1992). The human hypothalamus in relation to gender and sexual orientation. Prog. Brain Res. 93: 205–219. Swaab, D. F., and Hofman, M. A. (1990). An enlarged suprachiasmatic nucleus in homosexual men. Brain Res. 537: 141–148. Swaab, D. F., Zhou, J. N., Ehlhart, T., and Hofman, M. A. (1994). Development of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide neurons in the human supra-chiasmatic nucleus in relation to birth and gender. Dev. Brain Res. 79: 249–259. Webb, W. B. (1982). Sleep in older persons: Sleep structures of 50 to 60 year old men and women. J. Gerontol. 37: 581–586. Zhou, J. N., Hofman, M. A., Gooren, L. T. J., and Swaab, D. F. (1995). A sex difference in the human brain and its relation to transsexuality. Nature 378: 68–70. Zhou, J. N., Hofman, M. A., and Swaab, D. F. (1995). No changes in the number of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-expressing neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of homosexual men: Comparison with vasopressin neurons. Brain Res. 672: 285–288.
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Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 29, No. 2, 2000
Sexual Motives, Gender, and Sexual Behavior James R. Browning, M.A.,1,4 Elaine Hatfield, Ph.D.,1 Debra Kessler, M.A.,2 and Tim Levine, Ph.D.3
The roles of gender and the sexual motives of Love, Pleasure, Conformity, Recognition, Dominance, and Submission in numerous usual and unusual sexual behaviors were investigated. In a survey of 191 college undergraduates it was found that Love, Pleasure, Conformity, and Recognition motives, often in interaction with gender, were all important predictors of sexual behavior. Gender was the best predictor of initiating usual sexual behavior, whereas the Love motive was the best predictor of actually engaging in usual sexual behavior. Pleasure and Recognition in interaction with gender were the best predictors of engaging in unusual sexual behavior. None of the sexual motives predicted initiating unusual sexual behavior. Findings suggest that a variety of sexual motives may underlie sexual behavior. KEY WORDS: sexual motives; gender; sexual behavior.
INTRODUCTION People engage in sexual behavior for numerous reasons, including love and affection, pleasure, conformity, recognition, power, stress reduction, and possibly others. Knowledge of sexual motives is important for understanding and predicting sexual behavior. In addition, understanding and awareness of sexual motives may facilitate communication and reduce conflict between partners in romantic relationships. Nelson (1978) was the first to develop scales to measure sexual motives. His factor analyses yielded five reasons for engaging in sexual behavior: (1) love and affection, (2) pleasure, (3) conformity, (4) recognition–competition, and (5) power (dominance and submission). 1 Department
of Psychology, University of Hawaii, 2430 Campus Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. of Psychology, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois 61820. 3 Department of Speech, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. 4 To whom correspondence should be addressed. 2 Department
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Nelson performed separate analyses for males and females for 10 sexual variables ranging from frequency of casual sex to frequency of coital orgasm. In general, conformity, love, and pleasure (in that order) were the best predictors across the 10 sexual variables. Hill and Preston (1996) reported construction of an inventory of sexual motives that included the following scales: (1) valued by partner, (2) value for partner, (3) relief from stress, (4) providing nurturance, (5) enhance own power, (6) power of partner, (7) pleasure, and (8) procreation. The value by partner, value for partner, and nurturance scales, which appear similar to Nelson’s love and affection scale, were highly intercorrelated (more than +.60). The enhance own power scale seems similar to Nelson’s dominance scale, and the power of partner scale appears to be similar to Nelson’s submission scale. Hill and Preston (1996) did not include a conformity or recognition scale, but did include scales for two motives not present in Nelson’s work: relief from stress and procreation. Hill and Preston found that procreation was neither a reason for nor a correlate of college undergraduates’ sexual behavior. Relief from stress, however, correlated positively with each of the other sexual motives and was the only significant predictor variable for masturbation frequency. Thus, relief from stress appears to be a useful addition to Nelson’s inventory of sexual motives. The present study, for which the data were gathered before Hill and Preston’s (1996) article was published, attempted to answer six questions: First, for which sexual motives are there gender differences in endorsement? Second, although Hill and Preston (1996) discussed and examined gender differences, neither they nor Nelson (1978) employed interactions between gender and sexual motives in their regression analyses. Because males often engage in intercourse at an earlier age than do females (Oliver and Hyde, 1993) and are more permissive and eager for sex than are females (Clark and Hatfield, 1989; Oliver and Hyde, 1993), gender may interact with sexual motives. Thus, we asked whether interactions between gender and sexual motives should be included in regression analyses of sexual behavior. Third, no published research has investigated relationships between sexual motives and the full range of sexual behaviors from kissing to intercourse. Thus, we asked whether results of previous studies replicate across the whole range of sexual behaviors. We also examined both initiating and engaging in sexual behavior because they may involve different dynamics. Fourth, previous studies of sexual motives have not investigated “unusual” heterosexual behaviors (discussed below) other than anal sex. Certain sexual motives may be relevant for usual but not for unusual sexual behavior or vice versa, and interactions with gender may vary with the type of sexual behavior. It is an open question as to what constitutes unusual sexual behavior. For this study, we asked about 13 sexual activities that we thought would be engaged in by substantially less than the majority of respondents. We simply wanted to see if sexual behaviors that most people do not practice display different associations with sexual motives and gender than do more commonly practiced sexual behaviors.
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Fifth, Nelson included conformity and recognition as motives for sex, but Hill and Preston did not. Thus, we asked if such motives should be included in models of sexual behavior.5 Finally, because of the importance of birth control in preventing unwanted pregnancies and of condom usage in decreasing both unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s), we asked which sexual motives are associated with use of birth control and condoms. GENDER DIFFERENCES IN SEXUAL MOTIVES Several studies have found that women, compared to men, are more likely to report love and less likely to report pleasure as a reason for engaging in sexual behavior (Carroll et al., 1985; Leigh, 1989; Nelson, 1978; Whitley, 1988). At the time our study was designed, Nelson’s (1978) research provided the only data on conformity, recognition, dominance, and submission as sexual motives. Our own chi-square analyses of Nelson’s data on respondents’ ranking of sexual motives indicated no evidence of a gender difference in endorsement of Recognition or of Dominance, but did show that a significantly higher percentage of women than men ranked Submission as their primary sexual motive. There was also a trend ( p < 0.08) for men to rank Conformity higher than did women. SEXUAL MOTIVES AND SEXUAL BEHAVIOR Engaging in Usual Sexual Behavior At the time our study was designed, data on relationships between sexual motives and sexual behavior were available only from Nelson (1978) and Leigh (1989). Leigh’s study included love and pleasure but not conformity, recognition, dominance, or submission as sexual motives. Leigh (1989) examined reasons for both having and not having sex to predict frequency of sex. Although Love did not predict frequency of sex in Leigh’s regression analyses, it was the best predictor of frequency of intimate sex in Nelson’s study. Based on this evidence and because romantic love entails a sexual component in the minds of most people (Berscheid, 1996), we predicted that love as a sexual motive would be associated with sexual behavior. Overall, Pleasure was the best predictor of frequency of sex in Leigh’s study, and was positively correlated with frequency of intercourse in Nelson’s study. Hence, we expected that pleasure as a sexual motive would be associated with sexual behavior. 5 Similarly,
Hill and Preston studied two motives not present in Nelson’s work—relief from stress and procreation. We would, of course, like to explore the importance of these motives in shaping sexual behavior. Unfortunately, the Hill and Preston study was not published until our data collection was complete.
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Nelson found a negative correlation between the conformity motive and frequency of both intercourse and intimate sex. Thus, we predicted a negative association between Conformity and usual sexual behavior overall. However, because there is often peer pressure among young men to engage in and among young women to abstain from heterosexual behavior (DeGaston et al., 1996; Muehlenhard and Cook, 1988), we also predicted that Conformity would be associated with engaging in sexual behavior for men and with abstaining from it for women. Nelson found an association between Recognition and frequency of casual sex but not of intimate sex for both genders. Hence, we predicted a weak, positive association between Recognition and sexual behavior. To the extent that dominance means getting what you want, and men in general are eager to engage in sexual behavior (Clark and Hatfield, 1989), then, for men, dominance as a sexual motive should be associated with engaging in sexual behavior. However, women, for whom love and commitment are often prerequisites for engaging in sexual behavior (Reiss, 1960; Taris and Semin, 1997) and who tend to restrain sexual behavior (Hatfield and Rapson, 1996; Vanwesenbeeck et al., 1998), dominance may be associated with abstaining from sexual behavior. That is, we expected that men with a high dominance motive would engage in relatively more sexual behavior, whereas women with a high dominance motive would engage in relatively less sexual behavior. Consistent with this analysis, Nelson found an association between Dominance and frequency of casual sex for men only. For Submission, we predicted the opposite pattern from that for dominance. That is, we predicted that men with a high submission motive would engage in relatively less sexual behavior, whereas women with a high submission motive would engage in more sexual behavior. Initiating Usual Sexual Behavior Apparently, only Nelson’s (1978) study has examined relationships between sexual motives and initiation of sexual behavior. Nelson found a positive correlation between the love motive and frequency of initiation that was significant for women only. Thus, we predicted that love would be associated with initiating usual sexual behavior only for women. Pleasure, in Nelson’s data, was associated with initiation for both genders; thus, we expected that the pleasure motive would be associated with initiating usual sexual behavior across gender. Evidence of peer pressure for young men to engage in and young women to abstain from sexual behavior suggests that the correlation between Conformity and initiation is apt to be positive for men and negative for women. Nelson found this correlation to be zero for men and significantly negative for women. Hence, we predicted that the association between Conformity and initiating usual sexual behavior would be either positive or zero for men and negative for women.
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Nelson found that Recognition was associated with initiation for both genders; thus, we expected that Recognition would be associated with initiating usual sexual behavior across gender. Nelson found that the correlation between Dominance and initiation was near zero for men but significantly positive for women. However, because we predicted that dominance would be associated with engaging in sexual behavior only for men and we expected the results for initiation to be similar to those for engaging in sexual behavior, we found our theory to contrast with Nelson’s results. Therefore, we refrained from predicting the relationship between dominance and initiation. Nelson found that the correlation between Submission and initiation was near zero for both genders; hence, we predicted no association between Submission and initiation. Birth Control and Condom Usage For lack of previous evidence or theory, no predictions were made for associations between sexual motives and use of birth control. Although no previous evidence existed on relationships between condom usage and sexual motives, it seemed reasonable that the pleasure motive would be associated with not using condoms. In addition, based on the evidence that power may be associated with using condoms for women and with not using condoms for men (Amaro, 1995), we predicted that the dominance motive would be associated with using condoms for women and with not using condoms for men. Unusual Sexual Behavior For lack of previous evidence or theory suggesting that the relationships between sexual motives and usual sexual behavior would be different for unusual sexual behavior, the above predictions were tentatively proposed for unusual sexual behavior in the form of research questions. Table I lists hypotheses based on our predictions. METHOD The data for this study were obtained as part of a larger project concerning sexual attitudes and behavior (see Browning et al., 1999). Respondents Of the 256 respondents, 166 were women and 90 were men. All were enrolled in a human sexuality class at the University of Hawaii and were told they would
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1. Women will endorse the Love and Submission motives more and the Pleasure and Conformity motives less than will men, and there will be no gender difference for the Recognition and Dominance motives. 2. Love, Pleasure, and Recognition will be associated with engaging in sexual behavior. 3. Conformity will be associated with abstaining from sexual behavior overall, but will tend to be associated with engaging in sexual behavior for men and with abstaining from sexual behavior for women. 4. For men, Dominance will be associated with engaging in and Submission will be associated with abstaining from sexual behavior, whereas for women, Dominance will be associated with abstaining from and Submission will be associated with engaging in sexual behavior. 5. Love, Pleasure, and Recognition will be associated with initiating sexual behavior across gender, although the association with Love may hold for women only. 6. Conformity and Submission will be unrelated to initiating sexual behavior, although Conformity may be associated with initiating sexual behavior for men and with not initiating sexual behavior for women. 7. Pleasure and Dominance will be associated with not using condoms, except that, for women, Dominance will be associated with using condoms.
have a chance to take some of the love, sex, and intimacy measures to see how it feels to take them. All students chose to participate in the study, and were given bonus points for their participation. Although our sample may not be representative of young American adults, we have no reason to expect any differences to affect relationships between sexual motives and sexual behavior, although this remains an empirical question. The percentage of participants endorsing various relationship categories was as follows: Not dating anyone right now, 25%; casually dating someone (we’ve gone out on dates a couple of times), 15%; seriously involved with someone (we’ve gone out a lot or are going steady), 39%; engaged or cohabiting, 14%; and married, 7%. Those 65 participants who were not dating anyone at the time were deleted from the sample, resulting in 127 women and 64 men in the final sample. The mean age for the final sample was 23.6 years (SD = 5.55, range = 18– 61). Reflecting Hawaii’s multicultural population, they were from diverse ethnic backgrounds: African (1%), Asian (50%), European (18%), Pacific Islander (16%), and Other (14%). Participants were asked whether the person they were in a relationship with was a man or a woman: 96% of both the men and women reported that their relationship was with someone of the opposite sex. Measures Sexual Motives The items for our sexual motive scales were selected from Nelson’s (1978) dissertation, which reported Chronbach alphas ranging from .77 to .85 along with
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evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. We used fewer items in most of our scales and found Chronbach alphas of .64 to .66.6 We employed (1) the two items with the highest factor loading in Nelson’s love and affection scale (e.g., “Because it’s the way I show my partner I love him/her”); (2) the three items with the highest loading in his pleasure factor (e.g., “Because I am a pleasure seeker”); (3) the item with the highest loading in his conformity factor (“Because I want to be like everyone else”); (4) the item with the highest loading in his recognition factor (“Because I’d like to be known as a good lover”); (5) the four items in his dominance scale (e.g., “Because when my partner finally surrenders to me, I get this incredibly satisfying feeling”); and (6) the four items in his submission scale (e.g., “Because I enjoy the feeling of being overwhelmed by my partner”). Respondents were asked to indicate how important each reason was in their own sexual relations (kissing, petting, all sexual activities) rather than in relation to specific sexual behaviors. Response options for each item were on a 4-point scale of “very important,” “pretty important,” “not too important,” and “not important at all.” The possible total scores for the sexual motives of love, pleasure, conformity, recognition, dominance, and submission were 2–8, 3–12, 1–4, 1–4, 4–16, and 4–16, respectively. Dependent Variables Respondents were asked to indicate whether they had participated in various sexual activities during the last month with their current sexual partner, and who generally initiated each activity in which they engaged. They were asked to answer honestly and assured that their answers would be kept strictly confidential. The sexual activities ranged from kissing to intercourse and included sexual behaviors that would be considered “unusual” for most people, such as anal sex, bondage, and cross-dressing. (See Appendix, Dependent variables.) Response options for each item were “Yes” and “No,” and for “Who generally initiates this activity?” the response choices were “Me” and “Partner.” For purposes of analysis, items 1 through 12 were later categorized as usual sexual behaviors and items 13 through 25 were categorized as unusual sexual behaviors, but they were not so labeled for participants. In addition, respondents were asked, “If you have engaged in sexual intercourse during the last month, (1) What percent of the time did you use birth control?” and (2) “What percent of the time did you use condoms?” Response 6 Although Nelson combined dominance and submission as one factor, he used them as separate scales in
regression analyses. Our own confirmatory analysis of the dominance and submission items indicated an excellent fit for a two-factor solution. Thus, we employed dominance and submission as separate scales. Because one focus of this project was on power, we used all four items in the dominance and submission scales. The number of items employed in the other scales varied with their importance for most people in order to increase the extent to which respondents could relate to the items.
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options for both questions were on a 5-point scale of 0% (never), 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% (always). Questionnaire Format The questionnaire asked information in the following order: Personal Background (gender, age, ethnicity, dating status, gender of partner), Assets (Resources) of Relationships, Relative Global Power, Sexual Behavior, and Reasons for Engaging in Sexual Behavior. Procedure Respondents were administered the questionnaire in groups of four, with each person seated in one corner of a room. Before receiving the questionnaire, an attempt was made to assure respondents of confidentiality by asking each one to put the completed questionnaire in a manila envelope and place it randomly in the pile of questionnaires in a reception box. RESULTS Sexual Motive Intercorrelations Table II shows the sexual motive intercorrelations. As shown in Table II, Love, Pleasure, and Recognition all correlated positively with each other. Dominance and Submission correlated positively with all the other motives, except that Conformity was significantly correlated only with Submission. Gender Differences in Sexual Motives Table III shows the simple correlations between gender and each sexual motive. Table II. Correlations among Sexual Motives LOV Love (LOV) Pleasure (PL) Conformity (CON) Recognition (REC) Dominance (DOM) Submission (SUB)
PL
CON
REC
DOM
SUB
.34∗∗
−.07 .08
.25∗∗ .43∗∗ .13
.31∗∗ .45∗∗ .14 .45∗∗
.22∗∗ .33∗∗ .19∗∗ .27∗∗ .55∗∗
Note. N = 187 for all correlations except those involving Dominance, for which N = 186, and those involving Submission, for which N = 185. ∗ p < 0.05. ∗∗ p < 0.01.
