Cross-National Variation in Attitudes to Premarital Sex: Economic Development, Disease Risk, and Mar...

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Cross-National Variation in Attitudes to Premarital Sex: Economic Development, Disease Risk, and Marriage Strength;
Authors and Corporations: Barber, Nigel
In: Cross-Cultural Research, 52, 2018, 3, p. 259-273
published:
SAGE Publications
Media Type: Article, E-Article

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further information
Physical Description: 259-273
ISSN: 1552-3578
1069-3971
DOI: 10.1177/1069397117718143
published in: Cross-Cultural Research
Language: English
Subjects:
Collection: SAGE Publications (CrossRef)
Table of Contents

<jats:p> Sexual behavior responds adaptively to local costs and benefits. It was thus predicted that acceptance of premarital sex would increase with economic development (gross domestic product [GDP]), female labor participation, and births outside wedlock but would decline with marriage strength (marriage rate minus divorce rate), HIV/AIDS incidence, infectious disease risk, and religiosity. Pew Research data on attitudes to premarital sex in 40 countries supported these predictions in correlational analysis (exception HIV/AIDS). Regression analyses found significant effects of GDP, marriage strength, religiosity, and births outside wedlock while women at work was marginally significant (with 82 % of the variance explained). Acceptance of premarital sex increases adaptively with economic development, and declining marriage strength and religiosity, but is not consistently affected by disease risks. Differences in cross-national predictors of premarital sex and casual sex are discussed. </jats:p>