The Nature and Impact of Gendered Patterns of Peer Sexual Communications Among Heterosexual Emerging Adults

Abstract

Although previous research demonstrates that peers serve as top sexual informants and advisers, little is known about how peer sexual communications may be a gendered phenomenon. Do communications about sex and romantic relationships vary according to who is speaking to whom? The current study examined 517 college students' reports of male and female peers' communications of four sexual scripts and the associations between reports of such communications and participants' sexual attitudes and levels of sexual and dating experience. Results suggest that peer messages about sex and relationships vary by the gender of the recipient and the gender of the communicator. Women reported more frequent communications of all sexual scripts from female peers than did men. In terms of male peers' sexual communications, only one gender difference emerged: men reported receiving significantly fewer messages about the relational script than women. Compared to same-sex peer communications, there were more associations between other-sex peer communications and undergraduates' sexual attitudes and levels of sexual and dating experience. Implications for the role of same- and other-sex peers in sexual socialization are discussed.

“Enjoy Your Sexuality, but Do it in Secret”

“…These opportunities for sexual communications to arise reflect the dynamic and ongoing nature of sexual socialization. Although sexual communications are more frequent among same-sex friends than other-sex friends (Trinh & Ward, in press), more research is needed on the role of other-sex friendships in sexual socialization. Indeed, young people indicate that speaking with their other-sex friends exposes them to a new perspective (Hand & Furman, 2009).…”

“…Only a few studies to date have focused specifically on the role of friends’ sexual communications on emerging adult women’s sexual socialization (e.g., Lefkowitz, Boone, & Shearer, 2004; Trinh & Ward, in press). Yet research on friends’ sexual communications is warranted because friends play a multifaceted role in sexual socialization.…”

“…In fact, the “other” perspective is featured regularly in popular women’s and men’s magazines, including Cosmopolitan ’s “Ask Him Anything” column and GQ ’s “Ask a Real Live Lady” column. Undergraduate women reported receiving more messages promoting abstinence until marriage and the importance of relationships from their female friends than from their male friends, and they report that their male friends convey significantly more messages promoting recreational sex (Trinh & Ward, in press). Research on how female and male friends send different messages may highlight the ways in which women and men uniquely shape sexual socialization.…”

Longitudinal Correlates of Peer Sexual Communication Quality in Late Adolescence

“…Peer sexual communication is more frequent and more comfortable for women than for men (DiIorio, Kelley, & Hockenberry-Eaton, 1999; Rittenour & Booth-Butterfield, 2006; Trinh & Ward, 2015; Widman et al, 2014). Therefore, we hypothesize that women will report higher quality peer sexual communication than men (Hypothesis 2).…”

Predictors of Sexual Scripts Among Young, Sexually-Active, Substance- Using African American Women

“…Historically, researchers have explored varied types of sexual scripts [49,54,55,57,59,[72][73][74][75][76][77]. Most recently, US-based research related to sexual scripts explored gender and sexual behavior among adolescents and college students [78,79], stigma associated with being sexually inexperienced [80], sexual scripts that tolerate sexual coercion among college students and nonconsensual sex/rape among AA and White adolescent and college women [81][82][83], hip hop media as a powerful mechanism promoting saliency of sexual scripts for AA women [84] and most related to this study was a qualitative study assessing the effects of sexual victimization history of undergraduate women on hypothetical sexual script characteristics [85]. To our knowledge, this is the first publication to explore predictors of sexual scripts, particularly among a population with significant HIV risks.…”