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Statistic Correlation N Probability
Love .18 187 .01
Pleas
Conf
Recog
Dom
Sub
−.19 187 .01
−.19 187 .01
.04 189 .55
.06 186 .43
.10 185 .17
Note. A positive correlation indicates greater endorsement by women; Pleas = Pleasure, Conf = Conformity, Recog = Recognition, Dom = Dominance, Sub = Submission.
As shown in Table III, women endorsed Love more and Pleasure and Conformity less than did men, and there was no significant gender difference for Recognition, Dominance, or Submission. Thus, all aspects of hypothesis 1 were confirmed, except that women did not endorse Submission significantly more than did men.
Frequency of Sexual Behaviors Table IV shows the frequency of each sexual behavior. As shown in Table IV, the majority of respondents reported engaging in each usual sexual behavior (“dry kissing” through “dog-style” intercourse), and less than 25% of the respondents reported engaging in each unusual sexual behavior (“anal sex” through “using sexual aides”). This provided an empirical basis for our categorization of sexual behaviors as usual and unusual.
Composite Dependent Variables The following composite dependent variables were employed for data analysis: Usual: number of usual sexual behaviors engaged in during the previous month (possible range of 0–12); Unusual: number of unusual sexual behaviors engaged in during the previous month (possible range of 0–13); Initiating Usual: proportion of usual sexual behaviors engaged in during previous month that were initiated by respondent (possible range of 0–1.00); and Initiating Unusual: proportion of unusual sexual behaviors engaged in during previous month that were initiated by respondent (possible range of 0–1.00).7 7 For both initiation variables, “the proportion of sexual behaviors initiated of those that were reportedly
engaged in” was employed rather than simply “the number of sexual behaviors initiated” so that the initiation variables would be independent from the number of sexual behaviors engaged in; this method reduced the correlation between engaging in and initiating usual sexual behavior from .43 to .05, and for unusual sexual behavior from .62 to .05.
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Browning et al. Table IV. Frequency of Sexual Behaviors Sexual behavior Dry kissing on the mouth French-kissing Kissing of neck and ears, “hickeys” Hand stimulation of breasts Oral stimulation of breasts Hand stimulation of male genitals Hand stimulation of female genitals Fellatio Cunnilingus Partner on top You on top Rear vaginal entry (“dog-style”) Anal sex Masturbated self for partner Partner masturbated partner for you Read erotic literature with partner Watched pornographic films with partner Tied your partner up Tied up by your partner Spanked your partner Spanked by your partner You dressed as the opposite sex Partner dressed as the opposite sex Participated in group sex Used sexual aides
Frequency
Percentage
181 166 167 173 162 159 158 130 133 150 143 108 22 43 43 34 45 13 11 31 31 1 4 4 30
96 89 89 92 86 85 85 70 72 80 76 58 12 23 23 18 24 7 6 17 17 0.5 2 2 16
Note. Frequency indicates the number of respondents who reported that they engaged in the behavior during the previous month.
Engaging in Sexual Behavior Table V shows the simple correlations between sexual motives and engaging in usual and unusual sexual behavior. Interactions between motives and gender were tested by examining the difference between correlations for men and women via r to z transformations. As shown in Table V, the motives of Love, Pleasure, and Recognition correlated positively with engaging in Usual Sexual Behavior (SB), as predicted in hypothesis 2, and with engaging in Unusual SB. Conformity correlated negatively with engaging in Usual SB, as predicted in hypothesis 3. Although there was no interaction between Conformity and gender for engaging in Usual SB, there was an interaction between Conformity and gender for Unusual SB in the form predicted by hypothesis 3 [Z (57, 121) = 2.21, p < 0.05]. That is, the correlation between Conformity and engaging in Unusual SB was in the positive direction for men (.16) and in the negative direction for women (−.17). Contrary to hypothesis 4, Dominance did not interact with gender for engaging in Usual SB. For Unusual SB, there also was no interaction; instead, Dominance
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Table V. Correlations between Sexual Motives and Engaging in Sexual Behavior Sexual behavior Usual Motive
All
Love Pleas Conf Recog Dom Sub
.31∗∗
.22∗∗ −.20∗∗ .16∗ .10 .05
Unusual
Men
Women
.14 .14 −.12 .23 .03 −.23∗
.40∗∗
.26∗∗ −.25∗∗ .13 .14 .17
D
All
Men
Women
D
.06 ns ns ns ns .02
.29∗∗
.34∗∗
.25∗∗
ns ns .05 ns ns ns
.32∗∗ .00 .22∗∗ .23∗∗ .24∗∗
.30∗∗ .16 .09 .26∗ .24
.36∗∗ −.17 .28∗∗ .21∗ .23∗∗
Note. Pleas = Pleasure, Conf = Conformity, Recog = Recognition, Dom = Dominance, Sub = Submission; D = probability of difference between correlations for men and women; ns = nonsignificant; Ns ranged from 182 to 186 for all subjects, from 59 to 62 for men, and from 123 to 124 for women. ∗ p < 0.05. ∗∗ p < 0.01.
correlated positively with engaging in Unusual SB for both men and women. Because the only evidence in Nelson’s data consistent with a possible interaction between Dominance and Gender was for frequency of casual sex, tests of Dominance by Gender interactions were conducted on data from only those respondents who were casually dating. The difference between genders was opposite from that predicted in hypothesis 4, and although the interaction was not significant, the correlation between Dominance and engaging in Usual SB was significant for women (r = .475, n = 20, p < 0.05) and near zero for men (r = .04, n = 14, ns). Submission interacted with gender for engaging in Usual SB, as predicted in hypothesis 4 [Z (57, 120) = 2.52, p < 0.02]. That is, the correlation between Submission and Usual SB was negative for men (−.23, p < 0.05) and in the positive direction for women (.17, ns). For Unusual SB, there was no interaction, and instead, as with Dominance, Submission correlated positively with Unusual SB for both genders.
Initiating Sexual Behavior None of the correlations between sexual motives and Initiating Unusual SB were significant nor were there any significant differences between such correlations for men and women. Table VI shows the simple correlations between sexual motives and Initiating Usual SB and between sexual motives and condom usage. As predicted in hypothesis 5, Love interacted with gender for Initiating Usual SB [Z (58, 119) = 1.73, p < 0.05]. The correlation between Love and initiation was near zero for men (−.06) and positive for women (.22, p < 0.05).
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Browning et al. Table VI. Correlations between Sexual Motives and Initiating Usual Sexual Behavior and Condom Usage Initiating sexual behavior
Condom usage
Motive
All
Men
Women
D
All
Men
Women
D
Love Pleas Conf Recog Dom Sub
−.04 .21∗∗ .09 .06 .00 −.12
−.06 −.06 .20 .27∗ .24 .10
.22∗ .22∗ −.16 −.07 .01 −.08
ns ns .05 .05 .07 ns
−.06 −.18∗ .07 −.09 .00 −.06
−.03 −.27 .20 −.28∗ −.02 .05
−.07 −.15 −.03 −.03 .01 −.09
ns ns ns ns ns ns
Note. Pleas = Pleasure, Conf = Conformity, Recog = Recognition, Dom = Dominance, Sub = Submission; D = probability of difference between correlations for men and women; ns = nonsignificant; for Initiating usual sexual behavior, Ns ranged from 175 to 178 for all subjects, from 57 to 59 for men, and from 118 to 119 for women. For Condom Usage, Ns ranged from 153 to 156 for all subjects, from 49 to 50 for men, and from 104 to 106 for women. ∗ p < 0.05. ∗∗ p < 0.01.
Pleasure correlated positively with Initiating Usual SB overall, as predicted in hypothesis 5, but the correlation was significant for women only. For Recognition, the correlation was significantly positive for men only. Thus, hypothesis 5 was only partially supported because Love and Pleasure were associated with Initiating SB for women only, and Recognition was associated with Initiation for men only. As predicted in hypothesis 6, conformity interacted with gender [Z (55, 116) = 2.22, p < 0.05] such that the correlation between Conformity and Initiation of Usual SB was positive for men (.20, ns) and negative for women (−.16, ns). Also consistent with hypothesis 6, there were no significant correlations with Submission nor a Submission by Gender interaction for Initiating Usual SB. A Submission by Gender interaction for Initiating Unusual SB, however, was nearly significant [Z (21, 65) = 1.59, p < 0.06] with a correlation between Submission and Initiation of −.38 ( p = 0.07) for men and .00 for women. No prediction was made for the relationship between Dominance and Initiating SB because theoretically, we expected the correlation to be positive for men and negative for women, but Nelson (1978) found the correlation to be near zero for men and positive for women. In our data, the correlation for Initiating Usual SB was .24 for men and .01 for women. The correlation for men and the Dominance by Gender interaction each approached significance ( ps = 0.07). Birth Control and Condom Usage No predictions were made for associations between motives and birth control and no correlations were significant. As predicted in hypothesis 7, Pleasure
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correlated negatively with Condom Usage. Contrary to hypothesis 7, there was no interaction between Dominance and gender for Condom Usage. Relative Importance of Predictor Variables Regression analyses were conducted for each composite dependent variable (except for Initiation of Unusual SB, for which the sample size was too small) and for Condom Usage in order to gauge the relative importance of predictor variables. Predictor variables in each case were Gender, the six sexual motives, and the interaction between Gender and each motive. For each composite dependent variable and for Condom Usage, Table VII shows the regression results. As shown in Table VII, Love, Pleasure, and Conformity added, respectively, .05, .02, and .04 unique R 2 to the model for Engaging in Usual SB; Love, Pleasure, Conformity by Gender, and Recognition by Gender added .02, .05, .03, and .05 unique R 2 , respectively, to the model for Engaging in Unusual SB; and Gender, Pleasure by Gender, Conformity by Gender, and Recognition by Gender added .02, .04, .02, and .03 unique R 2 , respectively, to the model for Initiating Usual SB. Table VII. Unique Amount of Variance Accounted for by Sexual Motives in Sexual Behavior and Condom Usage Statistic Predictor Engaging in usual sexual behavior Love Pleasure Conformity Engaging in unusual sexual behavior Love Pleasure Conf × Gender Rec × Gender Initiating usual sexual behavior Gender Plea × Gender Conf × Gender Rec × Gender Condom usage Pleasure
Beta
F+
R2+
.24 .15 −.19
10.98∗∗ 4.31∗ 7.60∗∗
.05 .02 .04
10.26∗∗
3,181
.15
.15 .26 .35 −.45
3.99∗ 11.89∗∗ 6.61∗ 11.12∗∗
.02 .05 .03 .05
10.28∗∗
4,179
.19
−.62 −.85 .35 .50
5.54∗ 11.34∗∗ 5.55∗ 8.20∗∗
.02 .04 .02 .03
29.27∗∗
4,172
.41
−.17
5.43∗
.04
5.43∗
1,151
.04
Model F
df
Model R 2
Note. Plea = Pleasure, Conf = Conformity, Rec = Recognition; F+ = F increase, R 2 + = R 2 increase; only predictors significant beyond the .05 level are listed. ∗ p < 0.05. ∗∗ p < 0.01.
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Pleasure was the only variable to account for variance in Condom Usage (.04 R 2 ). No variable accounted for variance in Birth Control Usage.
DISCUSSION Because statistical significance does not imply social significance, our results are interpreted in terms of our original six questions. Gender Differences in Sexual Motives The first question this study asked was: For which sexual motives are there gender differences? Our finding that the Love motive was endorsed more and the Pleasure motive endorsed less by women than by men replicates consistent results of previous research (Carroll et al., 1985; Leigh, 1989; Nelson, 1978; Whitley, 1988). This is also consistent with the evidence that women are more likely than men to make love a prerequisite to engaging in sexual behavior (Reiss, 1960; Taris and Semin, 1997). Our finding that men endorsed the Conformity motive more than did women is consistent with the only previous data on this motive (Nelson, 1978) and with the evidence that young men are more likely than young women to experience peer pressure to engage in sexual behavior (DeGaston et al., 1996; Muehlenhard and Cook, 1988). Our finding of no gender difference for the Recognition and Dominance motives also matches Nelson’s results. Our finding of no significant gender difference for the Submission motive contrasts with Nelson’s (1978) data showing that a higher percentage of women than men rated Submission as their primary sexual motive. Hill and Preston’s (1996) finding that men endorsed their Partner Power motive more than did women across three samples stands in contrast to both our results and especially those of Nelson. Although their Partner Power scale and Nelson’s Submission scale seem similar, only the Partner Power scale includes items referring to appreciation of one’s sexual partner being “forceful” and “aggressive.” Considering the prevalence of date rape (Koss et al., 1988), items with such adjectives seem less likely to be endorsed by women than by men. Evidently, the two scales are not equivalent. Interactions between Sexual Motives and Gender The second question posed in this study was whether interactions between gender and sexual motives should be included in regression analyses of sexual behavior. For the models of Initiating Usual and Engaging in Unusual SB, our data clearly indicate that they should because interactions between sexual motives and gender accounted for 8% of unique variance in each of these models. Analysis
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of simple correlations also revealed a significant interaction between Submission and gender for usual sexual behavior. These results indicate that models of both engaging in and initiating sexual behavior would do well to include interactions between gender and sexual motives.
Sexual Motives and Sexual Behavior Our third question asked if results found in previous research on sexual motives replicate across the full range of sexual behavior. Our results indicate that, with few exceptions, they do replicate for engaging in sexual behavior, but that, for initiating sexual behavior, there were many differences between our findings and those of Nelson (1978). Thus, further research is needed to clarify relationships between sexual motives, gender, and initiating sexual behavior.
Sexual Motives and Unusual Sexual Behavior Our fourth question asked if the relationships between sexual motives and sexual behavior differ for usual versus unusual sexual behavior. Most of the sexual motives did display differences in their relationships to both engaging in and initiating usual versus unusual sexual behavior. This suggests the value of distinguishing between usual and unusual SB in sexual motive models. It is noteworthy that the conformity motive was associated with abstaining from usual sexual behavior across gender, suggesting a social norm within our sample to limit usual sexual behavior, whereas for unusual sexual behavior, it was associated with engaging in sexual behavior for men and with abstaining from it for women. This suggests that even when no evidence exists of a double standard for usual sexual behavior there still may be one for unusual sexual behavior.
Conformity and Recognition Motives Our fifth question was whether conformity and recognition should be included in motive models of sexual behavior. As noted above, Conformity accounted for unique variance in engaging in usual sexual behavior and, in interaction with gender, accounted for unique variance in initiating usual and engaging in unusual sexual behavior. This suggests that conformity as a sexual motive deserves a place in motive models of sexual behavior. Consistent with this conclusion are Nelson’s (1978) regression analyses in which Conformity was a significant predictor variable for more of his dependent variables than any other motive, and Maticka-Tyndale et al.’s (1998) finding that peer group norms contributed to prediction of engaging in casual sex on spring break. Although Conformity may be a less important motive
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for people older than our respondents, whose mean age was 24 years, it may be even more important for younger people. Recognition, in interaction with gender, also accounted for unique variance in the models for initiating usual and engaging in unusual sexual behavior. Nelson’s (1978) finding that Recognition predicted frequency of initiation of sexual behavior is consistent with these results. Nelson also found Recognition to be the best predictor of number of coital partners. As with Conformity, Recognition may be less important for people older but more important for people younger than those in our sample. Thus, Recognition appears to be a motive worth including in motive models of both engaging in and initiating sexual behavior.
Sexual Motives and Condom Usage As predicted, the Pleasure motive was associated with not using condoms. This finding is consistent with Kelly and Kalichman’s (1998) evidence that reinforcement value of unprotected anal sex accounted for unique variance in condom usage among gay and bisexual men. As these authors noted, attention to sexual reinforcers may improve HIV risk reduction models. Why there was no interaction between the Dominance motive and gender for condom usage is unclear. Even measures of relative power in our own data failed to interact with gender for condom usage (see Browning et al., 1999). Gender conflict over condom usage is apparently much more prominent in certain ethnic groups, such as Latinos (Amaro, 1995), and may be uncommon within our sample.
Nelson’s Sexual Motives Our results suggest that Nelson’s (1978) model of sexual motives is still useful in accounting for sexual behavior. However, a complete model would include all of Nelson’s motives plus Stress Reduction, Procreation, and motives for which scales have not yet been developed or even explored in the literature (e.g., Revenge).
