Attitude and Behavior Influence

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DEMOGR PHY©

Volume

4 Number3

ugust 98

THE INFLUENCE OF THE F MILY

PREM RIT L SEXU L

TTITUDES AND EH VIOR

Arland

Thornton

Donald

Camburn

Survey Research Center Institute for Social Research University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan

48 6

INTRODUCTION

Adolescent sexuality pregnancy and childbearing have recently become impor

tant elements of demographic processes in the United States. An increasing number

of young unmarried Americans are sexually active before marriage; and despite more

widespread use of contraception there are now more pregnancies births and

abortions to young unmarried women Zelnik and Kantner

1980a

Accompanying

these shifts in adolescent sexuality and fertility have been sharp increases in age at

marriage independent living by young people paid employment by mothers and

divorce. Concurrently marital fertility has declined.

The socialization of attitudes concerning sexuality and the learning of appropriate

norms of sexual behavior begin early in life and are influenced by the environment

the home and the values and behavior of parents. The family is a central institution

in the formation of sexual attitudes and behavior because it provides role models a

social and economic environment and standards of sexual conduct Fox 1981;

Furstenberg

1981;

Herceg-Baron and Furstenberg

1982

The specific dimensions of family life influencing the formation of attitudinal and

behavioral patterns among adolescent children are still only dimly understood

despite the recognition of the importance of the family and awareness of the

simultaneous trends in family life and adolescent sexuality Fox

1981

The purpose

this paper is to examine the role of family values religious affiliation and

commitment as well as marital childbearing and labor force experience in the

development of sexual attitudes and behavior. A model of the influence of the family

on adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior is developed that focuses on the

processes of family influence and incorporates attitudinal and behavioral information

from both parents and their children. This model is evaluated empirically with data

from a study of mothers and their children using statistical techniques that allow

measurement error to be taken into account.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Theoretical and empirical investigations of adolescent sexuality and childbearing

have identified a number of avenues through which the parental family may influence

the attitudes and behavior of children. We focus on four aspects of the parental

family that previous literature has suggested are particularly important determinants

of adolescent attitudes and behavior: the attitudes of the parents concerning

adolescent sexuality; the marital and childbearing behavior of parents including

experience with marital dissolution remarriage childbearing and out-of-wedlock

pregnancies; the religious environment of the parental home; and the educational and

work patterns of the parents. This section identifies several ways in which these

aspects can influence adolescents.

3 3


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DEMOGRAPHY,volume 24, number 3, August 1987

ttitudes

of

Parents

The attitudes and beliefs of parents form the basic foundation for the values of

their children. Although direct communication between parents and children about

sexuality is limited in many families Fox, 1981; Furstenberg et al.,

1984 ,

parents

may be sources of guidelines for children as they both indirectly and directly transmit

their standards of conduct during the socialization process. Parental attitudes and

values concerning premarital sexuality may also affect their own patterns of

discipline and childrearing, which, in turn, influence the behavior of their children.

Parents with restrictive attitudes toward adolescent sexuality probably structure

their own activities to provide more supervision of their adolescent children and

allow their children less autonomy, which reduces adolescent sexual behavior. Our

theoretical approach to this issue emphasizes the importance of actual attitudes and

values of parents in the formation of children s attitudes and behaviors. Of course,

the emphasis on actual parental attitudes requires data from both parents and

children, a requirement that is seldom met in research in this area Newcomer and

Udry,

1984 .

Religious ffiliation

n

Commitment

The religious affiliation and commitment of parents can play an important role in

determining the values of parents and their children. Membership in a religious group

that sets forth traditional, clear, and stringent prescriptions concerning adolescent

sexuality may influence both the behavior and attitudes of young people. Some

previous research has shown that young people who identify with a fundamentalist

Protestant group have less permissive attitudes toward premarital sex and are less

sexually active DeLamater and MacCorquodale,

1979 .

The frequency with which parents attend religious functions may determine the

extent of children s exposure to religious influence. Parents who attend services

frequently may be more closely aligned with official religious practices and beliefs.

This alignment is likely to influence the children indirectly through the attitudes of

parents and directly by placing children in an environment that facilitates the

transmission of restrictive values of adolescent sexuality. Research has shown that

the religiosity of young people is substantially correlated with their attitudes and

behavior Chilman, 1983; DeLamater and MacCorquodale, 1979; Mott, 1984; Zelnik,

Kantner, and Ford, 1981), but little is known of the role of parental religious

participation and commitment.

Marital and Childbearing ehavior

of

Parents

An emerging body of research suggests that parental behavior strongly influences

adolescent attitudes and behavior. Newcomer and Udry

1984

reported positive

correlations between the behavior of mothers during their adolescent years and that

of their daughters. They posited biological as well as sociological mechanisms in this

intergenerational transmission of behavior.

1

Although premarital pregnancies have not been prevalent in the past, substantial

numbers of the parents oftoday s adolescents were pregnant at marriage O Connell

and Rogers,

1984 .

A premarital pregnancy probably reflects a more permissive

attitude, and to the extent that children are aware of a parental premarital

conception, they may view their parents as more permissive in their attitudes about

premarital sex, independently of actual parental attitudes. This expectation is

consistent with Inazu and

ox s

1980 findings that girls whose mothers were

unmarried at the birth of their first child were more likely to be sexually experienced.


