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- Title
Oral-Genital Contact and the Meaning of "Had Sex": The Role of Social Desirability.
- Authors
Den Haese, Jessica; King, Bruce M.
- Abstract
Previous studies have found that a large proportion of college students do not consider oral-genital contact as having "had sex." In all studies, the questions posed were hypothetical. In the present study, university students were asked about their own personal sexual experiences. From a large pool of participants, two subgroups were identified: those who responded "No" to having "had sex" but responded "Yes" to having had oral-genital contact (No-Yes), and those who responded "Yes" to having had both sex and oral-genital contact (Yes-Yes). None of the participants in these two subgroups self-reported vaginal or anal intercourse. The No-Yes group was significantly higher in social desirability (p < .0005) as measured by the Marlowe-Crowne scale and was also significantly higher in religiosity (p < .01) as measured on a 7-point Likert scale. There was a modest correlation between level of religiosity and social desirability (r = .25, p < .01). It was concluded that many students who have had oral-genital contact but deny having had sex do so because of impression management, i.e., a desire to present themselves more positively. These results provide further evidence that social desirability responding is a serious problem for sex researchers, one that affects even the most basic questions about having had sex.
- Subjects
HUMAN sexuality; GENITALIA; SELF-evaluation; STUDENTS; SOCIAL skills; MARLOWE-Crowne Social Desirability Scale
- Publication
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2022, Vol 51, Issue 3, p1503
- ISSN
0004-0002
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10508-021-02220-4