Limitations Because we could not observe the sexual behavior of our respondents, this study relied on self-reports. We attempted to minimize the pitfalls of this method by ensuring confidentiality of responses and asking participants to recall their sexual behavior only during the previous month in order to reduce forgetting and selective memory. Even so, we cannot rule out the possible influence of such factors. Our sample, as well as those of Nelson (1978) and Hill and Preston (1996), consisted of college undergraduates only. It is unknown whether our findings
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generalize to other segments of the population. However, the main gender differences in sexuality that explain much of our results are based on extensive evidence from diverse samples (e.g., Oliver and Hyde, 1993). Finally, the correlational nature of our data precludes drawing conclusions regarding causality. Directions for Future Research The evidence of peer pressure for young men to engage in and young women to abstain from sexual behavior (e.g., DeGaston et al., 1996) coupled with men’s eagerness to engage in sexual behavior led us to predict that the Dominance motive would be associated with engaging in sexual behavior for men and with abstaining from it for women. However, we found no evidence of such an interaction. Because Nelson (1978) found evidence of this interaction for frequency of casual sex only, we examined the data for only those respondents who were casually dating. To our surprise, dominance was associated with engaging in sexual behavior for women only. Although speculative, this suggests the possibility that some women may use sex to gain power in casual dating relationships. Because this finding was based on a small subset of our sample, future research with larger samples should explore relationships between the Dominance motive, gender, relationship status, and sexual behavior. Future research could also examine possible sexual motives beyond those in the current literature, such as self-identity, ego-enhancement, and revenge, and test equivalence of Nelson’s and Hill and Preston’s scales. Another line of inquiry might examine ethnic, cross-cultural, and age differences in relationships among sexual motives, gender, and sexual behavior. Yet another question is whether the double standard is stronger for unusual than for usual sexual behavior. CONCLUSION Our results point to the importance of including interactions with gender and the sexual motives of Conformity and Recognition in models of sexual behavior, and to the value of distinguishing between usual and unusual sexual behavior in these models. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors thank Daniel Blaine for advice in planning statistical analyses, Ginger Carey for assistance in conducting analyses, April Weiss for comments on an early draft of this manuscript, and the reviewers for many helpful suggestions.
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APPENDIX Dependent Variables 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
“Dry” kissing, on the mouth French-kissing (open mouth/tongue) Kissing of neck and ears, “hickeys” Stimulation of breasts with hands Oral stimulation of breasts Stimulation of male genitals with hand Stimulation of female genitals with hand Fellatio (oral stimulation of male genitals) Cunnilingus (oral stimulation of female genitals)
Sexual Intercourse 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
Partner on top You on top Rear vaginal entry (“dog-style”) Anal sex Masturbated yourself for your partner Had your partner masturbate him/herself for you Read erotic literature with your partner Watched pornographic films with your partner
Dominance/Submission 18. 19. 20. 21.
Tied your partner up Been tied up by your partner Spanked your partner Been spanked by your partner
Cross-Dressing 22. 23. 24. 25.
I dressed as the opposite sex My partner dressed as the opposite sex Participated in a threesome, group sex, or swapped partners Used sexual aids (e.g., vibrator)
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REFERENCES Amaro, H. (1995). Love, sex and power: Considering women’s realities in HIV prevention. Amer. Psychol. 50: 437–447. Berscheid, E. (1996). A social categorical approach to a question about love. Pers. Relation. 3: 19–43. Browning, J. R., Kessler, D., Hatfield, E., and Choo, P. (1999). Power, gender, and sexual behavior. J. Sex. Res. 36: 342–347. Carroll, J. L., Volk, K. D., and Hyde, J. S. (1985). Differences between males and females in motives for having intercourse. Arch. Sex. Behav. 14: 131–139. Clark, R. D. III, and Hatfield, E. (1989). Gender differences in receptivity to sexual offers. J. Psych. Hum. Sex. 2: 39–55. DeGaston, J. F., Weed, S., and Jensen, L. (1996). Understanding gender differences in adolescent sexuality. Adolescence 3: 217–231. Hatfield, E., and Rapson, R. L. (1993). Love, Sex, and Intimacy: Their Psychology, Biology, and History. New York: Harper/Collins. Hatfield, E., and Rapson, R. L. (1996). Love and Sex: Cross-cultural Perspectives. New York: Allyn & Bacon. Hill, C. A., and Preston, L. K. (1996). Individual differences in the experience of sexual motivation: Theory and measurement of dispositional sexual motives. J. Sex Res. 33: 27–45. Kelly, J. A., and Kalichman, S. C. (1998). Reinforcement value of unsafe sex as a predictor of condom use and continued HIV/AIDS risk behavior among gay and bisexual men. Health Psych. 17: 328–335. Koss, M. P., Dinero, T. E., Seibel, C. A., and Cox, S. L. (1988). Stranger and acquaintance rape: Are there differences in the victim’s experience? Psych. Women Quarrt. 12: 1–24. Leigh, B. C. (1989). Reasons for having and avoiding sex: Gender, sexual orientation, and relationships to sexual behavior. J. Sex Res. 26: 199–209. Maticka-Tyndale, E., Herold, E. S., and Mewhinney, D. (1998). Casual sex on spring break: Intentions and behaviors of Canadian students. J. Sex Res. 35: 254–264. Muehlenhard, C. L., and Cook, S. W. (1988). Men’s self-reports of unwanted sexual activity. J. Sex Res. 24: 58–72. Nelson, P. A. (1978). Personality, Sexual Functions, and Sexual Behavior: An Experiment in Methodology. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Florida. Oliver, M. B., and Hyde, J. S. (1993). Gender differences in sexuality: A meta-analysis. Psych. Bull. 114: 29–51. Reiss, I. L. (1960). Premarital Sexual Standards in America. New York: Free Press. Taris, T. W., and Semin, G. R. (1997). Gender as a moderator of the effects of the love motive and relational context on sexual experience. Arch. Sex. Behav. 26: 159–180. Whitley, B. E. Jr. (1988). The relation of gender-role orientation to sexual experience among college students. Sex Roles 19: 619–638. Vanwesenbeeck, I., Bekker, M., and van Lenning, A. (1998). Gender attitudes, sexual meanings, and interactional patterns in heterosexual encounters among college students in the Netherlands. J. Sex Res. 35: 317–327.
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Familial Aspects of Male Homosexuality Khytam Dawood, M.S.,1 Richard C. Pillard, M.D.,2 Christopher Horvath, Ph.D.,3 William Revelle, Ph.D.,1 and J. Michael Bailey, Ph.D.1
Research has generally supported the existence of familial–genetic factors for male sexual orientation, but has not shed much light on the specific nature of those influences. Gay men with gay brothers provide the opportunity to examine several hypotheses. Sixty-six men, representing 37 gay male sibling pairs, completed questionnaires assessing behavior on various measures including childhood and adult gender nonconformity, timing of awareness of homosexual feelings, selfacceptance, and the quality of family relationships. Consistent with prior findings using twins, gay brothers were similar in their degree of childhood gender nonconformity, suggesting that this variable may distinguish etiologically (e.g., genetically) heterogeneous subtypes. The large majority of gay men with brothers knew about their own homosexual feelings before they learned about their brothers’ homosexual feelings, suggesting that discovery of brothers’ homosexuality is not an important cause of male homosexuality.
INTRODUCTION Several studies have shown that gay men have more gay brothers than heterosexual men do (Pillard and Weinrich, 1986; Bailey and Bell, 1993; Bailey et al., 1999). The most systematic study to date (Bailey et al., 1999) found the rate of homosexuality in brothers of two samples of gay male probands to be approximately 7–11%, compared with a population prevalence of male homosexuality (using a similar definition) of approximately 2% (Laumann et al., 1994). Twin studies (reviewed by Bailey and Pillard, 1995) have tended to support a genetic interpretation of this familiality. Because of the high rate of discordant MZ pairs 1 Department
of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-2710. of Psychiatry, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts. 3 Departments of Philosophy and Biology, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois. 2 Department
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(Bailey and Pillard, 1995; Bailey, Dunne, and Martin, 1998), there can be no doubt that nonshared environmental influences are considerable. (Nonshared environment causes differences between siblings reared together.) However, shared environmental influences cannot presently be excluded definitively. In any case, the specific nature of familial influences on male sexual orientation remains unclear. That is, it is unclear how genes and/or shared environment affect male sexual orientation. Merely demonstrating different rates of homosexuality in the brothers of gay and heterosexual men, or in the monozygotic versus dizygotic cotwins of gay twins, cannot illuminate the nature of familial–genetic influences on male sexual orientation. In a sibling study, one must go beyond testing differences in concordance and examine other information about gay men. For example, one contribution of a study of gay siblings would be to explore familial–genetic heterogeneity. Childhood gender nonconformity (i.e., disliking stereotypic male activities, such as competitive sports, and participating in stereotypic female activities, such as cross-dressing, playing with dolls, and preferring girl playmates) is a strong correlate of male sexual orientation, but there is substantial variability in the trait among gay men (Bailey and Zucker, 1995). That is, some gay men remember being very feminine boys, whereas others remember being typically masculine. It is conceivable that homosexuality that is preceded by childhood gender nonconformity has different causes than homosexuality preceded by gender conformity. Suppose, for example, that both homosexuality with and without childhood gender nonconformity were similarly heritable but involved different sets of genes. In this case, gay siblings would be similar in their degree of childhood gender nonconformity. (Some would share the gene for “masculine” homosexuality; others for “feminine” homosexuality.) There is, in fact, evidence that MZ male cotwins concordant for homosexuality are remarkably similar in their degree of childhood gender nonconformity; one study found a relevant correlation of .76 (Bailey and Pillard, 1991). This is consistent with the possibility that different genotypes cause different “types” of homosexuality. Too few concordant DZ twin pairs, or pairs of nontwin gay brothers, have been studied to determine whether childhood gender nonconformity is similar in gay men who are merely first-degree relatives. If they are not very similar, this would exclude childhood gender nonconformity as an indicator of genetic heterogeneity. A second potential contribution of the study of gay sibling pairs concerns the possibility of sibling influence. That is, siblings may exert influences on each other’s sexual orientation. Specifically, it is conceivable that having a gay brother is an environmental cause of male homosexuality. For example, knowing that one’s brother is gay could make it more likely that one would consider the possibility oneself, leading to the discovery or acknowledgment of previously hidden sexual feelings. This might be especially true, given the prevalent belief that homosexuality has a strong genetic component (Schmalz, 1993). A second possibility of sibling influence has been raised by several researchers (Slater, 1958; Cameron and Cameron, 1995; Jones and Blanchard, 1998) and in our experience appears to be
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a common belief. It is the possibility that male homosexuality can be transmitted within families via incest. Both possibilities can be directly examined by studies of gay brothers. By the respective sibling influence hypotheses we have mentioned, within gay brother pairs, many gay men should have recognized their gay feelings only after they found out about their gay brothers, and early sexual experiences between gay brothers should be common. Finally, data from gay men with gay brothers, when compared with data from other gay men, can provide rough tests of some other environmental hypotheses. As we have discussed elsewhere (Bailey and Bell, 1993), gay men with gay brothers are especially likely to have been exposed to any familial (or shared) environmental influences affecting sexual orientation. For example, some psychoanalytic theories predict that emotionally distant fathers will produce more gay sons (see Zucker and Bradley, 1995, pp. 239–248, for a review). If the theory is true, then gay men with gay brothers should be especially likely to recall their fathers as emotionally distant. In the present study, we obtained psychological data from gay men with gay brothers in order to examine several specific hypotheses. METHOD Participants Sibling Pairs Sibling pairs included gay men with at least one gay brother. Participants were recruited by means of an advertisement in several gay publications in major metropolitan areas across the United States. The advertisement specified that we were looking for gay men with gay brothers to participate in a study on the development of sexual orientation. Confidentiality was assured. When a prospective participant responded to the advertisement, a research associate briefly explained the different components of the study, and determined whether the prospective participant met criteria for participation in the study. Fifty gay men with gay brothers indicated interest in this component of the study, and questionnaires were mailed to both probands and their gay brothers, with an accompanying cover letter emphasizing the importance of the sibling pairs completing the questionnaire without prior discussion among themselves. Sixty-six completed questionnaires were returned, representing 29 complete pairs and 8 incomplete pairs. Controls The comparison sample of participants comprised gay men ascertained randomly with respect to familial homosexuality (i.e., we did not ascertain whether
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men in this sample had a gay brother). One hundred ninety-one gay males (recruited at the annual Gay Pride Parade in Chicago for a different study) were contacted by mail to solicit participation in this study. Completed questionnaires were received from 49 participants.
Measures Demographic Variables The following variables were assessed: sex, age, ethnicity, and highest level of education attained. Sexual Orientation This was measured using the Kinsey scale. Participants provided ratings of their sexual attraction to men and women (Kinsey scales; Kinsey et al., 1953). Sexual fantasies (i.e., the degree to which participants’ fantasize about their own or opposite sex) and sexual behavior (i.e., the relative frequency of same-sex or opposite-sex activity) were rated separately for adolescence, adulthood, and during the previous year. Kinsey scores range from 0 (completely heterosexual) to 6 (completely homosexual). Childhood Gender Nonconformity The Childhood Gender Nonconformity scale consisted of seven items that measured participants’ retrospective concepts of self as masculine or feminine in childhood using 7-point rating scales, ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” Example items include: “As a child I was called a ‘sissy’ by my peers” and “As a child I often felt that I had more in common with girls than boys.” A previous study found large differences between homosexual and heterosexual men on this scale (Bailey et al., 1996). Coefficient alpha for this scale was .89. Continuous Gender Identity This scale (CGI) consisted of 10 items that assessed participants’ current self-concepts as masculine or feminine (e.g., “In many ways I feel more similar to women than to men”) using 7-point rating scales ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” A previous study (Bailey et al., 1998) found this scale to be significantly related to sexual orientation, with homosexual men rating themselves as less masculine than heterosexual men. Coefficient alpha in this sample was .70.
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Closeness of Family Relationships Several scales were created to measure the degree of closeness felt by the participant in relationships with each parent, his gay brother, and with other siblings. Participants were asked to describe the relationship with each member of the immediate family on a 7-point scale ranging from “extremely close” to “extremely distant.” Coefficient alpha for these scales was .66, .81, .62, and .76, respectively, for relationships with mother, father, gay brother, and other siblings. Self-Acceptance This nine-item scale was designed to measure attitudes toward an individual’s own homosexuality using 7-point rating scales, ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” Sample items include: “I am proud to be gay,” and “I feel comfortable at openly gay events or social settings.” Coefficient alpha for this scale was .74. The remaining questions were given only to participants in the gay brothers sample. Sex-Play between Brothers This question was adapted from Bell and Weinberg (1978) and was used to assess whether participants had engaged in any sexual activities with their brothers at any time. Participants could check up to seven different sexual activities, ranging from masturbation to anal intercourse. The overall score was the number of the seven items that were checked. Coefficient alpha for this scale was .72. Gay brothers’ agreement on this measure was .59. Sexual History Variables A series of 12 questions were included to assess the age of onset of participants’ same-sex sexual fantasies and activities. Participants were also asked to report whether their first homosexual feelings and experiences occurred before or after their awareness of their brothers’ homosexual feelings. Finally, participants were also asked to report the total number of sexual partners they had to date. Data Analysis Most of the data analyses were correlational, and two types of correlations should be distinguished. When the variables to be correlated consisted of exactly the same scales over brother pairs, we used the intraclass correlation (ρ), and N = 29. Otherwise, we used the Pearson correlation (r ), and N = 66.