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Family Influence on Premarital Sexual ttitudes and ehavior

5

Marital dissolution and remarriage have far-reaching consequences both for

parents and for their children Moore, Peterson, and Furstenberg, 1984). For most

Americans, divorce only reflects disenchantment with a specific spouse and not the

rejection of relationships with those of the opposite sex. Many separated and

divorced Americans reenter the courtship system in which they must directly and

personally confront the development of relationships as a single person. Many

continue sexual activity after their marriage has ended, and research by Sweet 1979

in the United States and by Kiernan

1983

in Great Britain indicates that substantial

fractions live together with a person of the opposite sex without marrying. We expect

that many children know whether their parents are sexually active after a marital

dissolution and that formerly married parents who continue to be sexually active

serve as behavioral models for their maturing children, thus increasing the children s

levels of permissiveness. The absence of a parent due to divorce may also decrease

the quality of parent-child relationships and the overall level of parental influence

and control, which may increase the premarital sexuality of children. These

expectations are consistent with research showing that children with a stable family

experience have lower levels of premarital sexual intercourse and older age at first

intercourse Hogan and Kitagawa,

1985;

Mott, 1984; Zelnik, Kantner, and Ford,

1981). There is also some empirical evidence suggesting that frequency of dating by

single mothers is related to the sexual experience of their children Moore, Peterson,

and Furstenberg, 1984 . Inazu and Fox

1980

also reported that teenage girls whose

mothers have cohabited without marriage are more likely than others to have

engaged in sexual intercourse themselves.

The pattern of parental childbearing influences both parental interactions with

their children and sibling relationships. The number of children in a family may

determine how much time parents have available to monitor the behavior of their

children, with adolescents from large families having more opportunities to experi

ence premarital sex. However, larger family size may reenforce traditional values

and beliefs. The total load of childrearing responsibilities may be greater for parents

of large families, leading them to emphasize discipline and the maintenance of strict

orientations. More siblings may also increase a child s responsibility in the family,

thereby requiring more traditional behavior, as hypothesized by Reiss and Miller

1979).

ducation and ork

Maternal employment outside the home may lead to more permissive attitudes and

increased sexual activity among children. Mothers have historically provided

supervision for children outside of school. Given the recent increase in women s

employment, absence of both parents from the home during the hours after school

may provide an opportunity for adolescents to have sexual encounters. This

opportunity factor is particularly important because recent research shows that the

initiation of sexual activity most frequently occurs in the home of one of the partners

Zelnik and Kantner, 1980b).

Educational attainment of parents may be related to adolescent sexuality, although

the effect on attitudes and behavior may not be uniform. Education may reflect

exposure to liberalizing ideas that increase acceptance of premarital sexuality. At the

same time, however, highly educated parents have greater educational aspirations

for their children, and with widespread recognition of the difficulty of combining

educational achievements with early marriage and parenthood, highly educated

parents may discourage sexual activity among their children. This expectation is

consistent with the observation that young people with high educational aspirations


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326

DEMOGRAPHY, volume 24, num r 3, August 1987

report less sexual experience than others Zelnik, Kantner, and Ford, 1981 Highly

educated parents may also be able to exercise greater control over their children s

activities because of greater skills and resources. The expectation of a differential

impact of parental education on attitudes and behavior may explain why empirical

studies have found only weak correlations between parental education and adoles

cent sexuality DeLamater and MacCorquodale,

1979;

Zelnik, Kantner, and Ford,

1981

Our research considers the importance of both attitudes and behavior in under

standing adolescent sexuality. In our model of adolescent sexuality, we posit that the

experiences and characteristics of mothers influence their own attitudes toward

premarital sexuality. These values of mothers, along with their behavior and the

environments provided in the familial home, in turn influence the attitudes and

behavior of children and the perceptions children have of the attitudes of their

mothers.

Several characteristics of our research plan facilitate the study of parental

influences. First, the data were obtained from both parents and children. This

permits the examination of intergenerational effects without having to rely on

children s reports of parental behavior and values, a common difficulty of much

research in this area Furstenberg et al., 1984). Second, the data are from a study that

collected information from mothers across the entire lifetimes of the children. This

allows measurement of the marital, childbearing, and work experiences of parents

more precisely and fully than is possible with retrospective reports, providing both

a broader range of measures for the parental family and more accurate indicators.

Note, however, that because the parental information was obtained from mothers,

we have more information about them than about fathers. Moreover, because the

data about premarital sexual attitudes and behavior were only collected in 1980, it is

impossible to analyze change in these attitudes and behavior. Third, the analysis

uses a multiple indicator approach and appropriate estimation procedures to take

into account the measurement unreliability of some indicators. Finally, the study

examines a wide range of familial determinants of adolescent sexuality simulta

neously, thereby reducing the risk of misspecification bias caused by omitted

variables.

DATA AND PROCEDURES

The data come from a probability sample of children selected from the birth

records of the Detroit, Michigan, metropolitan area in July 1961. Approximately

equal numbers offirst-, second-, and fourth-born white children were selected, using

stratified simple random-sampling procedures. Their mothers were first interviewed

early in 1962 with subsequent interviews conducted in 1962,1963, 1966, and 1977. In

1980, the mothers were again interviewed; in addition, the child born in 1961, then

18years old, was interviewed. The

1980

interviews with mothers were conducted by

telephone, whereas most interviews with the children were conducted in person.

Data about the children s sexual attitudes and experience were obtained through a

self-administered questionnaire.

