Goal & Concept
The goal of this exercise is to explore gender and racial differences in adolescents'
beliefs and attitudes about sexuality and pregnancy. Crosstabulation and comparison of
means will be used.
Adolescent sexuality has given rise to lively discussions over the years as researchers
have brought attention to the risks associated with early or unsafe sexual activity.
Studies show that early onset of sexual activity has been linked to greater numbers of
sexual partners and higher rates of unprotected intercourse, STDs, unplanned pregnancy,
The factors that influence adolescent sexual activity are as diverse as pubertal timing,
peer pressure, parents' involvement in their children's lives, or adolescents'
perceptions about sexuality and pregnancy. Studies have shown that adolescents' beliefs,
perceptions, and attitudes toward sexuality are of particular importance in their
decision to engage (or not) in sexual activity and may in fact be a more significant
factor in the onset of sexual activity than parental attitudes or religiosity, for
In this exercise we will explore whether there is a relationship between gender or race
and adolescents' attitudes toward sexuality and pregnancy.
Examples of research questions about [concept]:
- How do biological, social, cultural, and environmental factors influence
adolescents' sexual beliefs?
- Do teen males and females differ in their perception of sexuality, and if so, how do
their perceptions affect the choices they make?
- Do racial/ethnic groups have different attitudes about sexuality?
- Are teenagers who have a more positive attitude about sexuality more likely to
engage in (unsafe) sexual behavior?
- How do parental attitudes about sexuality influence teens' attitudes and
This exercise will use the National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), 1994-2002, Wave1, Public Use
Data,which followed a nationally representative sample of adolescents into young
adulthood. Respondents were surveyed three times between 1994 and 2002. Besides basic
demographic data, they provided information about their social, economic, psychological
and physical well-being, as well as their family, neighborhood, community, school,
friendship, peer groups, and romantic relationships. In addition, the survey covered
respondents' behaviors and attitudes toward sexuality, violence, and tobacco use. This
dataset offers a wealth of information on adolescents' lives.
In this exercise we will be exploring whether there is a relationship between gender or
race and adolescents' attitudes toward sexuality and pregnancy. Most of the analyses
focus on non-sexually active respondents, that is, those who answered "no" to the
question "Have you ever had sex?" (H1CO1).
Attitudes about sex:
The variable MORERESP shows whether respondents believe that they would gain more respect
from being sexually active. Consider the crosstab of
MORERESP and RACEGEN, and the "Row total" column more specifically. What
percentage of respondents agreed with the statement "if you had sexual intercourse, your
friends would respect you more"? What percentage disagreed? Looking at the entire table
now, are males or females more likely to agree with the statement? Which racial groups
show the highest level of agreement with the statement? Which ones show the lowest level
Let us investigate respondents' beliefs further by looking into whether they think that
being sexually active would make them more attractive, would make them feel guilty, or
would upset their mother. Do the crosstabs of
ATTRACT and RACEGEN, GUILTY and
RACEGEN, and UPSETMOM and
RACEGEN show the same gender and race patterns as the ones we just
explored? In what ways are the patterns similar, and in what ways are they
To find out whether these attitudinal differences about sex were reflected in
respondents' sexual behaviors we examined
their answer to the question: "Have you ever had sex?" (H1CO1). What
percentage of adolescents in the sample has never had sex? Among Whites, were males more
likely than females to report that they were sexually active? Is this the case in all
racial groups? Which group(s) show(s) the greatest gender difference?
Respondents were also asked: "With how many people, in total, including romantic
relationship partners, have you ever had a sexual relationship?" (H1NR6). Take a look at
the results of the comparison of
means of H1NR6 by RACEGEN. Which gender group tends to report more sexual
partners, on average? For which racial group are gender differences the highest? Among
females, which racial group reported the highest number of sex partners?
Attitudes about pregnancy:
The crosstab of PREGOK ("if you got/got someone pregnant at this time, it would not be
so bad") and RACEGEN shows how respondents feel about pregnancy. Among
males, which racial group appears most likely to have a positive attitude about
pregnancy? Is this evident among females as well?
Next take a look at the crosstab of
EMBFAM ("if you got/got someone pregnant at this time, it would embarrass your
family") and RACEGEN. Are there significant differences in the way males
and females answered this question?
Next, let's consider both non-sexually active and sexually active adolescents. Examine
the crosstab of EMBFAM and RACEGEN. Between which two racial groups are the
differences the greatest?
Female respondents were asked whether they had ever been pregnant (H1FP7). Consider the
results of the crosstab of
H1FP7 and RACE. What percentage of respondents said yes? What percentage
of sexually active Hispanic females has been pregnant? How does that number compare with
sexually active females from other racial backgrounds?
Interpretation & Summary
Think about your answers to the application questions before you click through to the
interpretation guide for help in answering them. Make sure you provided evidence for
Attitudes about sex:
What percentage of respondents agreed with the statement "If you had sexual
intercourse, your friends would respect you more"? What percentage disagreed?
Looking at the entire table now, are males or females more likely to agree more with
the statement? Which racial group shows the highest level of agreement with the
statement? Which one shows the lowest level of agreement?