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We note one problem with some of our analyses, specifically, those that did not focus on the similarity of brothers in complete pairs. The other analyses (all Pearson correlations and t-tests), which employed the entire sample and considered each subject an independent case, technically violated the independence assumptions required for probability estimation. This is because brothers are not independent observations. The seriousness of this violation depends on how highly correlated brothers are for the trait that is analyzed; the higher the correlation, the more serious the violation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Similarities between Gay Brothers Consistent with prior studies of twins, gay brothers were remarkably similar in their reports of childhood gender nonconformity, ρ = .54, p < 0.01. That is, both brothers tended to have been either feminine or masculine. Of course, because the correlation was less than unity, there were exceptions. This suggests that childhood gender nonconformity is a good candidate to distinguish familial–genetic subtypes of male homosexuality. There was no obvious bimodality in this variable’s distribution, suggesting that among gay men, variation in childhood gender nonconformity is not determined by a dichotomous variable (e.g., two different genotypes or environments). This was consistent with previous research (e.g., Bailey and Zucker, 1995, p. 48). Although childhood gender nonconformity was moderately related to continuous gender identity, r = .45, p < 0.05, the latter trait was uncorrelated among brothers, ρ = −.03. Evidently, familial factors influencing the particular expression of homosexual orientation are limited to childhood. However, thinking in terms of two forms of homosexuality, one with “masculine” and one with “feminine” childhood histories, is defensible only as a convenience. Otherwise, we should have found bimodality of our childhood gender nonconformity measure. If the tendency of gay brothers to be similar in their childhood memories reflects genetic heterogeneity, then it is more appropriate to think in terms of several genes that influence a range of feminine expression among gay men. Brothers were also positively correlated for degree of self-acceptance, ρ = .26, and age of “coming out” to parents, ρ = .31, although neither correlation was significant. These variables are particularly relevant to the possibility that families with pro-gay attitudes foster more homosexuality. Our results suggest that such effects, if any, are modest. Sibling Influences Finally, we examined the possibility that having a gay brother is a causal factor influencing homosexuality in males. As we have noted, it is plausible that having
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a gay brother encourages other brothers to explore homosexuality or discover their own homosexual inclinations. This possibility was not supported by our data. Participants reported that, on average, they were aware of their first homosexual feelings at age 11 (SD = 5). On average, they first had sexual relations with a man at age 17 (SD = 6). They learned of their brother’s homosexuality, on average, at age 21 (SD = 7). Most of the participants (83%) knew that their brother had homosexual feelings after they had already experienced these feelings, and 69% of them had already had sex with a man before they first knew their brother was gay. This suggests that knowledge that a brother is gay is unlikely to be a powerful cause of homosexuality. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that even in those cases in which such knowledge occurred before self-knowledge, additional evidence would be required to determine that knowledge about gay brothers is etiologically relevant. Sibling pairs also reported on the incidence of homosexual sex play between siblings in childhood. Approximately two-thirds of the participants denied any sexual activity with their siblings. Among the 21 participants who indicated that some form of sex play occurred, levels of activity included touching and mutual masturbation (N = 16), giving or receiving fellatio (N = 9), and anal intercourse (N = 4). Only 7 participants indicated that sex play was accompanied by orgasm. Participants who reported sex play with their brothers recalled earlier homosexual feelings (M = 9.6) compared with other participants (M = 11.7), t(63) = 1.8, p = 0.07. Furthermore, participants who had such experiences recalled significantly less childhood gender nonconformity, t(64) = 2.8, p < 0.01. However, similar percentages of men with and without sibling sex play experiences knew about their own homosexual feelings prior to learning of their brothers’ (84% and 76%, respectively). It is important to emphasize that neither our data nor other, similar data (e.g., Cameron and Cameron, 1995) are sufficient to prove an etiologic influence of childhood sex play among brothers on homosexual orientation. One argument in favor of such an influence would be that gay men who engaged in early sex play were less feminine as boys, suggesting that they had less of a predisposition to become homosexual. By this argument, their childhood sex play experience provided a needed push toward homosexuality. One problem with this argument is that studies that have looked have failed to demonstrate that homosexuality associated with childhood gender nonconformity is more environmentally or socially influenced than other homosexuality (e.g., Bailey and Pillard, 1991). The second problem is that alternative explanations of the negative association between childhood gender nonconformity and sexual experimentation between brothers are not difficult to suggest. Perhaps among boys who will become gay men, masculine boys have more opportunities to engage in sex play because they associate more with other boys (including, presumably, their brothers). Alternatively, it is possible that early femininity is associated with personality traits that delay sexual feelings and experience. Further research is required to distinguish among the various alternative
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interpretations of these findings. The fact that the majority of men who engaged in early sexual experimentation with their brothers knew about their own feelings before they knew about their brothers’ suggests that the sexual experimentation was more likely an indication of, rather than a determinant of, early homosexual feelings. Comparison of Gay Men with and without Gay Brothers Gay men with gay brothers did not report more distant relationships with their mothers or fathers, compared with the comparison group. In fact, only one measured variable differentiated gay men with and without gay brothers. Gay men without gay brothers expressed greater self-acceptance of their homosexuality, d = .50, t(110) = 2.6, p < 0.01. This probably reflects an ascertainment bias because most of the control probands were recruited from a gay pride parade. Because this event typically attracts members of the gay community who actively display their self-acceptance and pride in their sexual orientation, we believe this sample of gay men is likely to have elevated self-acceptance relative to gay men who would not attend such an event. We cannot think of an equally plausible alternative in which gay men with gay brothers should be less self-accepting compared with other gay men. Thus, our results do not suggest that there are large differences between gay men with and without gay brothers. This means that gay men with gay brothers are not very unrepresentative, at least with respect to the variables we examined. Our results are relevant to the issue of whether there are characteristics that distinguish “familial” versus “nonfamilial” forms of male homosexuality; we were unable to find any promising candidates. However, detecting differences, if they are modest in magnitude, requires much greater sample sizes than we had (Eaves, Kendler, and Schulz, 1986). Finally, we note that our samples were not systematically ascertained, and this may have affected our results. Although we cannot think of ways in which our most interesting significant findings may be due to ascertainment biases, clearly it would be desirable to recruit subjects in a more systematic fashion in future studies.
CONCLUSIONS Much previous research suggests that male sexual orientation is familial, but little research has taken advantage of familial aggregation to explore more specific etiologic hypotheses. The present study represents an early attempt to elucidate familial–genetic variation among gay men. Consistent with a great deal of prior research, childhood gender nonconformity appears to be a promising
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variable for further exploration. Among gay men, childhood gender nonconformity was familial, and it was also associated with different early sexual experiences. Familial–genetic research on sexual orientation should routinely include measures of childhood gender nonconformity in order to examine alternative pathways to adult homosexuality.
REFERENCES Bailey, J. M., and Bell, A. P. (1993). Familiality of female and male homosexuality. Behav. Genet. 23: 313–322. Bailey, J. M., Dunne, M. P., and Martin, N. G. (1998). The distribution, correlates, and determinants of sexual orientation in an Australian twin sample. Unpublished manuscript. Bailey, J. M., Finkel, E., Blackwelder, K., and Bailey, T. (1996). Masculinity, femininity, and sexual orientation. Unpublished manuscript. Bailey, J. M., and Pillard, R. C. (1991). A genetic study of male sexual orientation. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 48: 1089–1096. Bailey, J. M., and Pillard, R. C. (1995). Genetics of human sexual orientation. Annu. Rev. Sex Res. 6: 126–150. Bailey, J. M., Pillard, R. C., Dawood, K., Miller, M. B., Farrer, L. A., Trivedi, S., and Murphy, R. L. (1999). A family history study of male sexual orientation. Behav. Genet. 29: 79–86 Bailey, J. M., and Zucker, K. J. (1995). Childhood sex-typed behavior and sexual orientation: A conceptual analysis and quantitative review. Dev. Psychol. 31: 43–55. Cameron, P., and Cameron, K. (1995). Does incest cause homosexuality? Psychol. Rep. 76: 611–621. Eaves, L. J., Kendler, K. S., and Schulz, S. C. (1986). The familial sporadic classification: Its power for the resolution of genetic and environmental etiologic factors. J. Psychiat. Res. 20: 115–130. Jones, M. B., and Blanchard, R. (1998). Birth order and male homosexuality: An extension of Slater’s Index. Hum Biol. 70: 775–787. Kinsey, A. C., Pomeroy, W. B., Martin, C. E., and Gebhard, P. H. (1953). Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. Philadelphia: Sanders. Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J. H., Michael, R. T., and Michaels, S. (1994). The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Pillard, R. C., and Weinrich, J. D. (1986). Evidence of familial nature of male homosexuality. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 43: 808–812. Schmalz, J. (March 5, 1993). Poll finds an even split on homosexuality’s cause. New York Times, p. A11. Slater, E. (1958). The sibs and children of homosexuals. In Smith, D. R., and Davidson, W. M. (eds.), Symposium on Nuclear Sex (pp. 79–83). London: Heinemann Medical Books. Zucker, K. J., and Bradley, S. J. (1995). Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and Adolescents. New York: Guilford Press.
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Personality Characteristics of Male Clients of Female Commercial Sex Workers in Australia Luke Xantidis, M.Clin. Psych.1 and Marita P. McCabe, Ph.D.1,2
The personality characteristics of male clients of female sex workers and their motivations for seeking the services of sex workers were examined. It was hypothesized that clients of sex workers would differ from nonclients in that they would adopt less feminine sex roles, exhibit lower social–sexual effectiveness, and show higher levels of sensation-seeking behavior. Sixty-six clients of sex workers and 60 nonclients volunteered to complete a short questionnaire to assess demographic characteristics, sex role, social–sexual effectiveness, and sensation-seeking behavior. Clients and nonclients did not differ on demographic variables such as age, education, marital status, or occupation. However, clients were significantly less feminine in sex-role orientation, scored lower in social–sexual effectiveness, and scored higher on sensation seeking. Closer analysis of the client group revealed the existence of two distinct subgroups. The first was characterized by low social– sexual effectiveness and appeared motivated to visit sex workers because of an interpersonal need for intimacy. The second was characterized by high sensation seeking and appeared motivated to visit sex workers because of a need for novelty and variety in sexual encounters. KEY WORDS: sex workers; clients; personality; sex role; sensation seeking.
INTRODUCTION Past research on male clients of female sex workers typically has addressed issues such as risks of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and violent behavior (McKeganey and Barnard, 1996). However, studies assessing motivations to seek out sex workers are now appearing in the literature (Vanwesenbeeck et al., 1993). Due mainly to the elusive nature of the population, 1 School of Psychology, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria, Australia 3125. 2 To
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few studies have examined the personality traits of these men. Until recently, visiting sex workers in Australia was an illegal and clandestine activity that made conducting research with these men extremely problematic. It is difficult to obtain an estimation of how many men are actually paying for sex. In a national study of sexual attitudes and lifestyles carried out in more than 19,000 households in the United Kingdom, 1.8% of men reported having paid for sex in the previous 5 years (Johnson et al., 1994). In contrast, a national telephone survey of Swiss males estimated that 12% of males between 17 and 30 years of age had engaged in this activity (Hausser et al., 1991). A study carried out in Lisbon found that 25% of men in their sample of 200 had begun their sexual life on the basis of contact with a prostitute (Amaro et al., 1995). One study that compared sexual practices in the United States and Britain (Michael et al., 1998) demonstrated the substantial variability in sexual behavior between men in different countries. Men in the United States demonstrated greater variability in sexual behavior, less-tolerant opinions about sexual behavior, and lower condom use than men in Britain. From these results it appears that a substantial number of men visit sex workers, although this number may vary across different countries. The question of whether there are fundamental differences between these men and those who do not visit sex workers has received little attention. The present study was designed to examine the level of differences in the personality characteristics of men who visit female sex workers and men who do not. The personality characteristics assessed in the study were sex-role orientation (adoption of traditionally masculine or feminine traits), social–sexual effectiveness (social and sexual skills and comfort in a sexual situation), and sensation-seeking behavior (need for novel and varied experiences). The reason for this choice of personality characteristics is outlined below. Vanwesenbeeck et al. (1993) identified three main types of clients who visit sex workers. Broadly speaking, these were the “business-type,” “romantic/ friendship-type,” and the “misogynist-type.” The classification, however, was based more on reports from the sex workers than evaluation of the clients themselves. Vanwesenbeeck et al. (1993) reported that the “business-type” client typically understood the procedure and approached the interaction in a businesslike manner (i.e., a transaction in which there is payment for sexual service), whereas the “romantic/friendship-type” was motivated by a need to form a relationship with the worker. Such males may either be lonely or older, perhaps having lost a partner through relationship breakdown or death. The final categorization was the “misogynist-type,” who typically enjoyed power over women, was sometimes violent, and was the least likely to use condoms. These men were the most likely to be involved with street prostitutes, who were more likely to tolerate these behaviors. McKeganey and Barnard (1996) reported that clients typically draw attention to four aspects of the encounter with a sex worker that they feel are important.
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These are the opportunity to have sex with a range of different women; the ability to seek out women with particular physical attributes or displaying particular images; the thrill of doing something that is socially frowned on; and the limited and unemotional nature of the contact. From the preceding literature, it is predicted that these motivations stem from underlying personality characteristics that include sex-role orientation, social–sexual effectiveness, and sensation seeking. The male sex role is comprised of several dimensions or themes that act to constrain interpersonal relationships. For example, Brannon’s (1986) conceptualization of the male sex role included the “sturdy oak” dimension, which involved a limitation of emotional expression and involvement. Pleck (1991) also theorized that suppression of affect in relationships is a cardinal male role requirement. Endorsement of traditional attitudes toward masculinity among males is associated with males reporting more power and lower self-disclosure with their heterosexual dating partners than men who do not endorse traditional attitudes toward masculinity (Thompson et al., 1985). Men with traditional beliefs about male sexuality in general reported using unilateral power and avoidance strategies in their intimate relationships (Snell et al., 1988). When compared to men who did not endorse the traditional masculine ideology, Pleck, Sonenstein, and Ku (1993) found that traditional males had more sexual partners in the last year and a less-close relationship at last intercourse, which suggested that these men had a lower emotional investment in any one sexual relationship. It is possible, therefore, that men who adopt a masculine sex role may find it difficult to maintain intimate relationships in the longer term. This may render them overrepresented among clients of sex workers and prone to multiple nonintimate sexual encounters. One of the more crucial aspects of male–female relationships involves the ability of a potential sexual partner to “attract” a mate. It is argued that so-called sociosexuality is learned from an early age and is intrinsically related to the acquisition of sex-role orientation. Many studies have revealed that individuals of different sex-role orientation exhibit varied degrees of social ability. Kelly, O’Brien, and Hosford (1991) found undifferentiated participants to be highly inept and socially ineffective. Androgynous individuals were rated as most effective, whereas sextyped subjects performed midrange. Campbell, Steffen, and Langmeyer (1981) also found androgynous individuals to represent the highest, and undifferentiated individuals the lowest, range of social competency (measures included quality of interpersonal behavioral skills, level of interpersonal anxiety, and amount of social activity). Because little or no ability is required on the part of the male in the brothel setting, it may be argued that some clients may visit sex workers due to their lack of social and sexual effectiveness. Although this assertion is speculative at this point, it would be expected that males who exhibit an undifferentiated sex-role orientation will be low scorers on the social–sexual effectiveness scale. However, this association has not been determined empirically. So, although sexrole orientation and social–sexual effectiveness are related, information regarding
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the social–sexual effectiveness of an individual may provide a better understanding of the motivations that underlie a visit to a sex worker. Sensation seeking has been defined as a human trait characterized by the need for “varied, novel, and complex sensations and experience and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such experience” (Zuckerman, 1979, p. 10). Consistent findings demonstrate that men visit sex workers for variety or activities not available with their partner (McKeganey, 1994). Sensation-seeking behavior has been shown to increase the likelihood of infidelity and create general tensions within relationships in which there is a mismatch between partners on this trait (Zuckerman, 1990). Relationship problems or failure and a desire for novel stimulation may increase the probability of this trait being present in the client group. This suggestion is consistent with the finding that sensation seeking has been related to engagement in a variety of risky activities, most particularly in the area of heterosexual experience (Zuckerman, 1979). The aim of the present study is to examine the level of three personality characteristics among clients visiting sex workers: sex-role orientation, social–sexual effectiveness, and sensation seeking. It is legal to operate brothels in Victoria, where this study was conducted. However, brothels have only been legalized in the last few years. Sex workers who operate from the street are engaging in illegal activity. Subgroups of clients that are of particular interest are the “business-type” client and the “romantic/friendship-type” client. Because clients are drawn from brothels, it is not expected that the “misogynist-type” of client will be strongly represented. Both client groups are expected to be different from those men who do not visit sex workers in their sex-role orientation, sensation-seeking behavior and need for novelty, and social–sexual effectiveness. However, the “business-type” client would be expected to show higher social–sexual effectiveness and higher sensation seeking than the “romantic/friendship-type” client. The study was concerned with the evaluation of male clients who visited female sex workers, and so the term client refers to male clients throughout this paper, and the term sex worker refers to female sex workers. METHOD Subjects Sixty clients of sex workers were recruited from two Melbourne inner-city brothels. These participants were approached to participate by reception staff on entry to the brothel and offered an inducement of $20 (AU) to complete the questionnaire. Only 12 clients refused to respond to the survey. This high response rate is attributed to the assistance of brothel reception staff in the recruitment procedure. The nonclient group comprised 66 volunteers recruited by associates
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Table I. Mean Scores for Clients and Nonclients on Age, Education, Social–Sexual Effectiveness, and Sensation Seeking Client
Age Education (years) Occupation Social–sexual effectiveness Sensation seeking
Nonclient
M
SD
M
SD
t
32.83 11.79 4.62 55.59 17.65
8.47 2.67 2.12 18.23 3.84
35.14 12.52 4.86 60.91 15.56
6.87 2.85 2.17 7.97 2.89
−1.68 −1.50 −1.11 −2.16∗ 3.49∗∗
∗ p < 0.05. ∗∗ p < 0.0.
of the experimenter and asked to return the questionnaire in a reply-paid envelope. These respondents were a convenience sample unknown to either of the authors. They were work colleagues or friends of associates of the authors. They were drawn from a range of ages and educational backgrounds. These subjects were not paid, and of 81 questionnaires distributed in this manner, there was an 81% response rate for the nonclient group. No respondents were omitted from the study following completion of the questionnaire. However, six of the questionnaires collected from the nonclient group had visited a sex worker within the previous 6 months, and so these respondents were deemed to satisfy the criteria for inclusion in the client group. This group did not differ from others in the client group in terms of their frequency of visits to sex workers. The final number of clients was 66 and of nonclients was 60. The age, occupation, and years of education for both groups is summarized in Table I. Occupation was classified as either blue collar or white collar, according to the Australian Standard Classification (Department of Employment and Industrial Relations, 1987). The majority of respondents in both groups came from an Anglo-Saxon background.