The response rate over the years has been high. In 1980,interviews were obtained

with both mother and child in 916 families, representing 85 percent of those

interviewed in 1962 in which both the mother and child were still alive. The

1980

families are very similar to the original 1962 group on such characteristics as

education, religion, parity, and income, indicating that sample attrition did not affect

the representativeness of the sample. Sons or daughters married by 1980 are not

included in the analysis, but represent only 3 percent of the sample.


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Family Influence on Premarital Sexual ttitudes and ehavior 7

Measurement ofPremarital Sexual ttitudes n ehavior

Attitudes about the appropriateness of sexual activity before marriage were

ascertained from both mothers and children in 1980. Respondents were asked to

indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with the following statements

(names of variables are given within parentheses):

Young people should not

have sex before marriage (before marriage).

Premarital sex is alright for a young couple planning to get married (planning

marriage).

Response categories were strongly

agree, agree, disagree,

or strongly

disagree. For analysis both items were ordered on a 5-point scale with uncertain

or

depends

responses coded at the midpoint. All variables were coded so that high

values reflect approval of premarital sex and low values indicate disapproval.

To evaluate their perception of parents attitudes, sons and daughters were asked

the following questions:

How

does your mother feel about young people having sex before marriage

(perceptions of mother)?

How does your father feel about young people having sex before marriage

(perceptions of father)?

Possible responses were:

She/He

disapproves strongly,

She/He

disapproves

somewhat, or She/He

doesn t

disapprove. These were ordered on a 3-point

scale, with a high score indicating perceptions of acceptance.

The

adolescents were asked if they had

ever

had sexual intercourse (ever had

intercourse). Those who answered

yes

were asked the following questions:

How

many different partners have you ever had intercourse with (number

of

partners)?

How

old were you when you had sexual intercourse the first time (age at first

intercourse)?

How many times have you had intercourse in the last four weeks (recent

frequency)?

ATTITUDINAL AND BEHAVIORAL DIFFERENCES ACROSS GENDER AND GENERATION

The

distribution of responses on the attitude and behavior measures of sexuality

are shown in table

The attitude items are dichotomized to simplify presentation.

These data document an important intergenerational difference between mothers and

children. More than three-fourths

of

the sons and about two-thirds of the daughters

expressed approval of premarital sex, whereas only about one-third of the mothers

did so.

Sons and daughters view their parents as disapproving of premarital sex for young

adults. Only a small minority thought that their parents approved of premarital sex,

whereas nearly one-halfbelieved they disapproved strongly. An exact comparison of

the self-expressed attitudes ofmothers with their attitudes as perceived by their sons

and daughters is impossible because of wording and response mode differences.

The

children were also asked about the attitudes of their close male and female

friends. Seventy-two

percent

reported that their close male friends do not disapprove

of premarital sex at all, whereas 44 percent said their close female friends do not

disapprove (table 1).

The

perceptions of attitudes among peers are very different

from perceptions of parental attitudes, providing further evidence of an important

intergenerational difference.


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DEMOGR PHY

volume24 number 3

ugust

987

Table

1 Percent

Distribution of Premarital Sexual Attitudes for Mothers and Children and of

Premarital Sexual Behavior for Children

Respondent

a

Sons and

Variable Mothers Sons Daughters daughters

Before marriage

Disapproval 68.4 22.8

35.4

28.9

Approval

31.6 77.2

64.6

71.1

Planning marriage

Disapproval

63.5 22.4 33.2 27.6

Approval

36.5 77.6

66.8 72.4

Perceptions of mother s attitudes

Disapproves strongly N.A. 40.0

50.4

45.0

Disapproves somewhat N.A. 45.5 41.2 43.5

Does not disapprove

N.A.

14.5

8.4

11.6

Perceptions of father s attitudes

Disapproves strongly

N.A.

29.6 56.0 42.1

Disapproves somewhat N.A.

45.3 36.3 41.1

Does not disapprove N.A.

25.1 7.7

16.8

Perceptions of male friends

Disapproves strongly

N.A.

3.9 4.7

4.3

Disapproves somewhat N.A.

18.7 28.3

23.3

Does not disapprove N.A.

77 67.0

72.4

Perceptions of female friends

Disapproves strongly N.A.

5.7

8.2

6.9

Disapproves somewhat

N.A.

58.1 40.5

49.6

Does not disapprove N.A. 36.2 51.3 43.5

Ever had intercourse

Yes N.A.

63.5

54.5 59.1

NOb

N.A.

36.5

45.5 .40.9

Number of partners

Never had intercourse N.A. 36.8 46.3 41.4

Had 1 partner

N.A.

19.5 22.7

21.1

Had 2 5 partners N.A.

27.1

25.0 26.0

Had 6 or more partners N.A.

16.6

6.0 11.5

Recent frequency

Never had intercourse N.A.

36.6

46.3 41.3

Had intercourse

o

times N.A. 25.2 19.0 22.2

1 2 times N.A.

16.7 11.1

14.0

3 7 times N.A.

14.7 14.4

14.6

8 or more times

N.A. 6.8 9.2

7.9

ote Withineachvariable,percentages addto 100in columns. lthoughthenumberof respondentsinthesampleis888,

thenumberavailablefor analysesof individual variablesmaybesmallerbecauseofmissingdata,withtheminimumnumber

being858.N,A, indicates not applicable.

