Adolescent Non-Coital Sexual Activity: Comparisons of Virgins and Non-Virgins

Abstract

This study examined non-coital sexual activity among youth who did and did not experience adolescent sexual intercourse. A sample of 148 female and 57 male participants (ages 18 to 21) from 4 Midwestern public and private colleges and a metropolitan Planned Parenthood agency completed an anonymous questionnaire about their sexual activity during adolescence. Items included sexual behaviors, risk taking, psychosocial motivations and reactions, influences, and demographic factors. Findings revealed that non-coital sex was common among both virgins and non-virgins, and the rates (including those for oral sex) were similar for males and females. Among virgins, total abstainers (from all interactional sexual intimacy) came from a lower socioeconomic status, had fewer social/dating opportunities, lacked a viable relationship, and had lower grades. Two subgroups of virgins, those who came close to intercourse and those who did not, differed only on social/dating opportunities; of those who came close but did not have intercourse, nearly half continued with non-coital sexual activity. Compared to the came close group, the intercourse group reported greater use of alcohol, less religious involvement, fewer moral influences, and more humanistic and fewer traditional messages about sex received from parents. They also noted poorer outcomes and a lower evaluation of their first intercourse decision, and females had a less positive emotional reaction to the experience, poorer outcomes, and lower evaluation of the decision than males. Parents, sex educators, and health care workers need to be involved in the sex education and guidance of youth. Their efforts should include exploration of the full range of options regarding sexual decisions, dialogue about the meanings of intimate sexual activity, and strategies to promote thoughtful sexual decisions.