Original articleThe Association Between Developmental Assets and Sexual Enjoyment Among Emerging Adults
Section snippets
Adolescents' Subjective Experiences of Partnered Sex
Although studies are limited, the existing published data suggest that substantial gender differences exist in adolescents' experiences of partnered sex. Qualitative studies have reported that young women struggle to recognize their sexual feelings and communicate their wishes assertively, and as a result, often voluntarily engage in sexual behavior without necessarily enjoying it [7], [8], [15]. These studies suggest that peer-reinforced social norms, particularly those related to appropriate
Developmental Assets and Sexual Enjoyment
There is consensus that successful transition to adulthood is more likely among youth who possess assets, the cultivation of which is the goal of positive youth development [19]. A recent set of reviews of published data reported that many of these assets were associated with reduced risk of some negative sexual health outcomes [9]. These reviews focused on developmental assets drawn from the four categories suggested by Pittman et al: connectedness, competence, confidence, and character [9],
Data
Data for these analyses were obtained from wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Add Health is an ongoing study of a nationally representative cohort of youth who were in grades 7–12 in the 1994–1995 school year. Of the 20,745 students interviewed in their homes during 1994 and 1995 in wave I, 15,197 were re-interviewed in wave III during 2001 and 2002, when they were 18–26 years old.
The interviews took place in the respondents' homes. The interviewer
Gender differences in sexual enjoyment and developmental assets
The distributions of the sexual pleasure variables are shown in Table 1. Men were more likely than women to report having orgasms most or all the time: 87% versus 47%. A total of 15% of young women reported having orgasms less than half the time or never, whereas only 2.6% of young men reported having orgasms with that regularity. Men who had performed oral sex for their partner were also more likely than women who had performed so to report liking it very much: 61% versus 37%. There was also
Discussion
enjoyment of partnered sexual behavior as measured in this study, does not differ along racial/ethnic, age, or SES lines, but it clearly differs by gender. Less than half of young women in established opposite-sex relationships have an orgasm most or all the times they have sex with their partner. In contrast, nearly nine out of 10 young men in such relationships have orgasms this regularly. Young women are also five times as likely as young men to have orgasms less than half the time they have
Conclusion
This study adds to the published data that have shown protective effects of developmental assets on negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes [22], [23]. These existing studies have examined the links between developmental assets and experiencing adolescent pregnancy, acquiring a sexually transmitted infection, and engaging in risky sexual behavior, such as having sex without contraception, among other undesirable outcomes. This study is the first to use a representative population
Acknowledgments
This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due to Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for
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