Promiscuity

What promiscuity

predicts

So what if we know all

this?

Why Promiscuity

What predicts

promiscuity

Why Promiscuity?

prom·is·cu·i·ty noun \ˌprä-mə-ˈskyü-ə-tē, ˌprō-\ Promiscuity is a long-standing pattern of behavior of having sex more frequently and with more partners than is normative for the culture.

Descriptive Summary Culturally Defined Scale

Why Promiscuity?

Health

HIV

STD

Psychological

Depression

Self-Esteem

Societal

Broken Families

Unwanted pregnancies

What Predicts Promiscuity?

Internal

Genes

Taxonomy- Big Five

External

Culture

Parental Influence

Internal

The Big Five Related to Risky Sexual Behaviour Across 10

World Regions: Differential Personality Associations of

Sexual Promiscuity and Relationship Infidelity

(Schmitt, 2004)

Taxonomy – Big Five

Research Highlight

Traits correlating with promiscuity

Why Big Five? •  Big Five taxonomy has achieved a

greater degree of consensus than any other trait taxonomy in the history of personality trait psychology

•  Replicable •  Proved to be useful for cross

language and cross cultural research

Extraversion

Neuroticism Agreeableness

Conscientiousness Openness

Internal

Internal

Why Extraversion?

Libido (Life Instinct): An innate desire that drives

behavior

The higher the libido, the higher the promiscuity

Cortical Arousal & The need for stimulation

Those with habitually low levels of cortical arousal

engage in riskier sex

Psycho-Biological

Australia

Europe

Africa

Middle East

Oceania

North America

South America Australia

Europe

Middle East

Oceania

North America

South America

East Asia

South Asia

•  Link between extraversion & sexual promiscuity varies across cultures •  Negative correlation in cultures that are least ‘Western’? •  Individualism vs Collectivism

External Culture

External

The Role of Parents in Early Adolescent Sexual Risk-Taking

Behavior (Somers & Ali, 2011)

Parental Influence

Research Highlight

Early Adolescents’ Promiscuity (9 Measures in total, including): •  Adolescent premarital sex attitude •  Sexual self-efficacy •  Sexual experimentation •  Frequency of sexual behavior •  Frequency of unprotected sex

Role of Parents: •  Parental approval of premarital

sexuality •  Parent-adolescent communication

about sexuality •  Parental social support •  Religiosity

Role of Parents

Adolescent premarital sex

attitude (how conservative)

Sexual self-efficacy Sexual

experimentation Frequency of

sexual behavior Frequency of

unprotected sex

Maternal approval of sex in high school

-.41*** -.27*** .40*** .40*** .24***

Maternal approval of sex before marriage

.46*** .21** -.3*** -.30*** -.15*

Paternal approval of sex in high school

-.4*** -.33*** .29*** .29*** .16*

Paternal approval of sex before marriage

.3*** .14 -.28*** -.28*** -.17*

Family religiosity .26*** .21** -.18* -.09 -.03

Mother communication

.07 .08 .11 -.15* -.03

Father communication

-.16* -.00 .22** .16* .13

Parent Social Support

.04 .19** -.02 .01 .07

External

When Parents say NO to Sex

{ } Only In High School

Teens tend to have more conservative attitudes about premarital sex.

{ } Before Marriage

Teens tend to have more liberal attitudes about premarital sex.

When Parents Talk about Sex

{ } Increase communication about sexuality with fathers corresponded with increased

frequency of sexual experimentation

Explanation: Teens are seeking communication because they are already curious about, or engaging in, promiscuous behavior Implication: More parental communication need in earlier adolescence.

External

What Does Promiscuity Predict?

Marriage outcomes

First Marriage Age

Marital Satisfaction

Friendship selection

Career choice

Intermediate outcomes

What does Promiscuity Predict?

Late Adolescence & Early Adulthood

–  Exploring sexual identity and attitudes

–  Making friendships that tend to last in adulthood

Level of promiscuity could impact life outcome through friendships

Understanding Promiscuity in Strategic Friend Selection from an

Evolutionary Perspective

Research Highlight

(Coutinho, Sagarin & Hartnett, 2007)

Your level of promiscuity predicts…

Who you choose to befriend

Who chooses to befriend you

Who you choose to befriend

Explanation: One’s own level of promiscuity predicts amount of promiscuity tolerated in a potential friend

Both men and women select friends with comparable

sexual tendencies { }

What does Promiscuity Predict?

Who chooses to befriend you

People in relationships tend not to befriend

those they perceive as promiscuous { }

Explanation: Promiscuous people may encourage sexual encounters outside of the relationship

Men tend not to befriend other men

showing high levels of promiscuity { }

Explanation: Men face costlier penalties of being cuckolded

What does Promiscuity Predict?

So what if we know all this?

Future Research

Collectivism

Interaction

Generalizability

Measurement

Limitations

Policies

Self-Awareness

Implications

Education

Implications

Encourage adoption of sport CCAs as a means for increased cortical arousal

Increase frequency of Physical Education

Policies Gender differences in perception of promiscuity affects relationship building

Birds of a feather flock together

Self-Awareness

Implications

Cultural differences affect an adolescent’s moral development

The type of parental approval can change a child’s behavior

Parents Consequences of promiscuity on health and psychological well-being

Promiscuity cues affect friendship formation

Students

On Educating…

Limitations

Studies only done on adolescents and college students.

On Generalizability On Measurement

Inconsistency in administration.

Different cultural interpretation of items.

Mostly based on self-reports.

To Improve on the Study…

A more consistent construct of promiscuity

Cultural specific items of promiscuity e.g birth control, planned sexual debut

Include a wider age group

Future Studies

Trait of collectivism can be applied to a Western context.

Measures the promiscuity score in individuals who score high and low on collectivism. Highly collectivistic individuals should score lower in promiscuity.

Collectivism: the tendency for individuals see themselves as members of one or more in-groups and be motivated by the norms, goals and wellbeing of the the in- group

Preference

Reliance

Norm Acceptance

Concern

Goal Priority

Collectivism

Future Studies

0

1

2

3

4

5

Low Collectivism High Collectivism

Pro

mis

cuity

Collectivism and Promiscuity

Trait of collectivism can be applied to a Western context.

Measures the promiscuity score in individuals who score high and low on collectivism. Highly collectivistic individuals should score lower in promiscuity.

Future Studies Parental Approval

High Parental Approval

High Extraversion

Low Extraversion

Low Parental Approval

High Extraversion

Low Extraversion

Interaction Effect ?

Extraversion

(of Sex)

Future Studies

0

2

4

6

8

High Approval/High Extraversion

High Approval/Low Extraverstion

Low Approval/High Extraversion

Low Approval/Low Extraversion

Pro

mis

cuity

Approval/Extraversion & Promiscuity

Parental Approval

Extraversion

(of Sex)

Promiscuity

What promiscuity

predicts

So what if we know all

this?

What predicts

promiscuity

Undressing  theme  

Q&A.