Materials Demographic information on ethnic background, age, marital status, occupation, education, as well as clients’ experiences on how often they visited sex workers, whether they visit a particular worker regularly, the reasons for visiting a sex worker, and what triggered their visits was obtained. Ten reasons for visiting sex workers were listed (see Fig. 1) and respondents were asked to respond true or false to these reasons. Five triggers for visiting sex workers were also listed (feeling aroused, lonely, bored, been out drinking, feeling good about yourself), and respondents were asked to indicate whether or not these were usual triggers for their visits. The options for these two questions were obtained from the research
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Fig. 1. Reasons given by clients for visiting sex workers.
literature, questioning of four brothel owners, six sex workers and six clients. An option to add other reasons or triggers was provided for participants. Three personality scales were also completed. Bem Sex-Role Inventory The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974) is a 60-item self-report instrument that measures the degree of masculine and feminine traits endorsed by the respondent and allows for categorization into four categories: masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated. Respondents are asked to make ratings from 1 to 7 based on how true particular characteristics are of them. There are 20 masculine-typed characteristics and 20 feminine-typed characteristics that are summed and averaged to produce a masculinity score (M) and a femininity score (F) for each respondent. Average scores greater than 4.90 on the feminine items (F) and greater than 4.95 on the masculine items (M) in an individual correspond to an androgynous sex role. Scores greater than 4.90 (F) and less than 4.95 (M) in an individual correspond to a feminine sex role. Scores less than 4.90 (F) and greater than 4.95 (M) in an individual correspond to a masculine sex role. Scores less than 4.90 (F) and less than 4.95 (M) in an individual correspond to an undifferentiated sex role. Internal reliability indexed by Cronbach’s alpha was 0.82 (Bem, 1981).
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Male Social–Sexual Effectiveness Scale The Male Social–Sexual Effectiveness Scale (MSSES) is a 14-item selfreport instrument designed to tap dating/relationship skills in males (Quackenbush, 1989). Scores on the MSSES reflect a man’s degree of comfort and confidence when interacting with women in dating and sexual situations. Respondents are required to make ratings on a 7-point Likert-scale. Scores are obtained by adding values for the 14 individual items. Scale scores could range from 14 to 98, with higher scores reflecting greater comfort and confidence in social-sexual situations. The average score obtained in a validation study by Quackenbush (1990) was 63.22 with a standard deviation of 12.40. Internal reliability indexed by Cronbach’s alpha is 0.85. Sensation Seeking Scale The Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS, Form V; Zuckerman, Eysenck, and Eysenck, 1978) is an 11-item self-report scale to assess sensation seeking. It contains items expressing a desire to engage in activities providing excitement, risk, and novelty. Respondents are asked to indicate whether items are either “true” or “false” about themselves and scores were obtained by summing responses on individual items (1 = False, 2 = True). Scores ranged from 11 to 22, with an average score reported among control subjects of 15.14 and a standard deviation of 3.1. Internal reliability indexed by Cronbach’s alpha is 0.86 (Zuckerman et al., 1978).
Procedure Clients were approached in the brothel setting before their session with the sex worker and asked to participate in a study of the characteristics of men who visit female sex workers. The approach was made before the session because it was considered more conducive to participation, as there is usually a short wait before each visit. Complete anonymity was assured. Upon informed consent being obtained, respondents completed the questionnaire in a designated area of the reception room of the brothel. Completion of the questionnaire involved checking items as true/false or making Likert ratings. The total procedure took around 10 min to complete and appeared to pose no difficulty or distress to the respondents. When completed, the questionnaire was sealed in the envelope provided and placed in a secure box in the reception area. The clients then received a payment of $20 (AU). Testing was performed between the hours of 11 AM and 6 PM. Upon giving informed consent, nonclients were asked to complete the same questionnaire as the client group. The section relating to client experience was not
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completed if the respondent had not visited a sex worker in the previous 6 months. Nonclients were asked to place the completed questionnaire in the reply-paid envelope provided and post it to the researcher. These respondents received no inducement for participation. Six of these respondents were classified into the client group due to their patronage of sex workers in the previous 6 months. RESULTS Chi-square analyses revealed no significant differences between clients and nonclients for marital status, length of time in longest relationship, presence of a regular partner, age, education, occupation type, or whether they had children. Chi-square analysis revealed differences in sex-role orientation between clients and nonclients (χ 2 = 18.64, p < 0.001). Twenty-four of the 60 nonclients were classified as adopting an androgynous role (high M, high F); only 7 of 66 clients were classified into this group. Categorization into masculine and feminine role was more comparable (19 of 60 nonclients, 14 of 66 clients adopting a masculine role, 0 of 60 nonclients, 2 of 66 clients adopting a feminine role). Finally, categorization into the undifferentiated sex role was 18 of 60 nonclients and 37 of 66 clients. Independent samples t-test for scores on the MSSES and SSS indicated significant effects for both dependent measures (see Table I). Significant differences were obtained between client and nonclient groups on both the social–sexual effectiveness measure (t = −2.16, p < 0.05) and the measure of sensation seeking (t = 3.49, p < 0.01). A lower score on the MSSES, which indicates a greater level of discomfort in social situations and situations involving interactions with women, was found for the client group compared to the nonclient group. Higher scores on the SSS, which indicates a greater propensity to seek unpredictable, novel, and risky situations, were found for the client group compared to the nonclient group. Clients were no less likely to be involved in a current sexual relationship than nonclients (χ 2 = 1.41, p > 0.05). Further analysis by splitting the total sample into those currently in a relationship versus those who were not, revealed significant differences only for sensation-seeking behavior (t = 2.55, p < 0.05), with those not currently in a relationship obtaining significantly higher scores for sensation seeking. No significant differences were obtained for social–sexual effectiveness (t = 1.31, p > 0.05), and chi-square analysis revealed that men not in a current relationship were as equivalently distributed within masculine, feminine, undifferentiated, and androgynous sex roles as men in a relationship (χ 2 = 4.70, p > 0.05). The remainder of the results involve an analysis of the client group. The modal frequency of visits to a sex worker for the client group was monthly (33%), with 72% of clients visiting brothels either on a monthly basis or more frequently. The average age of clients at their first visit was 23.09 years, with a range of 15 to 73 years. More than 18% of clients reported having sexual services without a
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condom in the previous year. Respondents reported that this was usually at their own request and negotiated with the worker for a fee. The reasons for clients visiting sex workers are presented in Fig. 1. The modal response was that sex with sex workers is less complicated, with 87.9% of clients endorsing this response. Other reasons were the report of a high sex drive (78.8%) as well as a preference for a variety of sex partners (75.8%). Of theoretical import is the finding that 59.1% of clients of sex workers reported not wanting emotional involvement as a reason for visits. This allowed the respondents to be separated into those who wanted an emotional involvement (n = 27) and those who viewed the relationship in a businesslike manner (n = 39). There were significant differences between “romantic/friendship-type” and “business-type” client groups on both the social–sexual effectiveness measure (t = −4.88, p < 0.01) and the measure of sensation seeking (t = −3.91, p < 0.01). Lower scores on the MSSES were obtained for the “romantic/friendship-type” client group (x¯ = 44.93, SD = 11.58) compared to the “business-type” client group (x¯ = 62.97, SD = 18.44). Higher scores on the SSS were obtained for the “business-type” client group (x¯ = 19.08, SD = 3.21) compared to the “romantic/ friendship-type” client group (x¯ = 15.59, SD = 3.79). The reasons endorsed as the trigger(s) for visits was the client feeling aroused (92%), client had been drinking (48%), client feeling bored (33%), client feeling lonely (30%), and client feeling good about himself (24%). DISCUSSION Clients and nonclients of sex workers did not differ on key demographic variables such as age, years of education, marital status, length of time in longest relationship, presence of a regular partner, occupation, or whether they had children of their own. Sex-role orientation, sensation seeking, and social–sexual effectiveness were examined as possible discriminators between male clients of female sex workers and men who do not visit sex workers. It was found that clients and non-clients differed significantly on all three measures. In terms of sex role, the men in the client group were more likely to be classified as “undifferentiated” and less likely to be classified as “androgynous” than were nonclients. This supports the hypothesis that men adopting an undifferentiated sex-role orientation, which has been linked to social ineptitude and ineffectiveness, are more likely to seek the services of sex workers because other efforts to attract a sexual partner may have failed. Ickes (1993) reported women in heterosexual dyads, in which one or both partners were rated as androgynous, as opposed to women involved with traditional stereotyped males, were more satisfied with the quality of their lives and their intimate relationships. In particular, androgynous women paired with androgynous men reported considerable success in communicating and solving problems with their partners. Of more specific
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relevance, their ratings of satisfaction with their sex lives and intimate relationships were also high. Antill (1983) found that relationship satisfaction and adjustment were significantly greater in dyads in which both partners were androgynous than in dyads in which a traditionally masculine man was paired with a traditionally feminine woman. Antill’s (1983) study demonstrated that relationship satisfaction is directly related to the level of femininity of one’s marriage partner, regardless of the presence of high or low masculinity scores. However, in the current study, it was only males who obtained low scores on both the masculine and feminine sex-role dimensions who were more likely to visit sex workers. The implications of this finding must be explored further. The proposal that clients of sex workers would exhibit lower social–sexual effectiveness was also supported. This result is consistent with the findings on sex role, and was not surprising given the theoretical link between this variable and sex-role orientation (Quackenbush, 1989). When the client group is divided according to different client personality types, an interesting picture emerges. Those clients who were classified as “business-types” had higher levels of social– sexual effectiveness than the “romantic/friendship-types.” This latter group may be characterized by anxiety associated with interactions with women and discomfort in their role and relationships with women. The brothel setting may provide these men with an alternative to traditional heterosexual relationships, which may have a higher demand for social–sexual effectiveness. This is a self-reported measure of social–sexual effectiveness, and so may not reflect the perception of their social or sexual effectiveness held by other people. Future research should determine if these findings also apply to those men who are rated as socially or sexually ineffective by others (e.g., their regular partner, the sex worker they visit). Clients demonstrated higher levels of sensation seeking than nonclients. This finding is consistent with the study of clients by McKeganey (1994), which found that many clients visit sex workers for activities that their partners would not do. The exact nature of sexual behaviors experienced with sex workers and how they differ from sexual experiences with the men’s regular partners should be explored in future studies. These activities may involve paraphilic behaviors. The present study was concerned with the personality characteristics and motivation to visit sex workers rather than the actual activities engaged in with sex workers. Given the high ratings by clients of the drive for variety and new experiences as reasons for visiting sex workers, future studies should examine the differences in the types of activities engaged in with sex workers and the men’s regular partners. Interestingly, “business-type” clients exhibited greater levels of sensation seeking than did “romantic/friendship-type” clients. The “business-type” man probably approaches the interaction between sex worker and themselves as a legitimate leisure pursuit (Vanwesenbeeck et al., 1993). The desire for sensation is perhaps the driving force in terms of seeking out this type of activity, because it is still frowned on by much of society, and until recently was, in fact, illegal. This seems more likely than the notion that high sensation seekers will be more likely to have a relationship
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breakdown and subsequently visit the sex worker. In fact, the literature in relation to this suggests that these men will in fact report average levels of relationship satisfaction, but it is their partners who are dissatisfied (Zuckerman, 1990). The present study found no statistical difference between high and low sensation seekers on whether a man was married. Unfortunately, relationship satisfaction was not assessed in the present study, mainly due to constraints imposed by keeping the questionnaire brief. This is an important variable to evaluate in future studies. The present study was conducted in two brothels in a large city during the day, a time (according to the brothel staff) that ensured most of the clientele were regular clients. A future study should be conducted during times where the majority of clients were classified as “passing trade” and examine whether the findings of the present study, which comprised more regular clients, can be generalized. Also, this study only investigated clients of female sex workers. Future studies should explore the extent to which the personality characteristics exhibited by clients in this study also apply to clients of male sex workers. This study did not include clients who visited street workers. The “misogynist-type” was not likely to be included in this study. This “misogynist-type” (Vanwesenbeeck et al., 1993) is perhaps the most elusive client of all. His activity is likely to be illegal, purported to be violent, and poses a potential health risk to himself and the sex workers. Often it is these clients who are characterized as typical, even though they probably represent only a small proportion of all transactions in Australia. It is unlikely that the characteristics of this type of client can be determined given the illegal and clandestine nature of his activity. Further, the separation of clients into “romantic/friendship types” and “business types” was based on responses to a single question. The validity of this division should be assessed in future studies, and should be evaluated through the development of a more extensive scale to assess the motivations of clients to seek the services of sex workers. The present study has identified key areas for investigation with clients of sex workers. Confirmation of the existence of subgroups within the client group demonstrates that men visit sex workers not only for sexual activities that their partners do not provide, but also to fulfil certain psychological needs, such as the need for intimacy and excitement. Information about this underresearched group may assist sex workers and brothel managers to provide better services for their clients as well as debunking some of the myths surrounding the type of man who visits sex workers. REFERENCES Amaro, F., Dantas, A., and Teles, L. (1995). Sexual behavior in the city of Lisbon. Inter. J. STD. AIDS 6: 35–41. Antill, J. K. (1983). Sex role complementarily versus similarity in married couples. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 45: 145–155.
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Bem, S. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. J. Cons. Clin. Psychol. 72: 155–162. Bem, S. L. (1981). Bem Sex-Role Inventory: Professional Manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press. Brannon, R. (1986). The Male Sex Role: Our Culture’s Blueprint of Manhood. Massachusetts: AddisonWesley. Campbell, M., Steffen, J. J., and Langmeyer, D. (1981). Psychological androgyny and social competence. Psychol. Rep. 48: 611–614. Department of Employment and Industrial Relations (1987). Australian Standard Classification Index. Canberra: Australian Government Printing Service. Hausser, D., Zimmerman, E., Dubois-Arber, F., and Paccaud, F. (1991). Evaluation of the AIDS Prevention Strategy in Switzerland. Third Assessment Report (1989–1990). Lausanne: Institute Universitaire de Medicine Sociale et Preventive. Ickes, W. (1993). Traditional gender roles: Do they make, and then break, our relationships? J. Soc. Iss. 49: 71–85. Johnson, A., Wadsworth, J., Wellings, K., and Field, J. (1994). Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. Oxford: Blackwell. Kelly, J. A., O’Brien, G. G., and Hosford, R. (1991). Sex roles and social skills considerations for interpersonal adjustment. Psych. Wom. Q. 15: 758–766. Michael, R. T., Wadsworth, J., Feinleib, J., Johnson, A. M., Laumann, E. O., and Wellings, K. (1998). Private sexual behavior, public opinion, and public health policy related to sexually transmitted diseases: A US–British comparison. Am. J. Pub. Heal. 88: 749–754. McKeganey, N. (1994). Why do men buy sex and what are their assessments of the HIV related risks when they do? AIDS Care 6: 289–301. McKeganey, N., and Barnard, M. (1996). Sex Work on the Streets: Prostitutes and Their Clients. Buckingham: Open University Press. Pleck, J. H. (1991). The male sex-role: Definitions and problems and sources of change. J. Soc. Iss. 47: 155–164. Pleck, J. H., Sonenstein, F. L., and Ku, L. C. (1993). Masculinity ideology: Its impact on adolescent males’ heterosexual relationships. J. Soc. Iss. 49: 11–29. Quackenbush, R. L. (1989). Assessing men’s social–sexual effectiveness: A self-report instrument. Psychol. Rep. 64: 969–970. Quackenbush, R. L. (1990). Sex roles and social–sexual effectiveness. Soc. Behav. Pers. 18: 35–40. Snell, W. E., Hawkins, R. C., and Belk, S. S. (1988). Stereotypes about male sexuality and the use of social influence strategies in intimate relationships. J. Soc. Clin. Psychol. 7: 42–48. Thompson, E. H., Grisanti, C., and Pleck, J. H. (1985). Attitudes toward the male sex-role and their correlates. Sex Roles 13: 413–427. Vanwesenbeeck, I., de Graaf, R., Van Zessen, G., and Straver, C. J. (1993). Protection styles of prostitutes clients: Intentions, behavior and considerations in relation to AIDS. J. Sex Edu. Ther. 19: 79–92. Zuckerman, M. (1979). Sensation Seeking: Beyond the Optimal Level of Arousal. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Zuckerman, M. (1990). The psychophysiology of sensation seeking. J. Pers. 58: 313–345. Zuckerman, M., Eysenck, S. B. G., and Eysenck, H. J. (1978). Sensation seeking in England and America. J. Cons. Clin. Psychol. 46: 139–149.