• Allof thedifferencesbetweenmothersandsons and betweenmothersanddaughtersare statisticallysignificant. All

of thedifferencesbetweensons anddaughtersare statisticallysignificantat the0,01 level, with theexceptionof Recent

frequency.

b

The best estimateof the percentage neverhaving intercourseis providedby the variable Ever had intercourse. The

percentagewhonever had intercourse is higherfor the Numberof partnersand Recentfrequencyvariablesbecauseof

the exclusionof respondentswho did not reportnumberof partnersor frequency


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Family Influence on Premarital Sexual Attitudes and Behavior 9

There is also a gender difference in attitudes about premarital sexuality. Although

both sons and daughters report general acceptance, males are more approving than

females. The difference is slightly more than 10percentage points for both attitudinal

questions table

1).

Sons and daughters also differ in their perceptions of parents

attitudes. Whereas 40 percent of sons perceive their mothers to disapprove strongly

of premarital sex, 50 percent of daughters believe this. The gender differences in

perceptions of paternal attitudes are even greater; 30 percent of sons as compared

with 56 percent of daughters believe that their fathers strongly disapprove. These

differences may, in part, reflect the continuation of a double standard among parents,

with parents portraying a more disapproving attitude toward daughters than sons.

Perceptions of parental attitudes may also be influenced by the children s own

behavior and attitudes. Daughters have less approving attitudes and, as we shall see

shortly, less sexual experience, which could cause them to see others as less

approving.

The bottom half of table 1 shows the level of involvement in sexual activity.

Nearly 60 percent of these unmarried adolescents had experienced sexual inter

course by the time of the interview, which was conducted when they were about

two-thirds through their 19th year. Moreover, nearly 4 out of 10 had experienced

intercourse with more than one partner, and over 60 percent of those with experience

had been sexually active with more than one partner. In addition, over one-third of

these 18-year-old adolescents reported sexual intercourse within the four weeks

preceding the interview.

The reported level of sexual activity is higher for sons than for daughters; 64

percent as compared with 54 percent had experienced intercourse by the interview.

These distributions are very similar to those reported by Zelnik and Kantner 1980a)

in their 1979 national survey of persons living in metropolitan areas. Their results

show that 53 percent

o

18-year-old white unmarried women and 64 percent of

18-year-old white unmarried men had experienced intercourse, providing evidence

of the similarity of young people born in Detroit to those in the nation as a whole.

Sons are also more likely to report multiple partners than are daughters. Among

sons, 44 percent reported having intercourse with two or more partners, whereas

only 31 percent of the daughters had done so. Current activity, however, is quite

similar, with 35 percent of daughters reporting that they engaged in sexual inter

course in the previous four weeks, versus 38 percent of sons.

DETERMINANTS OF ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY

The ausal odel

Our analysis of the determinants of adolescent sexuality focuses on six dependent

variables: mother s attitudes toward premarital sex; child s attitudes toward premar

ital sex; child s perception of mother s attitudes; whether the child had experienced

intercourse; the number of partners the child had had; and the frequency of

intercourse in the four weeks preceding th interview.

2

Several characteristics of the

mother, including her religion, church attendance, education, age, age at marriage,

and employment pattern, are considered. Also included are the number of children

born, pregnancy status at marriage, marital history, and husband s education. These

familial characteristics are assumed to be exogenous relative to premarital sex

attitudes, behavior, and perceptions because, for the most part, they reflect behavior

and life style developed over a substantial period of time prior to the 1980

observation of the premarital sexuality variables. All of these variables are assumed


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330 DEMOGR PHY volume 24, number 3, August 1987

Table

2. Definition

of Variables Used in Multivariate Analysis

Variable Definition

Mother s attitudes

Son/daughter attitudes

Perception of mother

Ever had intercourse

Number of partners

Recent frequency

Religion fundamentalist

Religion Catholic

Church attendance

Mother s education

Father s education

Parity

Premarital pregnancy status

Age

Divorced/remarried

Divorced/not remarried

Age at marriage

Some work

Full-time work

1980 latent construct indicated by before marriage and planning

marriage

1980 latent construct indicated by before marriage and planning

marriage

See text

See text

See text

See text

Mother fundamentalist Protestant or Baptist in 1980

=

1)

Mother Catholic in 1980 = 1)

Frequency of mother s 1980 church attendance

Number of years of education in 1980

Number of years of education of father most recently in household

Number of children born by 1980

Mother premaritally pregnant·

=

1)

Mother s age in 1980, in years

Mother experienced a marital separation 1962-1980 and

subsequently remarried = 1)

Mother experienced a marital separation 1962-1980 and did not

subsequently remarry

=

1) .

Mother s age at first marriage, in years

Mother worked part time in 1977 and/or 1980, or mother worked full

time in 1977 or 1980, but not both years

=

1)

Mother worked full time in both 1977 and 1980

=

1)

to influence the attitudes of mothers and children and the children s behavior and

perceptions of maternal attitudes. All variables are defined in table 2.

We also posit that the attitudes of mothers influence the perceptions, behavior,

and attitudes of their children. We have assumed that parents influence children,

with no reciprocal influence of children on parents, because we believe that the

preponderant effect is from parents to children, but we recognize the possibility that

children may influence parents. Our data are insufficient for estimating reciprocal

effects, however, so we are unable to examine this hypothesis.