Do the crosstabs of ATTRACT and RACEGEN, GUILTY and RACEGEN, and UPSETMOM and RACEGEN
show similar gender and race patterns?
What percentage of adolescents in the sample has never had sex? Among Whites, were
males more likely than females to report that they were sexually active? Is this the
case in all racial groups? Which group(s) show(s) the greatest gender
Which gender group tends to report more sex partners, on average? For which racial
group are the gender differences the highest? Among females, which racial group
reported the highest number of sex partners?
Attitudes about pregnancy:
Among males, which racial group appears most likely to have a positive attitude about
pregnancy? Is this evident among females as well?
Are there significant differences in how much males and females thought a pregnancy
would embarrass their family?
Which two racial groups show the largest difference in believing that a pregnancy
would embarrass their family?
What percentage of sexually active female respondents said they have been pregnant?
What percentage of sexually active Hispanic females has been pregnant? How does that
number compare with sexually active females from other racial backgrounds?
Things to think about in interpreting the results:
- The numbers in each cell of the crosstabulation tables show the percent of the people
who fall into the overlapping categories, followed by the actual number of people
that represents in this sample. The coloring in the tables demonstrates how the
observed number in each cell compares to the expected number if there were no
association between the two variables.
- In the comparison of means table, the top number in each cell represents the mean of
the dependent variable for each category of the independent variable and the bottom
number is the actual number of people in that category in the sample.
- Weights (mathematical formulas) are often used to adjust the sample proportions,
usually by race, sex, or age, to more closely match those of the general population.
The analyses used in this guide did not use any weights, which may reduce the
generalizability of the findings, but the resulting tables are accurate descriptions
of the relationships found between these variables among these respondents.
Reading the results:
- Looking at the row totals, 10.7% of respondents who have not had sex agreed with the
statement "if you had sexual intercourse, your friends would respect you more,"
while 61.3% disagreed. Males were more likely to agree than females. For example,
13.7% of White males agreed, versus 3.1% of White females. This gender pattern is
evident among all racial groups in the sample, but Blacks (29.5% for males and 7.7%
for females) and Hispanics (22.9% for males and 2.8% for females) show the greatest
gender differences in their levels of agreement with the statement.
- Similarly, non-sexually active males in the sample (and minority males in particular)
were more likely than non-sexually active females to believe that having sexual
intercourse would make them more attractive. Asian males ranked highest behind Black
males in that regard, but it should be noted that the Asian sample is very small
(n=28), making it difficult to draw inferences about the population of Asian
teenagers from this sample.
- On the other hand, females from all racial groups were more likely to report that
they would feel guilty if they were sexually active (57.7-63.7%, compared with
26.8-54.2% for males), and that their sexual activity would upset their mothers
(80.8-91.1% compared with 62.1-80.4% for males).
- 59.9% of respondents said they had never had sex. Among Whites, 35.2% of males
reported being sexually active -- a percentage almost identical to females (36.6%).
The same is true for Asians, but not Blacks and Hispanics. 61% of Black males and
45.6% of Hispanic males said they were sexually active, compared to 46.2% of Black
females and 33.2% of Hispanic females.
- Males have, on average, more sexual partners than females. This difference is most
noticeable among Black adolescents: Black males report an average of 10.24 partners,
while Black females report only 4.36. White females report the highest number of
partners: about 5 (4.96), compared with 4.36, 4.40, and 2.64 for Black females,
Hispanic females, and Asian females, respectively.
- 12.6% of non-sexually active Black males agree that getting their partner pregnant
would not be so bad, compared with 8.2% of non-sexually active Hispanic males and
2.8% of non-sexually active White males. Among non-sexually active females, Black
respondents were the most likely to show a positive attitude about pregnancy (10.6%
versus 7.0% for Hispanics and 2.6% for Whites).
- Among those who have not had sex, White males (80.4%) were more likely than White
females (72.1%) to agree that pregnancy would embarrass their family. Though the
differences are smaller, there is a similar pattern for Black males and females. The
pattern is different for Hispanics and Asians as these females are more likely than
males to believe that pregnancy will embarrass the family.
- When we consider the whole sample, we see that not all racial groups have the same
sense of shame about teenage pregnancy. Asians were twice as likely as Blacks to
report that getting (someone) pregnant would embarrass their family (86.7% of Asians
fall in that category, compared with about 42% of Blacks). Remember though that
small number of Asians in this sample may mean that we should be careful about
generalizing from this sample.
- About one in five sexually-active adolescent girls in the sample has been pregnant
(18.9%). 19.7% of Hispanic females, compared to 15.4% of Whites, and 24.6% of
Blacks, said that they have been pregnant.
The goal of this exercise was to explore how adolescents view sexuality and
pregnancy, and whether race and gender influence their beliefs and attitudes about
these topics. Taken together, the results show that gender and race do make a
difference in adolescents' attitudes. Males (especially Black and Hispanic males)
tend to perceive more benefits from sex compared to females, which may explain why
they tend to be more sexually active and to report more partners than females, who
feel more guilt and shame about sex and perceive less positive benefits from sex.
Similarly females appear to have more shame and less positive perceptions about
pregnancy than males, and Black males in particular.
Further research might explore why shame and guilt about sex seem to operate
differently in different racial groups.