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Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 29, No. 2, 2000
Patterns of Union Formation Among Urban Minority Youth in the United States Kathleen Ford, Ph.D.1 and Anne Norris, Ph.D., RN2
Since 1990, several large surveys of sexual behavior have been conducted. In addition to collecting general information on sexual histories, such as number of partners in the previous year and whether subjects ever used condoms, these studies collected information on sexual behavior with specific partners, or “partnerships.” The data are useful both for testing of substantive hypotheses about the determinants of behavior as well as for disease transition modeling. The objective of this paper is to use partnership histories to describe the union formation patterns of low-income youth living in Detroit. Data from the partnership histories will be used to illustrate the types of statistics that can be generated from these histories. Data will be presented on the number and types of unions (married/cohabiting, “knew well,” “casual”), the frequency and duration of these unions, the types of intercourse reported in each type of union, the patterns of mixing by age and ethnic group in each type of union, concurrency in unions, and condom use in unions. KEY WORDS: African American; Hispanic; condoms; AIDS.
INTRODUCTION In the last several years, a number of large surveys of sexual behavior have been conducted in many countries (Catania et al., 1996). Studies in the United States have included the National Health and Social Life Survey, conducted by the University of Chicago (Laumann et al., 1994), the series of National AIDS Behavioral Surveys (Catania et al., 1992; Binson et al., 1993), The National Surveys of Current Health Issues (Tanfer, 1993; Tanfer et al., 1995), The National Surveys of Adolescent Males (Sonenstein et al., 1991), and the adolescent health study 1 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
48109-2029; e-mail:
[email protected]. of Nursing, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02167.
2 School
177 C 2000 Plenum Publishing Corporation 0004-0002/00/0400-0177$18.00/0 °
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ADD Health (Bearman et al., 1997). In addition to collecting general information on sexual histories, such as number of partners in the previous year and whether participants ever used condoms, these studies have collected information on sexual behavior with specific partners, or “partnerships.” Data on specific partners may be collected for several reasons. First, there may be an expectation that memory of specific events may be improved if the respondent recalls experiences with specific partners. Second, the data may be needed for tests of specific substantive hypotheses, such as an examination of differences in condom use with primary partners and casual partners. Third, the study may be concerned with sexual networks and need data on demographic or geographic locations of partners. Finally, the data may be useful for disease transition modeling. Urban minority youth in the United States have been identified as a group at risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (Holmes et al., 1990). Data on partnerships were collected in a study of urban minority youth living in Detroit. The objective of this paper is to use partnership histories to describe the union formation patterns of low-income youth living in Detroit. Data from the partnership histories will be used to illustrate the types of statistics that can be generated from these histories. Data will be presented on the number and types of unions (married/cohabiting, “knew well,” “casual”), the frequency and duration of these unions, the types of intercourse reported in each type of union, the patterns of mixing by age and ethnic group in each type of union, concurrency in unions, and condom use in unions.
METHODS Data were drawn from a household probability sample of African-American and Hispanic adolescents and young adults age 15–24 from low-income areas of Detroit. The sample design and the field work were conducted by the Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research of the University of Michigan. Study areas were selected by consideration of the demographic and socioeconomic household characteristics to include low-income African-American and Hispanic populations. The white population was not included due to its small size in Detroit. The field work period was from February through July of 1991. A total of 1,435 interviews were completed. The response rate for the study averaged 85%. This response rate is the product of the percentage of households successfully screened multiplied by the percentage of eligible respondents who were interviewed. Written consent was obtained from all respondents and from parents or guardians of persons under age 18. More than 95% of parents or guardians or persons contacted about the study agreed to let their adolescent participate. Interviewers were hired and trained specifically for this study. More than 95% of the 60 interviewers who worked on the study were minority residents of Detroit. Interviewer training consisted of two 3-day sessions that included instruction on
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general interviewing techniques, including introductions, probing, following instructions, recording information, and a persuasion workshop. Training relevant to conducting interviews included discussions of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), drugs, sexual practices, a values-clarification exercise, and practice in conducting interviews. Potential bias because of respondent concerns over social desirability was minimized by training interviewers to be nonjudgmental and assessing interviewer perceptions of respondent truthfulness. Interviews were conducted in respondents’ homes (when privacy could be assured) or in neutral sites (when privacy was not available in the home). The questionnaire was developed in a three-stage process: (1) a pilot study that consisted of interviews with a convenience sample (N = 64) of persons from the target population using an instrument that contained many open-ended freeresponse items about AIDS and condoms; (2) consultation with key informants in Detroit, including both youth and youth service providers; and (3) two formal pretests of the final mainly close-ended instrument. Spanish-language questionnaires were used for 108 interviews with Hispanic respondents. The instrument was designed to be a conceptual equivalent of the English-language questionnaire. The first translation was done by Latino Family Services, a Hispanic community agency in Detroit; the instrument was then translated back into English. Differences were resolved through discussion of the meaning of different words for different Hispanic groups, with the aim of finding words that all groups would understand. Finally, the instrument was reviewed jointly by representatives of the Mexican and the Puerto Rican dialects, the major Hispanic groups in Detroit. The survey interview assessed sexual experience, condom use, knowledge of AIDS, psychosocial measures, and social and demographic characteristics. Respondents were asked about their first and most recent experiences with different types of intercourse (vaginal, oral, and anal) generally and with different types of partners. Detailed data were collected on up to three partners that the respondent had sex with in the previous year. Respondents were asked during the interview how many partners that they had in the previous year. They were then asked to divide these partners into three groups: (1) partners they were married to or that they lived with; (2) partners they “knew well,” and (3) partners they “did not know well.” Respondents were able to interpret these categories subjectively. Almost all respondents were able to put their partners into these categories easily. Validity of respondent’s use of these categories was supported by the average length of the relationship for married/lived with partners (2.9 years) and knew well partners (0.7 years), and by the average number of times the respondent had sex with the partner s/he did not know well (1 time). Respondents were asked detailed questions for three or fewer partners from their experience in the previous year. The partners were selected for detailed questions with a predetermined sampling table designed to produce a sample of each type of partner. Table I shows the demographic characteristics of the sample.
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Ford and Norris Table I. Demographic Characteristics of Detroit Youth, 1991 Characteristic
Mean age (years) 15–17 (%) 18–21 (%) 22–24 (%) Gender Male (%) Female (%) Education <12 years, without GED or diploma (%) 12 or less years, with GED or diploma (%) 13+ years (%) Currently attending school Dropouts <12 years, no plans to attend further (%) Marital status Never married (%) Separated (%) Divorced (%) Married (%) Hispanic origin Mexican Born in Mexico (%) Born in United States (%) Puerto Rican Born in Puerto Rico (%) Born in United States (%) Other Hispanic Born outside United States (%) Born in United States (%)
African American (N = 724)
Hispanic (N = 711)
Total (N = 1435)
19.0 35.8 40.3 23.9 (N = 724) 37.8 62.2 (N = 723) 59.1
19.2 35.2 38.7 26.1 (N = 711) 48.1 51.9 (N = 706) 65.6
19.1 35.5 39.5 25.0 (N = 1435) 42.9 57.1 (N = 1429) 62.3
26.7
23.5
25.1
14.2 (N = 724) 57.5 (N = 721) 4.0
10.9 (N = 711) 48.2 (N = 700) 13.7
12.6 (N = 1435) 52.9 (N = 1421) 8.8
(N = 723) 97.1 0.4 0.6 1.9
(N = 711) 84.4 2.1 1.0 12.5 (N = 705)
(N = 1434) 90.8 1.2 0.8 7.2
— —
16.4 56.7
— —
— —
7.9 15.2
— —
— —
1.8 1.3
— —
Statistical Methods All data are presented as means and percentages. Initial bivariate analyses consisted of chi-square and t-tests. Data regarding respondents’ behaviors with specific kinds of partners were analyzed using the Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) method statistical procedure for longitudinal data analysis with multiple observable vectors for the same subject (Liang and Zeger, 1986; Diggle, Liang, and Zeger, 1994). This procedure is a repeated measures analysis for correlated dichotomous outcomes and a set of predictors, i.e., a multiple logistic type of analysis in which the outcomes are correlated. This procedure is appropriate because respondents with multiple partners in the previous year were asked to report on their experiences with up to three different partners, i.e., each respondent could
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appear in the analysis up to three times. In general, analyses included a dependent variable, such as experience with oral intercourse or condom use, and independent variables that included gender, ethnicity, and type of partner or types of relationships reported. Variable Definitions Types of Intercourse. Respondents were asked about types of intercourse that they had experienced. Pilot work for the study indicated that definitions for the vagina, anus, and for oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse needed to be included in the interview. These were read to all respondents before reading questions concerning sexual history or experiences with different partners. For the interview, oral intercourse was defined as penis in the mouth; anal intercourse was defined as penis in the anus; and vaginal intercourse was defined as penis in the vagina. Concurrency. For each partner asked about, respondents were asked if they had sex with other partners while they were sexually involved with the reference partner. In the tables, this variable is coded 1 (had other partners) or 0 (did not have other partners). The respondent was also asked if they thought that their partner had sex with other partners while they were sexually involved. This variable was coded 1 (yes or probably yes) or 0 (no or probably no). Condom Use. Condom use with a partner was coded 1 (ever used condoms with the partner) or 0 (never used condoms with the partner). High Consistency of Condom Use. High consistency of condom use was coded 1 (use all the time or most of the time) or 0 (use sometimes, rarely, or did not use). This variable was not coded for casual partners due to the small number of times that the respondents reported sex with these partners. Other Method Use with a Partner. Method use other than condoms with a partner was coded 1 (method used) or 0 (no method used). No Method. No method was coded as 1 (no method used, including condoms) or 0 (method used).
RESULTS Tables II and III show general data on sexual experience of the population. The majority of respondents had experienced sexual intercourse. African-American males had the highest proportion who were experienced (90.7%) and Hispanic females had the smallest proportion (69.1%). Almost all of the respondents who had experienced some type of intercourse had experienced vaginal intercourse. Some respondents had also experienced oral sex and anal sex.
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Ford and Norris Table II. Experience with Sexual Intercourse
Median age at first vaginal intercourse (yrs) Vaginal sex ever (%) Oral sex ever (%) Anal sex ever (%) Any sex ever (%)
African-American males
African-American females
Hispanic males
Hispanic females
14.4
16.0
15.8
17.0
89.4 45.5 14.1 90.7
82.5 19.2 9.0 82.5
83.5 54.6 19.5 85.5
68.6 30.6 7.6 69.1
Table III. Number of Partners Ever and Number of Partners in Previous Year
Number of partners ever Mean Median Range Number of partners in previous year Mean Median Range
African-American males
African-American females
Hispanic males
Hispanic females
(n = 292)
(n = 331)
(n = 307)
(n = 241)
20.0 10.0 1–95 (n = 292)
5.84 4.0 1–50 (n = 331)
10.30 5.0 1–95 (n = 307)
2.88 2.0 1–18 (n = 241)
4.13 2.0 0–40
1.90 1.0 0–50
2.46 1.0 0–35
1.30 1.0 0–10
Note. Table includes only persons who reported at least one experience with intercourse.
Table III shows the number of partners ever and number of partners in the previous year for four gender–ethnic groups. The group did vary in the level of sexual activity, with males reporting a larger number of partners than females and African Americans reporting more partners than Hispanics. In Table IV, the proportion of respondents whose partners were asked about in detail during the interview is shown. This table does not include all of the respondent’s partners, but only those who were asked about. As mentioned, the partners to be asked about in detail were determined by a preset sampling table. Up to three partners were asked about. The most common types of partners were “knew well” partners. Indeed, about half of the sample (50.5%) reported only this type of partner. This was the most common combination, except for Hispanic females. Hispanic females reported “married/lived with” partners most often (56.5%). “Married/lived with” partners only were the second most common category for the sample (27.6%), whereas “knew well” and “casual” came in third (9.6%). Table V shows the types of intercourse reported in each type of union. Oral and anal intercourse occurred most often with a “married/lived with” partner compared to well-known or casual partners ( p < 0.001). Furthermore, men reported higher
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Table IV. Proportion of Respondents in Each of Three Relationship Categories African-American African-American Hispanic Hispanic males (%) females (%) males (%) females (%) Total (n = 228) (n = 349) (n = 268) (n = 237) (n = 1082) Married/lived with only Know well only Casual only Married/lived with and knew well Married/lived with and casual Knew well and casual Married/lived with, knew well, and casual
8.3
26.9
19.4
56.5
27.6
63.6 2.2 7.5
57.9 0.0 8.3
46.3 9.0 6.7
31.6 1.3 5.1
50.5 3.0 7.0
0.0
0.0
1.5
0.0
0.4
16.2
5.4
14.6
3.8
9.6
2.2
1.4
2.6
1.7
1.9
Table V. Types of Intercourse in Each Type of Union Types of intercourse Married/lived with partners Vaginal (%) Oral (%) Anal (%) Knew well partners Vaginal (%) Oral (%) Anal (%) Casual partners Vaginal (%) Oral (%) Anal (%)
African-American males
African-American females
Hispanic males
Hispanic females
(N = 41)
(N = 128)
(N = 81)
(N = 150)
95.1 45.1 7.5 (N = 202) 94.6 16.3 4.5 (N = 47) 89.4 28.8 2.2
99.2 27.3 7.8 (N = 255) 99.2 10.6 1.2 (N = 24) 100.0 12.5 8.3
95.1 58.2 18.0 (N = 188) 95.7 35.3 11.2 (N = 74) 85.1 29.7 4.1
99.3 46.7 8.0 (N = 100) 100.0 30.0 5.0 (N = 16) 100.0 6.3 0.0
percentages of oral and anal intercourse than women, and Hispanics reported higher percentages of oral and anal intercourse than African Americans ( p < 0.001). These differences remained after reported relationships with other partners were controlled in a GEE analysis, except for Hispanic men (Norris et al., 1995), for whom there were no significant differences by type of partner. In Tables VI and VII, the partnership histories are used to examine the differences in partner’s ethnicity and age. For Hispanic respondents, the percentage of partners that were Hispanic varied by type of partner. The partner’s ethnicity was more similar in “married/lived with” relationships than in other types of relationships ( p < 0.01). About 64%–72% of Hispanic men and women reported Hispanic ethnicity for their “married/lived with” partners, compared to 51%–58% of “knew well” partners and 45%–46% of “casual” partners. The ethnicity of the
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Ford and Norris Table VI. Ethnicity of Partners Partner’s ethnicity Group Married/lived with partner Hispanic females Hispanic males African-American females African-American males Knew partner well Hispanic females Hispanic males African-American females African-American males Casual partner Hispanic females Hispanic males African-American females African-American males
Hispanic
African American
White
Other
N
72.3 64.2 1.1
11.6 5.7 97.4
16.1 28.4 0.0
0.0 1.6 1.5
148 90 121
2.9
93.2
3.9
0.0
64
50.8 58.0 0.5
19.1 5.1 97.2
22.6 33.1 0.2
7.5 3.9 2.1
93 188 224
0.3
97.6
0.4
1.6
233
46.5 45.0 6.8
18.6 6.7 93.2
34.8 43.0 0.0
0.0 5.4 0.0
18 88 23
5.5
94.5
0.0
0.0
52
non-Hispanic partners varied. White partners were reported most often, followed by African-American and other partners. Regardless of type of partner, Hispanic men were more likely to report white partners than Hispanic women ( p < 0.01). Results differed for African-American and Hispanic respondents. In all types of partnerships, African Americans usually reported African-American partners. Ninety-three percent or more of all partners were African American. This result may be due to the fact than the African Americans live in a neighborhood that is much more ethnically homogeneous than the Hispanic respondents. Table VII shows data on partner differences in age groups. Hispanic women with a “married/lived with” partner had more partners who were older than they were than did Hispanic men. This was also true for African Americans with “married/lived with” partners. Other types of partnerships showed these same differences. Regardless of relationship type or ethnicity of respondent, women had more older partners than men ( p < 0.001). Results related to concurrency of partners are shown in Table VIII . These questions are not taken from dates of relationship histories, but from respondent reports of concurrency of themselves and their partners. Concurrency is not noted for casual partners because most of these relationships were for one occasion. Among “married/lived with” relationships, concurrent partners were most common for African-American males (47.8%), moderate for African-American females (20.8%) and Hispanic males (19.9%), and lowest for Hispanic females (6.8%).