We have chosen to leave the causal structure among the adolescents perceptions

of parents, behavior, and attitudes unspecified. We accept the view of many previous

researchers investigating adolescent sexuality that perceptions of parental attitudes

influence both the attitudes and behavior of children. In fact, parental attitudes may

influence children primarily as those attitudes are perceived and acknowledged by

the children Acock and Bengtson,

1980

Actual parental attitudes and perceptions

of those attitudes, however, are only modestly correlated across a range of

attitudinal domains Davies and Kandel,

1981

Our data indicate that the correla-

tions between children s perception of mothers attitudes and the two variables

measuring maternal attitudes are both only 0.40, whereas the correlation between the

two measures of maternal attitudes is 0.70.

3

This substantial discrepancy raises

serious questions about the sources of the misperception of parental attitudes. We

believe that children perceive parental attitudes through the window of their own


9/18


attitudes and behavior and that misperceptions are influenced by the attitudes and

behavior of the perceiver. For example, children with more permissive attitudes and

behavior may misperceive their parents as less strict to justify their own behavior

and views. These considerations strongly indicate the importance of considering

reciprocal causation between adolescent perceptions of maternal attitudes and the

behavior and attitudes of the children.

We accept the view that standards of sexual conduct directly influence actual

behavior, but we believe that attitudes are also influenced by behavior. Adolescents

with negative attitudes toward premarital sex who are sexually active probably tend

to adjust their attitudes to reflect their behavior. Reciprocal causation between

premarital sexual attitudes and behavior was demonstrated by Wintermute 1982),

using panel data. A model that does not allow reciprocal effects would be a serious

misrepresentation of the causal process. Unfortunately, the data available do not

permit estimation of the posited reciprocal effects among adolescent perceptions,

attitudes, and behavior. Consequently, we have made no effort to estimate the causal

relationships among these variables but have allowed the correlations among the

dependent variables to be taken into account.

4

The equations estimated for premarital sex attitudes, behavior, and perceptions

are represented in table 3. The coefficients are standardized regression coefficients

and were estimated by using the maximum likelihood procedures developed by

Joreskog and Sorbom 1979). These coefficients should be interpreted in the same

way as standardized regression coefficients estimated from ordinary least squares

regression. The primary difference is that our coefficients were estimated using

maximum-likelihood rather than least squares procedures and use more sophisti

cated measurement assumptions.

The first set of coefficients reflect the total influence of the exogenous parental

characteristics-both direct effects and indirect influence via maternal

ttitu es-

and the second set indicates the direct effects of all parental attitudes. Together, the

two sets elaborate the effects of the exogenous variables through the system Alwin

and Hauser,

1975;

Duncan, 1975

Explicit recognition was given to the possibility that the processes represented by

the model could be contingent on the gender of the child. Therefore, the sample was

divided into two groups-families with an 18-year-old son and those with an

18-year-old daughter. Explicit tests were conducted to determine whether the

coefficients measuring the influence of family characteristics and attitudes on the

children were the same for sons and daughters.

Because we had no explicit hypotheses about differences between the parameters

for men and women for

specijic v ri bles

we conducted all of the tests of parameter

equality simultaneously. That is, each model was estimated twice, once constraining

all of the parameters to be equal for men and women and once allowing gender

specific estimation. The formal tests of the differences of the parameters between

sons and daughters, using a goodness-of-fit comparison of the two models, showed

that the null hypotheses of no overall differences between the equations for males

and females could not be rejected at conventional levels of significance. The

differences between equations, however, were nearly statistically significant, and a

few of the individual coefficient differences are large and would probably be

statistically significant tested individually.

6

Therefore, we report parameter

estimates both from the model with male and female parameters constrained to be

equal as well as separate estimates for the two groups. Our discussion emphasizes

the coefficients constrained to be equal across groups but also notes those individual

coefficients in which gender differences are sizable and consistent.


10/18

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11/18


12/18

334 DEMOGRAPHY volume 24 num er 3 ugust 987

odel Results

aternal attitudes Adolescent perceptions and attitudes are significantly influ-

enced by maternal

attitudes with

the two standardized regression coefficients being

0.44 and 0.25, respectively. The coefficient (0.44) for the effect of maternal attitudes

on perceptions thereof is substantial and indicates an important communication of

values, but it is also small enough to document substantial misperception. Although

the effect of maternal attitudes on those of their children is modest (0.25), there is still

a tendency for children to internalize the attitudes of their parents.

The

influence of

maternal attitudes on the three behavioral variables is weaker, with standardized

regression coefficients between 0.10

and

0.11.

For all dependent variables, the standardized regression coefficients summarizing

the effect of maternal attitudes are greater for females than males. This suggests that

mothers may have more influence on their daughters, although further research is

needed to validate this finding.

8

Religion On average, fundamentalist Protestant mothers have more traditional

attitudes regarding premarital intercourse than others, and their children perceive

them as less approving. Fundamentalist religion also has more influence on the

children s attitudes than on the mothers , reflecting the relevance of religious

affiliation for the development of children s attitudes today. Although some of the

effects of the mothers fundamentalist religion on adolescent attitudes and percep-

tions operate through their own attitudes, most of the influence is direct and

independent of actual maternal attitudes. Even though fundamentalist affiliation

influences whether the adolescent ever had intercourse, it has little effect on number

of partners and recent frequency.

