Abstract
The impact of gender differences in sexual socialization on early sexual experiences among Norwegian adolescents is discussed. The material comprises a stratified sample of 920 adolescents ages 16–20 years in a Norwegian county. Data were collected by means of questionnaires. Of the respondents, 55.5% were girls and 44.5% were boys. 52.3% of girls and 41.4% of the boys had coital experience. The most common reasons for having had the first sexual intercourse were being in love, curiosity or excitement, and sexual arousal. Findings from a discriminant analysis showed that emotional reasons were more important to girls, whereas boys seemed more practical in sexual matters. More boys than girls reported that the reason for having had their most recent intercourse was that the partner wanted it. This indicates that if girls do not want sex, boys seldom use pressure. Girls set the premises for sexual interaction but are not as sexually skilled as boys.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bjerrum-Nielsen, H., and Rudberg, M. (1989).Historien om Jenter og Gutter. Kjønnssosialisering i et Utviklingspsykologisk Perspektiv (The History of Girls and Boys. Gender Socialization from a Developmental Psychological Perspective), Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, Norway.
Christensen, H., and Gregg, C. (1970). Changing sex norms in America and Scandinavia.J. Marr. Fam. 32: 616–627.
Clement, U., Schmidt, G., and Kruse, M. (1984). Changes in sex differences in sexual behavior. A replication of a study of West-German students (1966–1981).Arch. Sex. Behav. 13: 99–120.
Davis, D. L., and Whitten, R. G. (1987). The cross-cultural study of human sexuality.Ann. Rev. Anthropol. 16: 69–98.
Engen, S., and Walløe, L. (1978). Alder ved første samleie (Age at first intercourse). In Walløe, L. (ed.),Seksualitet, Familieplanlegging og Prevensjon i Norge (Sexuality, Family Planning and Use of Contraception in Norway), Universitetsforlaget Oslo, pp. 77–91.
Gagnon, J. H. (1979). The interaction of gender roles and sexual conduct. In Katchadourian, H. A. (ed.),Human Sexuality. A Comparative and Developmental Perspective, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Gagnon, J. H., and Simon, W., (1977).Sexual Conduct: The Social Sources of Human Sexuality, Aldine, Chicago.
Haavio-Mannila, E., Kontula, O., Weinberg, M. S., and Sprecher, S. (1990). Sex, alcohol and gender: A study of Finnish university students.Nord. Sexol. 8: 268–281.
Helmius, G. (1990). Mogen för sex?! Det sexuellt restriktiviserande samhället och ungdomars heterosexuella glädje(Mature enough for sex?! The sexually restricting society and adolescent heterosexual joy. With a summary in English). Thesis, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden.
Klecka, W. R. (1980).Discriminant Analysis, Sage University Paper. Series: Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, Sage, London.
Kontula, O. (1991).Cultural terms of sexual initiation (In Finnish with a summary in English). Thesis, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Kraft, P. (1991). Age at first experience of intercourse among Norwegian adolescents: A lifestyle perspective.Soc. Sci. Med. 33: 207–213.
Kutchinsky, B. (1988). Erotik, erotika og pornografi. Et essay om køn, kultur, kærlighed og kiosklitteratur (Eroticism, erotica and pornography. An essay about sex, culture, love and kiosk literature).Nord. Sexol. 6: 108–128.
Kvalem, I. L., Sundet, J. M., Rivø, K. I., and Bakketeig, L. S. (1995). The effect of sexual education on adolescents' use of condoms: Applying the Solomon four-group design.health Educ. Res. (in press).
Leigh, B. C. (1989). Reasons for having and avoiding sex: Gender, sexual orientation and relationship to sexual behavior.J. Sex Res. 26: 199–209.
Lewin, B. (1979).Om ogift samboende i Sverige; med tonvikt på samtida förhållanden (On unmarried cohabitation in Sweden; with emphasis on contemporary issues, Swedish text with a summary in English). Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Studia Sociologica Upsaliensia 15, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Uppsala, Sweden.
Lewin, B. (1982). The adolescent boy and girl: First and other early experiences with intercourse from a representative sample of Swedish school adolescents.Arch. Sex. Behav. 11: 417–428.
Lewin, B. (1986).Kvinnor, män och secualitet. Om skapande av olikheter (Women, men and sexuality. About the creation of differences, Swedish text).Sociolo. Forskn. 2: 45–61.
Lewin, B. (1991).Att Omplantera Sexualiteten. Om Latin-Amerikanska Ungdomars Sexuella Socialisation i Svergie (Replanting Sexuality. The Sexual Socialization in Sweden Among Latin-American Adolescents, Swedish text), University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden.
Lewin, B., and Helmius, G. (1983).Ungdom och Sexualitet; En Sociologisk Studie av Ungdoms Sexuella föreställingar och Erfarenheter (Youth and Sexuality; A Sociological Study of Young People's Sexual Conceptions and Experiences, Swedish text, Uppsala University Press, Uppsala, Sweden.
Lewin, B., and Helmius, G. (1986).Ungdom, Kärlek & Sex: Om Ungdomars Sexualla liv på 80-Talet (Youth, Love and Sexuality: On the Lives of Adolescents in the 80s, Swedish text, Norstedts, Stockholm, Sweden.
Lewin, B., and Træen, B. (1993). Response to Roger Ingham's commentary. Seeing the real through the eyes of the ideal; some comments on Træen et al. (1992). Account of gender difference in Norwegian young people's sexual behaviour.J. Comm. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 3: 71–76.
Mead, G. H. (1962).Mind, Self, and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Noack, T., and Østby, L. (1981).Fruktbarhet Blant Norske Kvinner. Resultater fra Fruktbarhetsndersøkelsen 1977 (Fertility among Norwegian women. Results from the Fertility Study 1977, Norwegian text), Central Bureau of Statistics, Oslo, Norway.
Schmidt, G. (1989). Sexual permissiveness in Western societies. Roots and course of development.Nord. Sexol. 7: 225–234.
Simon, W., and Magnon, J. H. (1986). Sexual scripts: Permanence and change.Arch. Sex. Behav. 15: 97–120.
Sundet, J. M., Magnus, P., Kvalem, I. L., Samuelsen S. O., and Bakketeig, L. (1992). Secular trends and socio-demographic correlates of sexual debut age in the general population of Norway.Arch. Sex. Behav. 21: 241–252.
Træen, B. (1993).Norwegian adolescents' sexuality in the era of AIDS. Empirical studies on heterosexual behaviour. Thesis. National Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research/University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Træen, B., Lewin, B., and Sundet, J. M. (1992). Gender differences in the social context of early intercourses among Norwegian adolescents.J. Comm. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 2: 227–237.
Wight, D. (1992). Impediments to safer heterosexual sex: A review of research with young people.AIDS Care 4(1): 11–23.
Zetterberg, H. (1969).Om Sexuallivet i Sverige (On Sexual Life in Sweden), Statens Offentliga Utredningar (SOU 1969:2), Stockholm, Sweden.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Træen, B., Kvalem, I.L. Sexual socialization and motives for intercourse among Norwegian adolescents. Arch Sex Behav 25, 289–302 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02438166
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02438166