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Table VII. Respondent’s Age in Comparison to Partner’s Age Partner’s age (yrs) Respondent’s age Married/lived with partner Hispanic female 14–17 18–19 20–25 Hispanic male 14–17 18–19 20–25 African-American female 14–17 18–19 20–25 African-American male 14–17 18–19 20–25 “Knew well” partner Hispanic female 14–17 18–19 20–25 Hispanic male 14–17 18–19 20–25 African-American female 14–17 18–19 20–25 African-American male 14–17 18–19 20–25 Casual partner Hispanic female 14–17 18–19 20–25 Hispanic male 14–17 18–19 20–25 African-American female 14–17 18–19 20–25 African-American male 14–17 18–19 20–25
<18
18–19
20–24
25+
N
31.9 2.8 1.0
23.3 11.0 2.1
39.3 77.0 49.3
5.5 9.1 47.6
9 29 108
18.9 40.8 2.6
37.9 59.2 11.1
43.2 0.0 68.1
0.0 0.0 18.1
2 11 76
0.0 0.0 0.8
33.2 30.6 5.2
58.2 40.9 47.0
8.7 28.5 47.0
6 16 98
4.9 0.0 0.0
23.2 40.3 6.9
45.9 31.7 71.8
26.0 27.9 21.3
8 7 49
43.8 4.4 1.3
26.5 18.2 1.0
23.3 50.0 64.5
6.4 27.4 33.1
29 22 41
74.6 41.0 3.1
17.1 29.4 26.1
8.3 29.6 56.1
0.0 0.0 14.7
46 49 92
37.4 3.3 0.0
31.9 42.0 5.1
26.7 42.8 56.7
4.1 11.9 38.2
50 55 119
76.7 36.0 0.9
11.5 28.7 29.1
11.3 29.6 48.9
0.5 5.8 21.1
73 73 87
44.3 23.8 0.0
43.6 8.2 0.0
12.1 68.1 91.4
0.0 0.0 8.6
4 5 8
82.8 51.3 13.0
0.0 0.0 18.1
17.2 26.9 33
0.0 21.8 35.9
9 14 54
32.4 0.0 0.0
67.6 14.9 4.4
0.0 46.8 42.9
0.0 38.3 52.7
2 8 13
63.7 22.6 0.0
26.0 26.2 38.6
4.6 31.8 38.6
5.6 19.5 22.8
14 13 23
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Ford and Norris Table VIII. Concurrency in Each Type of Union
Married/lived with partners Respondent had other partners (%) Partner had other partners (%) “Knew well” partners Respondent had other partners (%) Partner had other partners (%)
African-American males
African-American females
Hispanic males
Hispanic females
(N = 263) 47.8
(N = 121) 20.8
(N = 90) 19.9
(N = 148) 6.8
27.9
39.3
1.4
15.8
(N = 231) 45.2
(N = 223) 21.0
(N = 187) 34.8
(N = 93) 12.9
19.2
31.5
10.6
16.9
Table IX. Condom Use and Other Contraceptive Use in Unions
Married/lived with partners Condom use Other methods (%) No method (%) High consistency of condom use (%) “Knew well” partners Condom use (%) Other methods (%) No method (%) High consistency (%) Casual partners Condom use (%) Other methods (%) No methods (%) High consistency (%)
African-American males
African-American females
Hispanic males
Hispanic females
(N = 41) 61.0 24.4 24.2 25.6
(N = 128) 71.1 56.3 13.3 19.7
(N = 81) 50.6 46.9 17.3 14.3
(N = 150) 55.3 49.3 20.0 20.8
(N = 204) 73.3 13.2 13.2 43.8 (N = 47) 72.3 8.5 14.9 —
(N = 255) 76.1 47.5 13.7 47.2 (N = 24) 58.3 41.7 33.3 —
(N = 188) 66.0 23.9 19.1 42.2 (N = 74) 32.4 8.1 40.5 —
(N = 100) 64.0 37.0 21.0 44.8 (N = 16) 25.0 13.3 50.0 —
Awareness that the partner had other partners was most common for AfricanAmerican females (39.3%) and lowest for Hispanic males (1.4%). Among “knew well” partners, the ethnic/gender differences were similar, except that Hispanic males (34.8%) reported more concurrent relationships than African-American females (21.0%) ( p < 0.05). In Table IX, data are shown on use of condoms and other contraceptive methods by type of partner. There are differences in condom use and use of other methods by type of relationship and by ethnicity and gender. For all ethnic groups except African-American males, condoms were less likely to be used in casual relationships. This difference held even after the influence of other relationships was controlled for (Norris et al., 1996).
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DISCUSSION This paper illustrates some of the types of data that can be generated from partner histories, the increase in information about sexual behavior that can be obtained from them, and some of the complexities involved in data analysis. It should be kept in mind that the findings of the study rely on self-report of sensitive behaviors. The data show that experience with sexual intercourse, condom use, and contraceptive use vary significantly with different types of partners. These differences may be observed for several reasons. First, the lengths of relationships differ by types of partner. This length may affect the ease with which sexual encounters can be anticipated or planned for. Furthermore, after a period of time, partners may alter their beliefs about the riskiness of a partner. Second, the acceptability of behaviors in different types of relationships may affect behavior in those relationships. For example, if a couple is married or living together, there may be a stronger expectation of monogamous behavior, and condoms may be seen as inconsistent with monogamy. The data indicate that concurrent relationships are common in these populations and that the prevalence of concurrent relationships was greater in the African-American population. Concurrency is a factor that has received attention as a pattern of behavior that can lead to increased rapidity of the spread of HIV infection in a population (Morris and Kretzschmar, 1995). The data on partner characteristics indicates that partnerships with other ethnic groups are quite common in the Hispanic population. They are also common among women and older partners. These data indicate that bridges exist in these populations for the transmission of infections between age and ethnic groups. Finally, the two ethnic groups that were included in this study, African Americans and Hispanics, live in the same city and have a similar socioeconomic status. However, there are large differences in many of the sexual behaviors described in this paper. Differences in culture surrounding health and sexuality may have a large effect on sexual behavior and associated susceptibility to HIV and STD infection. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Research funded by grant HD26250 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. REFERENCES Bearman, P., Jones, J., and Udry, R. (1997). The National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health: Research design. [WWW Document] URL:http:///www.cpc.inc.edu/projects/addhealth/design.html. Binson, D., Dolcini, M. M., Pollack, L. M., and Catania J. A. (1993). Data from the National AIDS
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Behavioral Surveys. IV. Multiple sexual partners among young adults in high risk cities. Fam. Plan. Persp. 25: 268–272. Catania, J. A., Moskowitz, J. T., Ruiz, M., and Cleland, J. (1996). A review of national AIDS-related behavioral surveys. AIDS 10: S183–S190. Catania, J. A., Binson, D., Dolcini, M. M., Stall, R., Choi, K. H., Pollack, L. M., Hudes, E. S., Canchola, J., Phillips, K., Moskowitz, J. T., et al. (1995). Risk factors for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and prevention practices among US heterosexual adults: Changes from 1990 to 1992. Am. J. Pub. Health 85: 1492–1499. Diggle, P., Liang, K. Y., and Zeger, S. L. (1994). Analysis of Longitudinal Data. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Ford, K., and Norris, A. E. (1997). Sexual networks of African American and Hispanic youth. Sex. Trans. Dis. 24: 327–333. Holmes, K. K., Karon, J. M., and Kreiss, J. (1990). The increasing frequency of heterosexually acquired AIDS in the United States. Am. J. Pub. Health 80: 858–863. Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J. H., Michael, R. T., and Michaels, S. (1994). The Social Organization of Sexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Liang, K. Y., and Zeger, S. L. (1986). Longitudinal data analysis using generalized linear models. Biometrika 73: 13–22. Morris, M., and Kretzschmar, M. (1995). Concurrent partnerships and transmission dynamics in networks. Soc. Net. 17: 299–318. Norris, A. E., Ford, K., Shyr, Y., and Schork, T. (1996). Heterosexual experiences and partnerships of urban, low income African American and Hispanic youth. J. Acquir. Immun. Defic. Syndr. Hum. Retrovir. 11: 288–300. Sonenstein, F. L., Pleck, J., and Ku, L. (1991). Levels of sexual activity among adolescent males in the United States. Fam. Plan. Persp. 23: 162–167. Tanfer, K., Cubbins, L. A., and Billy, J. O. (1995). Gender, race, class and self reported sexually transmitted disease incidence. Fam. Plan. Persp. 27: 196–202. Tanfer, K. (1993). National Survey of Men: Design and execution. Fam. Plan. Persp. 25: 83–86.
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BOOK REVIEWS On Freud’s “Observations on Transference-Love.” Edited by Ethel Spector Person, Aiban Hagelin, and Peter Fonagy. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1993, 194 pp., $25.00. Reviewed by Harriet Kimble Wrye, Ph.D.1 Sexual love is undoubtedly one of the chief things in life, and the union of mental and bodily satisfaction in the enjoyment of love is one of its culminating peaks. . . . The psychoanalyst knows that he is working with highly explosive forces and that he needs to proceed with as much caution and conscientiousness as a chemist. But when have chemists ever been forbidden, because of the danger, from handling explosive substances, which are indispensable, on account of their effects? (Freud, 1915, pp. 169–171)
On Freud’s “Observations on Transference-Love,” from which the above quote is taken, is a rich compendium of 10 invited papers on the subject of Freud’s classic 1915 paper. It is the third in the series, “Contemporary Freud: Turning Points and Critical Issues,” developed by Robert Wallerstein and the International Psychoanalytical Association. In the present collection, editors Person, Hagelin, and Fonagy have assembled a collection of essays from Europe, Latin America, the United States, and the Orient, representing classical, object relations, postmodern, and intersubjective perspectives. Each of the distinguished analysts, including Wallerstein, Schafer, Gill, Hernandez, Joseph, and Stern, was invited to elaborate on his or her views regarding the significance of Freud’s “Observations on Transference-Love” in the history of psychoanalysis, its enduring contributions, the ambiguities and problems it posed, and to contextualize these issues as if they were teaching the paper in a seminar, weaving in their own theoretical perspectives. As such, the volume provides an invaluable educational tool for contemporary scholars of this Freudian text, which first addressed the clinical, theoretical, and technical issues regarding patients’ falling in love with their analysts. “Observations on Transference-Love,” one of Freud’s six brief papers on technique written between 1911 and 1915, is addressed ostensibly to beginning 1 17711
Porto Marina Way, Pacific Palisades, California 90272. 189 C 2000 Plenum Publishing Corporation 0004-0002/00/0400-0189$18.00/0 °
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analysts. To review this centerpiece paper briefly, when Freud points out the technical difficulties when a woman patient falls in love with her male analyst, he indicates that a layman would likely suggest they either end the relationship or enter into a legal marital union, but not carry on an illicit affair. A psychoanalyst, by contrast, must forgo either course of action to either return the feelings or reject them out of what Kumin (1985) later calls “erotic horror.” He must realize that every patient is ambivalently motivated to idealize her analyst, test her analyst’s trustworthiness, or “bring him down to the level of a lover.” The psychoanalyst, understanding transference, cannot be flattered into believing he really is irresistible, and knows if he breaks off treatment, the woman will repeat her behavior with subsequent analysts. Therefore, he must follow the fundamental rule of analysis; that is, carry out the treatment in abstinence and encourage his patient to accept her feelings as an “inescapable fate” (Freud, 1915, p. 161) of psychoanalysis, which must be analyzed initially as a resistance: [A woman patient has] to overcome the pleasure principle, to give up a satisfaction which lies to hand but is socially not acceptable, in favor of a more distant one, which is perhaps altogether uncertain, but which is both psychologically and socially impeachable. To achieve this overcoming, she has to be led through the primal period of her mental development and on that path she has to acquire the extra piece of mental freedom which distinguishes conscious mental activity—in the systematic sense—from unconscious. (Freud, 1915, pp. 169–170)
In this brief review, I do not elaborate on each of the 10 essays, except to say in general that they represent considerable breadth and richness, and to highlight some particularly significant contributions and offer some ideas of my own, stimulated by the papers. Many of the authors cite as Freud’s most enduring contribution in this paper his discovery of the ubiquitous nature of transference love and its role in resistance, its developmental origins, and his recognition of the complexity of the problems for handling erotic transference in the treatment. Many also comment on the somewhat dated quality of the paper, contextualizing that it was written before Freud really understood countertransference and the destructive drives, the underlying sexist assumptions, and the political context for this paper, namely that Freud had first discovered the phenomenon of transference love in 1882 in his conversations with Joseph Breuer, following Breuer’s countertransference-driven, precipitously interrupted treatment of Anna O., who had fallen in love with him. Freud saw trouble for his fledgling and controversial “science” when, in 1909, Jung confided his confused passionate feelings for his patient, Sabrina Spielrein (much later confirmed, although unbeknownst to Freud at the time, as an actual love affair; see Kerr, 1993), and later in Ferenczi’s marriage to his patient, Elma Palos’s mother. Freud adopts, in spite of his own injunction to the contrary, a rather prescriptive moralistic tone when he insists, “I have already let it be understood that analytic technique requires of the physician that he should deny to the patient who is craving for love the satisfaction she demands. The treatment must be carried out in abstinence.”
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The volume offers recognition of Freud’s own unrecognized countertransference problems regarding pre-oedipal, maternal erotic longings, and his own patriarchal, culture-bound assumption that the problem is of women patients falling in love with their male analysts, already clearly evidenced in the Dora case (Freud, 1905) as, “one class of . . . women of elemental passionateness who tolerate no surrogates . . . who refuse to accept the psychical in place of the material, whom in the poet’s words, are accessible only to the ‘logic of soup, with dumplings for arguments’ ” (Freud, 1915, pp. 166–167; see Bernheimer and Kahane, 1990); that only beginning, unmarried young male analysts “not yet bound by strong ties” (p. 169) have to really struggle against countertransference seductive enactments; and that Freud was unable to resolve his own theoretical dilemmas clearly regarding the dangers of acting out versus the importance of encouraging a transference to unfold, which reveals the patient’s preconditions for loving. Eickhoff’s excellent essay on the historical development of the concept of transference in general, and on erotic and erotized transference and their permutations with regard to gender, opens the collection. (“Erotic” transferences refer to those in which the patient loves the analyst as if the analyst were the parent; “erotized” transferences refer to those with concrete, psychotic insistence that the analyst is the love object and that the love must be acted on.) Eickhoff addresses Freud’s injunctions with praise for the paper’s “outstanding place in the debate on the curative significance of the interpretation of psychical conflicts versus direct emotional experience” (p. 33). He also cites the probable origin of Freud’s mysogynistic “logic of soup, with dumplings for arguments” as a Heinrich Heine poem, “Die Wanderratten” (“The Roving Rats”), and suggests that Bion’s concept of beta elements, undigested facts that are suitable only for projective identifications, could more usefully be applied to understanding the concrete nature of such insistent transferences that are antithetical to psychic interpretation. The modern Kleinian point of view is artfully elaborated by Joseph in her chapter, “On Transference Love: Some Current Observations,” which creatively shifts Freud’s emphasis on the ubiquitousness of erotic transference as resistance, focusing instead on patients’ creatively destructive attempts, through projections to destroy the analyst’s enviable goodness, arguing that this is not necessarily resistance, but illumination of their particular conditions for loving. Among editorial choices, it is refreshing to note the decision to include the pivotal developmental views of Stern’s intersubjective perspective, as this represents embracing his landmark infant observation study in such a mainstream analytic text. Stern’s “Acting vs. Remembering” is one of the text’s most original contributions. Unlike Joseph, who cites transference love as a communicative vehicle for projective identifications, Stern argues that Freud’s focus on the later oedipal conflict model of transference love and his resistance-oriented focus on acting out misses the potential for attuning to the transference’s rich re-creation of elements of preverbal communication of remembered primitive states of reciprocal mother–infant actions. Here I agree, and note the collection’s lack of the more
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recent focus on creative opportunities for analytic engagement of the precursors of transference love within the area of bodily oriented maternal erotic transferences and countertransferences (Davies, 1994; Gould and Rosenberger, 1994; Person, 1985; Wrye and Welles, 1989, 1994). Because Freud’s paper has been cited for its sexism, it is unfortunate that this collection includes only one female analyst out of 10 represented, and gives space to Cesio’s outdated reading of the paper solely from an oedipal perspective, implicating the analyst’s classically defined countertransference in nearly every case of a patient’s transference love. However, Schafer (1974), who previously provided a now classic feminist deconstruction of many of Freud’s texts, eloquently takes up, among other problems, the issue of Freud’s sexism in his contribution, “Five Readings of Freud’s ‘Observations on Transference Love’.” Finally, although there are no self-psychological papers in the collection, it is very refreshing to read the uniquely culture-based contribution of Japanese analyst Doi on “Amae and Transference Love.” Doi describes amae as a nonverbal feeling of “indulgent dependency” that must be appreciated and silently accepted by the analyst, and when frustrated may turn into a desire and “enter into the formation of many emotions, such as love, envy, jealousy, resentment, or hatred” (pp. 165–166). Amae in this sense is another way to describe early maternal erotic transferences. However, I take issue with Doi when he comments that these states must remain uninterpreted, and simply silently appreciated. It seems to me that in order to assist in retelling patients’ “narrations of desire” (Wrye and Welles, 1994), to creatively engage transference love in all its primitive and later permutations, as we have come to understand them since Freud’s classic 1915 paper, the analyst must not completely abstain, but rather, within parameters of analytic propriety, invite these states into the analytic dialog. The analyst must be able to use his or her own countertransference bodily based resonances to the patient, making the unconscious conscious and thus engaging the transformational potential of preverbal aspects of transference love (Wrye, 1994). In this way, we may bridge the physical and psychic sphere in the arena of the earliest skin ego (Anzieu, 1989) that carry, encoded, the patient’s unique “preconditions for loving.”