Catholicism tends to result in more approving attitudes, although the effects are

very small and not statistically significant. The effect of Catholicism on adolescent

perceptions of the mothers attitudes, however, is negative. Apparently Catholicism

influences children to perceive their mothers as more restrictive than they really are.

There is, however, no statistically significant effect of Catholic affiliation on the

behavior of children.

Church attendance is one of the strongest predictors of attitudes and perceptions.

Its total effects on maternal attitudes, adolescent perceptions of mothers attitudes,

and adolescent attitudes are 0.37 0.36 and 0.19 respectively. Furthermore,

although the attitudes of mothers are a mechanism in the transmission of the

influence of church attendance to the attitudes and perceptions of young adults, the

effects of maternal church attendance remain, even with maternal attitudes con-

trolled. The frequency of maternal church attendance, however, has less influence

on the behavior of adolescents. The total effects, as measured by standardized

regression coefficients, range from 0.06 to 0.08.

We had expected that the effects of church attendance would be greater for

Catholics and fundamentalist Protestants than for nonfundamentalist Protestants

because these groups historically have been less accepting of premarital sex. To

evaluate this hypothesis, we estimated ordinary regression equations for the

dependent variables, which included interaction terms between attendance and

affiliation. Although the effects of church attendance tend to be greatest for

fundamentalist Protestants and smallest for nonfundarnentalists, the interaction

terms are modest and statistically insignificant.

arital history Mothers who experienced a premarital pregnancy express more

nontraditional attitudes about premarital sex, despite the fact that the pregnancy in


13/18


question, by virtue of the study design, occurred at least 18 years prior to the

98

interview. The effect is net of other factors usually associated with premarital

pregnancy, including young age at marriage, low educational attainment, and high

incidence of divorce. A premarital pregnancy also affects the attitudes, perceptions,

and behavior of the children: children whose mothers were pregnant at marriage are

more approving of premarital sex, perceive their parents as more approving, and are

more sexually active. This effect, however, may be greater for daughters than for

sons, as the observed coefficients for females are higher.

The effect of a maternal premarital pregnancy on children s sexual behavior

persists even when maternal attitudes are controlled. Although the attitudes of other

family members, including fathers and siblings, might explain some of this effect,

other mechanisms, including both social and biological ones may also be operative

Newcomer and Udry, 1984; also see note

1).

Another example of the relevance of early life experiences on subsequent attitudes

and behavior is age at marriage. Mothers who married young have more approving

attitudes toward premarital sex now; and their children are more approving, perceive

their mothers as more approving, and are more sexually active. These effects of

maternal age at marriage are independent of any possible age effects, as the age of

mother is included in the equations and the ages of sons and daughters are constant.

As with premarital pregnancy, this effect may be greater for daughters than sons.

The effects of divorce and remarriage are in the expected direction: divorce, with

and without remarriage, results in mothers having less restrictive attitudes toward

premarital sex. Divorced mothers who have remarried have even more accepting

attitudes. Apparently, mothers who become single again have to confront the issues

sexuality outside of marriage personally and, on average, become less restrictive

than those who remain continuously married. Presumably all divorced women who

remarry have to face these issues, whereas many of those who do not remarry are

less involved in dating and social activities with men and have less need to reconsider

their positions.

Parental divorce and remarriage also influence the attitudes, behavior, and

perceptions of young adults. Children whose mothers were remarried subsequent to

divorce had more accepting attitudes, perceived their mothers as more accepting,

and were also more sexually active. Note that although some of the effects of divorce

and remarriage on children are through maternal attitudes, there are effects that are

net of maternal attitudes. Apparently, marital dissolution and reentry into the

courtship process have effects on children somewhat independent of the evolving

attitudes of parents themselves. Note that these effects may be greater for daughters

than for sons.

amily size

Women with large families had more restrictive attitudes toward

premarital sex. Their children were also more restrictive and perceived their mothers

as less permissive. Children raised in large families, however, are not less sexually

active than others, which may reflect the increased difficulty of supervising children

experienced by parents of large families.

Maternal employment

The expected effect of maternal employment is not

found. Only one coefficient reached statistical significance, but it is not in the

predicted direction. The remaining coefficients are near zero, and some are negative

while others are positive. Clearly there is no distinct effect of maternal employment

on either premarital sexual attitudes or behavior, given the operationalization used


14/18

336 DEMOGRAPHY, volume 24, number 3, August 1987

in the present research. Preliminary analysis using an indicator of total lifetime

employment also showed no effect results not shown).

The measures of maternal employment used here are unrefined and do not indicate

patterns or scheduling of employment. The lack of an effect may reflect inadequate

measurement rather than a true lack of relationship. To measure other aspects

related to adolescent sexuality, it would be necessary to collect detailed information

concerning job schedules, amount of time the adolescent spends unsupervised owing

to maternal employment, and information on how maternal employment may

increase opportunities to engage in sexual behavior. Such an analysis is beyond the

scope of the present study.

Education

As expected, mother s educational attainment is related in opposite

directions to attitudes and behavior. Highly educated mothers have more accepting

attitudes and are perceived as more accepting by their children. At the same time,

the children of highly educated mothers report somewhat less sexual experience.

Paternal education has no influence on maternal or adolescent attitudes or percep

tions. Also note that the coefficients tend to differ for sons and daughters, although

generalizations of the nature of those differences are difficult to make.

Age

Finally, the age of the mother is positively and significantly related to the

children s attitudes and behavior but not to the attitudes of mothers. This may

indicate that older parents are able to exert less control over their children s

behavior. This effect may be greater for daughters than for sons.

