Premarital Sex: Is It Common in America - Research Paper Example

In the same study, it showed that the Americans behavior did not change much over the years. It showed that 82 percent of women had premarital sex before marriage in the period between 1954 and 1963 compared to 91 percent of women having sex before marriage in the period 1964 and 1993 (Warner). It only showed that despite the prevailing opinion that people in the past did not have sex before marriage, data shows otherwise. Also, in a study with a 40,000 subjects conducted by National Survey of Family Growth in 2002, it showed that 95 % of those interviewed (of the 40,000 respondents) have had sex before marriage (Jayson).

The numbers also did not change much since the 1940’s where nearly 9 out of 10 Americans had sex before marriage. Perhaps the only significant change with regard to the sexual behavior of Americans before marriage is the age that they had their first marital sex. Between the period 1954 to 1963, Americans first engaged in premarital sex at the age of 20.4. In 1964 to 1973, the average age when Americans had sex before marriage was 18.6. In period between 1974 to 1983, the age of premarital sex only moved a little to 18.

0 perhaps due to the government’s aggressive campaign for abstinence before marriage (Vallenti 23). In period 1984 to 1993, the average age for engaging in premarital sex was 17.3 and in 1994 to 2003, it was 17.6 (Jayson). These figures only showed that the Americans are getting younger in engaging in premarital sex and the behavior did not change despite the previous efforts of the government to abstain sex before marriage (Valliente 23). The fact still remains that Americans are sexually active before marriage and such has been the case since the 1950s as what the study of Guttmacher Institute have shown.

Recent studies such as those conducted by Regreneus and Uecker published in 2010 also indicates that Americans are really sexually even before marriage as their survey showed that of all their respondents, 96 percent engaged in premarital sex (89). Such, it can be concluded equivocally that premarital sex is common and even the norm in America given the figures of the various studies that were conducted regarding the sexual behavior of Americans before marriage. The reasons attributed to the norm of having sex before marriage may have been due to the permissiveness culture in America as what Regreneus and Uecker argued in their book “Premarital Sex in America How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marrying”.

This is very likely because as a people, Americans stresses much on individual freedom which is considered as “too liberated” by other cultures. Americans attribution of primacy to individual freedom translates to individual permissiveness to do what he or she pleases which includes sex even without the commitment of marriage. In addition, the weak hold of religion among Americans can also be attributed to its high incidence of premarital sex because the moral restraint presented by a religious ethos regarding premarital sex does not hold much influence in the decisions of individuals whether to engage in premarital sex or not.

In America, daughters are not stoned to death when they engage in premarital sex as what is done conservative Middle Eastern countries. Women are also not ostracized or branded as loose when they engage in sex before marr