REFERENCES Anzieu, D. (1989). The Skin Ego, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. Bernheimer, C., and Kahane, C. (eds.). (1990). In Dora’s Case: Freud—Hysteria—Feminism (2nd ed.), Columbia University Press, New York. Davies, J. M. (1994). Love in the afternoon. Psychoanal. Dial. 4: 153–169. Freud, S. (1953). Fragment of an analysis of a case of hysteria. In Strachey, J. (ed. and trans.), The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 7, pp. 7–122), Hogarth Press, London. (Original work published 1905.) Freud, S. (1958). Observations on transference-love. In Strachey, J. (ed. and trans.), The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 12, pp. 159–171), Hogarth Press, London. (Original work published 1915.)
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Gould, E., and Rosenberger, J. (eds.). (1994). Erotic transference: Contemporary perspectives [Special Issue]. Psychoanal. Inq. 14: 477–639. Kerr, J. (1993). A Most Dangerous Method: Freud, Jung, and Sabrina Speilrein, Knopf, New York. Kumin, I. (1985). Erotic horror: Desire and resistance in the psychoanalytic situation. Int. J. Psychoanal. Psychother. 11: 3–20. Person, E. S. (1985). The erotic transference in women and in men: Differences and consequences. J. Am. Acad. Psychoanal. 13: 159–180. Schafer, R. (1974). Problems in Freud’s psychology of women. J. Am. Psychoanal. Assoc. 22: 459– 485. Wrye, H. K. (1994). Narrative scripts: Composing a life with ambition and desire. Am. J. Psychoanal. 54: 127–142. Wrye, H. K., and Welles, J. K. (1989). The maternal erotic transference. Int. J. Psychoanal. 70: 673–684. Wrye, H. K., and Welles, J. K. (1994). The Narration of Desire: Erotic Transference and Countertransference, Analytic Press, Hillsdale, NJ.
Female Fetishism. By Lorraine Gamman and Merja Makinen. New York University Press, New York, 1994, 236 pp., $16.95. Reviewed by Miriam Ehrenberg, Ph.D.2
“Take back the night” is the legitimate claim of feminists who decry a rape culture that intimidates women who want the freedom to walk in public places night as well as day. “Take back the fetish” appears to be the claim of Gamman and Makinen, who view the historical denial of fetishism among women as a phallocentric refusal to credit active female desire and libido. Female Fetishism is a fascinating compendium of ideas on such phenomena as fetishism, eating disorders, and advertising, as well as a discourse on Marxism, psychoanalysis, postmodernism, and feminism. In fact, the book is overwhelming in its scope, and it is easy to lose focus as one struggles through the array of very challenging concepts presented. “Struggle” is the word used, as the language of the sources cited as well as of the authors does not provide an easy read. Although the authors appear to be primarily concerned with sexual fetishism (usually known as psychiatric or pathological fetishism—both problematic terms), the book also covers anthropological fetishism and commodity fetishism, and argues a case for bulimia as a fourth fetish that parallels sexual fetishism. Fetishism, as the authors point out, is the investment of an object with special powers that are not inherent to the object. Anthropological fetishism involves the practice in many cultures of worshipping an inanimate object because it is believed to embody a spirit or special power. Commodity fetishism, a concept developed by Marx, implies the displacement of value from the people who produce things to the thing itself, thereby hiding the reality of human labor. Contemporary thinking relates commodity fetishism to the consumption of goods (per Veblen) rather than to their production. Goods are worshipped because they bestow status on the owner, not necessarily because of their intrinsic value. In sexual fetishism, an object or 2 Institute
for Human Identity, 160 West 24th St., New York, New York 10011.
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part of the body becomes the focus of arousal. The rationale to include bulimia as a fetish rests on the authors’ theory as to the dynamics of sexual fetishism. Freud maintained that sexual fetishism was an outgrowth of castration fears and a peculiarly male phenomenon. The boy, desiring sexual merger with his mother, fears the father’s wrath and threat of castration. He also perceives his mother as missing a phallus, which further threatens him as it puts his own possession of a penis in doubt. He thus both disavows and refuses to acknowledge his mother’s lack while at the same time letting the fetish stand in for the lost penis, enabling him to experience arousal. The authors reject this phallocentric view and feel it has excluded women, who also have sexual fetishes. They report that a third of the psychoanalytic literature they surveyed referred to cases of sexual fetishism among women. They put forth the theory, based heavily on Melanie Klein’s work, that sexual fetishism in girls, unlike the case with boys, develops pre-oedipally as a result of problems in separating from the mother. The threat here is not of losing an organ, but of losing the mother. In disavowing the threat of separation, the girl seeks fulfilment in a substitute object or fetish. The authors feel it is essential to recognize sexual fetishism in women to credit their agency as sexual beings. Further, they maintain sexual fetishism is not a perversity of women or men, but a diversity—a different form of sexual expression that has been pathologized because of its difference. Interestingly, although coming from a feminist stance, the authors, like Freud, put the onus for sexual fetishism on the mother. Either her difference (no penis) or her differentiation (no merging) leads the offspring to develop a sexual fetish. Two questions arise. One: If sexual fetishism is not a pathologic condition in females, why is it an outgrowth of separation anxiety? Two: Are there no other factors in the developmental process that can contribute to the phenomenon? Do familial sanctions against sexual expression play no role? Do repressive attitudes stemming from the social group, religious training, or peers play no role? The authors, for all their careful sifting through a vast array of theoretical arguments, do not deal with the type of clinical material that could possibly shed some light on these questions. They are not alone in this regard. Most of the literature on sexual fetishism presents various theories as to its genesis but little clinical data. Of the more than 100 articles appearing in the psychological literature between 1991 and 1997, only a handful present case material—usually a study of one male whose fetishistic behavior is conflated with, variously, pedophilia, transvestism, or other paraphilias. Gamman and Makinen report that they conducted research for their book, but it is hard to know exactly of what it consisted. They tell us they had “wild and wonderful conversations about sex” with “many people” in a “brief survey” that apparently incorporated an anonymous questionnaire. The survey covered sex and food, starting from the premise that “food is a vehicle for women to pleasure themselves . . . and carries messages of being both alluring and forbidden” (p. 137). All respondents answered questions on food, whereas only 71% answered the
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questions on sex. Respondents were freer in revealing their food cravings than sexual cravings, and overall calorie content made them feel guilty and consume items secretly. The authors report that many women felt “out of control” about food and would go to great lengths to satisfy their cravings. “Everyone” binged to counteract negative feelings, and some also binged as a reward. The authors contend that these results support their view of bulimia as a fetish in that “women ‘pervert’ the oral drive for sustenance to assuage narcissistic feelings of inadequacy in relation to their self-identity” (p. 139). The argument that bulimia is linked to sexual fetishism rests on the premise that it, too, represents a disavowal of individuation. Its pre-oedipal oral component allows the female to cope with the threat of separation while gaining gratification through gorging herself with sensual foods. Some minor irritations: The authors report in two instances that “the exception proves the rule,” by which they mean that the exception gives credence to the rule, whereas the exception, instead, proves whether the rule has any validity. In the instances cited, the exceptions would seem to prove the rule false rather than true. Another problem is the use of the term exogamy to refer to marriage allowed only within the clan. These lapses, although minor, give the reader pause to wonder about the accuracy of some of the material offered that is new to her or him. Despite the difficulties reflected on, Female Fetishism is a fascinating book that offers the reader much to think about and provides a wealth of related material on women’s fashions, sadomasochism, movies, fan worship, the nature of the male gaze, and more. It leaves the head spinning, even if wondering about the direction of the movement. Sexual Deviation (3rd ed.). Edited by Ismond Rosen. Oxford University Press, New York, 1996, 496 pp., $145.00. Reviewed by Thomas N. Wise, M.D.3
The title of this collection of essays is troubling. Deviation denotes straying from the way, and suggests that the entities covered in the volume are pathologic. Such definitional quibbling need not be discussed for entities such as exhibitionism and pedophilia, but the three chapters on homosexuality would certainly be controversial to many researchers and clinicians. Except for four chapters, the majority of the book focuses on psychoanalytic approaches to an understanding of paraphilic disorders as well as homosexuality. This is the essential limitation of the book. The book opens with an attempt to describe an integrative approach to “sexual deviancy” and “sexual offending.” In this chapter, authors Brockman and Blueglass emphasize the cognitive, developmental, biologic, and personality factors that contribute to sexual disorders. They offer a useful outline to take a full psychosexual history. The authors state: “Most sexual offenders and people with paraphilias 3 The
Fairfax Hospital, 3300 Gallows Road, Falls Church, Virginia, 22042.
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are neither mentally ill nor mentally handicapped, many do not fulfill formal psychiatric diagnostic criteria” (p. 18). I suspect the authors meant to say that few paraphilics have comorbid schizophrenia. Many paraphilics have comorbid mood disorders or substance abuse. Chapters by Abel on behavioral therapy for sex offenders and a review of biologic factors in sexual behavior by Michael and Zumpe are useful and complement the rest of the book. The psychoanalytic chapters are biased in their scholarship in that the references are narrowly used to prove the authors’ hypotheses without consideration of other approaches. The most obvious examples are those of the three chapters on homosexuality. The essay by Limentani (deceased) uncritically accepts homosexuality to be a psychiatric disorder and a true perversion. If one wishes to designate homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder, a discussion of what defines normal in contradistinction to a psychiatric disorder is required (Brodie and Banner, 1997). His references are exclusively from the psychoanalytic literature, except for three that have little to do with homosexuality itself. The chapter by Socarides on advances in psychoanalytic theory and therapy of male homosexuality is also controversial, as Rosen notes in the book’s preface. What is troubling about inclusion of this chapter and a final one by McDougall on homosexuality in women is their homogeneous approach, using orthodox psychoanalytic theory to explain homosexuality. No reference is given to Friedman’s (1988) book on homosexuality, which certainly is psychoanalytic in perspective but offers a more contemporary overview. McDougall’s contribution on female homosexuality uses only eight references, three of which are her own and two from Freud. In a volume such as this, a more extensive review should be required. The chapters on transsexualism are of interest, but again, do not mention more recent data. Blanchard’s work is not mentioned, and the chapters are basically psychoanalytic reviews. Volkan and Greer’s contribution on “true transsexualism” nicely summarizes the psychoanalytic differences between the nonconflictual and conflictual model. Their synthesis of the psychoanalytic literature regarding this topic is a unique contribution to the psychiatric literature. A reprint of a paper on fetishism by Greenacre continues the psychoanalytic approach to paraphilic behaviors. Again, the problem is absence of operational definition, as Greenacre feels that there is a spectrum of fetishistic manifestations that differ from “hard core perversion” to use of fantasies or unconscious material to enhance sexual pleasure. Her chapter perhaps best demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of this book. Use of the life history perspective gives the therapist a sense that they truly understand the individual. This understanding is abetted by a theory often not grounded in empiricism, but gives both patient and practitioner a sense of hope and remoralization. Unfortunately, inattention to other perspectives, such as the medical model and individual differences as well as the construct of motivated behaviors, can lead to a sense of theoretical orthodoxy that is not grounded in truth and can lead to unfortunate results (McHugh and Slavney, 1983).
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In summary, this book represents a predominantly psychoanalytic perspective for a variety of sexual disorders. As many of the chapters are seriously flawed in scholarship, the book’s usefulness is limited to those readers who have a focused psychoanalytic perspective. Unfortunately, new information is exactly what such readers need to broaden their knowledge base about the entities that they treat.
REFERENCES Brodie, H. K., and Banner, L. (1997). Noratology: A review commentary to abortion and physicianassisted suicide. Am. J. Psych. 154: 13–19. Friedman, R. C. (1988). Male Homosexuality: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspective, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. McHugh, P. R., and Slavney P. R. (1983). The Perspectives of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, MD.
Fatherhood in America: A History. By Robert L. Griswold. Basic Books, New York, 1993, 356 pp., $13.00 (paperback). Reviewed by Henry B. Biller, Ph.D.4
This book traces evolving American notions of fatherhood from the 1880s up through the early 1990s. Griswold, a skilled historian, takes an interdisciplinary approach, carefully weighing evidence from many different fields, including economics, psychology, sociology, and political science. He weaves a fascinating panorama concerning how various factors have had an impact on our views of the role of fathers during the last 200 years. His in-depth discussions relating to such unsettling time periods as the Great Depression and World War II are especially provocative. A major focus throughout the book is on influences shaping social and sexual relations between men and women inside and outside the family. Griswold does a masterful job in identifying relevant sources, statistics, and studies that highlight major historical trends as well as particular variations relating to socioeconomic and ethnic status. Although the book is directed at a broadscale sociohistorical analysis of father–mother relationships, readers cannot help but also gain some personal insight into factors contributing to their own attitudes toward gender and parenting roles. Griswold provides a particularly fine analysis of the difficulties facing the male parent in his primary role as family breadwinner during periods of economic and political change. He documents the social barriers associated with expanding the father’s role to more day-to-day direct care of children. Just as women for 4 Department
of Psychology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 02881.
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far too long have been denied equal opportunity in the workplace, men have far too often been discouraged from being full-fledged partners in parenting. A major obstacle has been subtle and not-so-subtle attitudes implying that paternal influence somehow takes away from the meaning of motherhood. In fact, positive father influence tends to enhance the quality of mother–child relationships (Biller, 1971, 1974, 1993; Biller and Trotter, 1994). Although citing considerable research underscoring paternal influence in the personality development of children, in my opinion, Griswold could have emphasized even more the longstanding resistance of social institutions, including many in the scientific establishment, in acknowledging the special significance that fathers can have in the lives of infants and young children. The “two-parent advantage” certainly involves some overlap in the responsibilities of the father and mother, but there must also be a positive recognition of the particular biopsychosocial contributions that each parent provides in child and family development. Whether in two-parent or one-parent, mother-led families, children are more likely to lack sufficient father involvement. Paternal deprivation in its many guises is, and has been historically, much more prevalent than maternal deprivation (Biller, 1971, 1974, 1993; Biller and Meredith, 1974; Biller and Solomon, 1986; Biller and Trotter, 1994).
REFERENCES Biller, H. B. (1971). Father, Child and Sex Role: Paternal Determinants of Personality Development, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA. Biller, H. B. (1974). Paternal Deprivation: Family, School, Sexuality and Society, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA. Biller, H. B. (1993). Fathers and Families: Paternal Factors in Child Development, Greenwood Publishing, Westport, CT. Biller, H. B., and Meredith, D. L. (1974). Father Power, David McKay, New York. Biller, H. B., and Solomon, R. S. (1986). Child Maltreatment and Paternal Deprivation: A Manifesto for Research, Prevention and Treatment, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA. Biller, H. B., and Trotter, R. J. (1994). The Father Factor: What You Need to Know to Make a Difference, Simon and Schuster, New York.