Annual Age Specific Probabilities Initiating Sexual Activity

Another analysis examined the influence of family characteristics and maternal

attitudes on annual age-specific probabilities of initiating sexual activity conditional

on there being no previous sexual intercourse. In this investigation we treated the

individual annual transition, rather than the individual person, as the unit of analysis.

Explicit recognition was given to the possibility that the processes could be

contingent on the age at each specific transition. Therefore, the set of age-specific

transition experiences was divided into four groups: those occurring at 15 or earlier

and those at ages 16, 17, and 18.

Explicit tests were conducted to see whether the influence of maternal and

paternal characteristics on the initiation of sexual activity was the same for each age.

The formal tests of the differences among the four ages showed that the null

hypothesis could not be rejected at conventional levels of significance. Further, the

differences in observed estimates in annual probabilities across the ages in question

formed no readily interpretable patterns. This leads to the substantive conclusion

that familial influences on children s behavior are fairly consistent across the teenage

years. In addition, the pattern of coefficients from a model that constrains the effects

to be equal across age is similar to the pattern reported in table 3 for ever had

intercourse. For this reason, detailed results are not presented here.

SUMMARY

This research has expanded our understanding of the determinants of adolescent

sexuality in several directions. We have used a study of mothers and children to

construct and estimate a model of the intergenerational transmission of sexual

attitudes and behavior. With data collected from both mothers and children, we were

able to proceed further than most past research and to consider both the attitudes

and behaviors of mothers as reported by the mothers themselves. These data


15/18


permitted an investigation of the determinants of maternal attitudes concerning

adolescent sexuality as well as an examination of the influences of the attitudes and

experiences of mothers on the attitudes, perceptions, and behavior of children.

Obviously, limiting the study to white families prevents generalization of our findings

to other subgroups of the population.

The findings demonstrate the importance and relevance of parental and adolescent

attitudes in understanding adolescent sexuality. Premarital sexuality is a salient issue

to both young people and their parents. There are, however, very important and

substantial differences in the attitudes of parents and children. On average, the

attitudes of young people today are much less restrictive than those of their parents,

reflecting either life cycle differences or the impact of social change. The

intergenerational difference is recognized by young people themselves and probably

affects the ability of parents to assist their maturing children in adjusting to and

dealing with their sexu lity difficulty likely to be reflected in the relative lack of

success sexually active young people have in preventing pregnancy.

Our findings also add to the research literature in demonstrating that although

children, on average, have more permissive attitudes than their parents, the attitudes

of individual parents tend to be reflected in the attitudes of individual children.

Children whose mothers have less restrictive attitudes have, on average, less

restrictive attitudes themselves. Further, the attitudes of mothers are also reflected

in the behavior of their children, so on average, mothers with more permissive

attitudes have children who are more sexually active. The influence of maternal

attitudes, however, is stronger for children s attitudes than for their behavior. Of

course, variability in children s attitudes and

beh vior nd

even their perceptions

of maternal ttitudes c n only be partially explained by the attitudes of their

mothers; but presumably, if the attitudes of other important family members,

including fathers and siblings, were known, the prediction of adolescent attitudes

would improve.

Our research provides documentation of the determinants of the attitudes of

mothers toward premarital sex. Their attitudes are interwoven with and reflect many

of their individual characteristics and family experiences, and these provide a

reasonable prediction of maternal attitudes

R

= 0.29). The childbearing and marital

experiences of mothers are related to attitudes in consistent ways. Age at marriage

and premarital pregnancy influence current attitudes, even though the marriages

occurred years before current attitudes were measured, reflecting persistence of

family orientations across long periods. Later marital experiences divorce and

remarriage in particular) and the adjustments necessitated by them, however, bring

important modifications to attitudes. Maternal attitudes are strongly influenced by

both church attendance and education, with greater attendance and lower educa-

tional attainments associated with more restrictive attitudes.

The experiences and behavior of mothers also influence the behavior, attitudes,

and perceptions of children. Our findings are consistent with past research in

showing the importance of marital dissolution on adolescent attitudes and behavior,

but they go beyond previous work in showing the importance of remarriage to

attitudes and behavior. Young people whose mothers remarry have more permissive

attitudes and more sexual experience than those whose mothers have divorced but

not remarried. This finding is interpreted as reflecting the involvement of remarried

mothers in the courtship process leading up to the remarriage. The importance of

maternal courtship patterns is also demonstrated by the greater sexual experience of

young people whose mothers were premaritally pregnant and whose mothers

married at a young age.


16/18

338 DEMOGRAPHY

volum

24 number3 ugust 987

The impact of marital and childbearing experience on the behavior and attitudes of

individual children suggests that the simultaneous increases in premarital sexuality

and divorce and remarriage during the 1960s and 97 s may not have been

independent. Increases in divorce and remarriage may be partially responsible for

some of the increased premarital sexuality during the period.

Sexual attitudes and behavior of young adults are also influenced by the religious

affiliation and church attendance of mothers. Mothers who are fundamentalist

Protestants and who attend church more frequently have children who have more

restrictive attitudes and less sexual experience. This finding is consistent with our

theoretical expectations about the continuing role of religious determinants of the

behavior of young people.

As hypothesized, education influences attitudes and behavior differently. While

the education of mothers is associated with more permissive attitudes, it has a small

negative influence on the sexual experience of children. This suggests the need for

future research to consider both of these effects simultaneously. There is no

discernible effect of the employment of the mothers on themselves or their children.

The results suggest that the parental family may influence adolescent attitudes

more than behavior. Some variables that influence attitudes substantially have only

modest influence on behavior. In addition, behavioral indicators summarizing

lifetime behavior ever had intercourse and number of partners) appear to be more

predictable than those summarizing short recent time periods recent frequency).

Presumably, this reflects the many idiosyncratic and changing circumstances of

adolescent life during any part of the life course.

NOTES

The biological mechanism posited by Newcomer and Udry 1984) has two components: the

inheritance of the tempo of physiological maturation and the influence of maturation on sexual behavior.

They suggest that mothe rs who matured early have daughters who also mature early and that early

physiological development influences early sexual behavior.

2 Through the use of multiple indicators of premarital sex attitudes and the maximum-likelihood

statistical procedures described by Joreskog and Sorborn 1979), it was possible to take into account

unreliability of measurement of the attitudinal variables. For both the mother and the child, two attitudinal

indic tors before marriage and planning

m rri ge were

used as indicators of premarital sex attitudes,

This was done by positing that each indicator reflects both an underlying, or latent, premarital sex attitude

variable and measurement unreliability. The correlations of the observed attitudinal indicators with their

underlying factors were estimated to range from 0.82 to 0.88, indicating high measurement reliability for

attitudinal variables. Since we had only one indicator ofthe attitudes of the mothers as perceived by their

children, we assumed that the proportion of the variance in observed perceptions due to measurement

unreliability was equal to the proportion of the variance of observed adolescent attitudes produced by

measurement error; the variance in perceptions due to measurement unreliability was set equal to this

proportion times the observed variance in perceptions. All other variables in the analysis were assumed

to be perfectly measured, with the error of measurement set to zero. More details concerning the

measurement assumptions used in the analysis may be obtained from the authors.

3 Research investigating the correlation between actual and perceived sexual experience of peers also

shows a substantial discrepancy John O.G. Billy, personal communications).

4 In the model we estimated the equations for children s attitudes, perceptions of mother s attitudes,

and behavior simultaneously. To take into account the correlations among these variables not due to the

predictor variables, we allowed the errors of prediction of the dependent variables to be correlated.

S As a check on the robustness of our estimates using maximum-likelihood procedures, we also

estimated the equations

oft ble

3 using ordinary least squares procedures. The conclusions that would be

drawn from the two approaches would be the same, since the two sets of coefficients are remarkably

similar. The only differences of note are for the equations predicting mothers attitudes, son/daughter

attitudes, and perceptions of mother: the values in all three equations and the estimated effects of

mothers attitudes on son/daughter attitudes and perceptions of mother are all smaller using ordinary least

squares regression. This undoubtedly reflects the fact that the maximum-likelihood procedure took into

account measurement reliability for these three variables, whereas the ordinary least squares approach

did not.


17/18


6 These tests were made using conventional likelihood-ratio statistics and involved comparing

models that included the equality constraints across gender groups with models that did not. The

likelihood-ratio statistics for the final models with the equality constraints across groups ranged from

108

to

128,

each with

126

degrees of freedom, indicating close fits to the observed data. The likelihood-ratio

statistics for the final models without equality constraints across groups ranged from

66

to

74,

each with

84

degrees of freedom. The difference statistics ranged from

42

to

56,

each with

42

degrees of freedom.

The probability levels of these difference statistics ranged from

0.07

to

0.46.

Although table

3

reports

standardized coefficients, the tests of equivalence of the male and female samples were made using the

coefficients in their unstandardized form. A range of chi-squared values is reported because the model was

estimated three times, each time with a different indicator of premarital sexual beh vior ever had

intercourse, number of partners, and recent frequency. More details concerning estimation procedures

can be obtained from the authors.

7

The standardized beta coefficients were estimated bymultiplying the unstandardized coefficient by the

ratio of the standard deviation of the independent variable to the standard deviation of the dependent

variable. The standard deviations used were based on the variances pooled across the two groups (see

Joreskog and Sorbom,

1978).

Since there are potentially differing R

values for the male and female

samples, owing to different explained and unexplained variances across these groups, the

R

2

values

presented in the top portion of table 3 were calculated by averaging the

R

2

for the two groups. Note that

the

R

2

values for the separate male and female models are very similar to those for the total sample.

S

Although the table only reports standardized coefficients, the differences beween males and females

also persist when unstandardized coefficients are compared.

9

Although we have, for convenience, labeled this group fundamentalist Protestant, it comprises mainly

Baptists with the remainder being Pentacostal, Nazarene, Southern Baptist, and similar religious groups.

The group, therefore, is composed of members of more conservative religious organizations.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This is a revised version of a paper presented at the

98

Annual Meeting of the

American Sociological Association. The research was supported by grants from the

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD-12798) and the

Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs (APR-0009lO). We wish to acknowledge

Ronald Freedman, Lolagene Coombs, and David Goldberg for their contributions in

conducting the initial waves of this panel study. Arland Thornton and Deborah

Freedman collected the subsequent waves of data. Duane Alwin provided valuable

advice during the

d t

analysis, and Marge Dalian and Donna Krips assisted in

manuscript preparation. Of course, responsibility for the manuscript and any errors

remain ours.

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