Chapter 9
Sexuality and the Life Cycle:
Childhood and Adolescence
1-1
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Data Sources
• Surveys
• Interviews of children
• Interviews of adolescents - Kanter and
Zelnick
• Talking computer interviews
1-2
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Infancy (0 to 2 Years)
• Self-stimulation - infants have been
observed fondling their own genitals.
• Infant-infant sexual encounters - may kiss,
hug, pat, stroke and gaze at each other.
• Nongenital sensual experiences:
– Sucking on a mother’s breasts
– Sucking on his or her own fingers
– Being cuddle or rocked can also be
sensuous.
1-3
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Infancy (0 to 2 Years)
• Attachment - psychological bond that
forms between an infant and the
mother, father, or other caregiver.
• Knowing about boy/girl differences:
– At first infants think the difference
between girls an boys is a matter of
clothes or haircuts.
– By age 3 there is increasing interest
in the genitals of other children.
1-4
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Early Childhood (3 to 7 Years)
• Masturbation
– Learns that masturbation is something
that one does in private
• Heterosexual behavior
– “Playing doctor” can be popular.
• Same-gender sexual behavior
– Sexual play with members of one’s
own gender may be more common than
sexual play with members of the other
gender.
1-5
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Early Childhood (3 to 7 Years)
• Sex knowledge and interests
– Begins to have notion of genital
differences between males and females
– Enjoys hugging and kissing parents
– Becomes more modest at age 5
– Restriction on conversation about sex
comes at precisely the same time child
is becoming more aware of, and curious
about, sexuality.
1-6
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Preadolescence (8 to 12 Years)
• Masturbation
– More and more children gain experience.
– Boys learn from peers and from reading.
– Girls learn through accidental self-discovery.
• Heterosexual behavior
– Very little because of the social division of
males and females into separate groups.
– Children commonly hear about sexual
intercourse for the first time.
1-7
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Preadolescence (8 to 12 Years)
• Same-gender sexual behavior
– Social organization is essentially
homosocial (boys play separately
from girls)
– Same-gender sexual activities may
involve masturbation, exhibitionism,
and fondling of other’s genitals.
– Many lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth
report their first experience of sexual
attraction at age 10 or 11.
1-8
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Dating and
Romantic Relationships
• Around ages 10 or 11, children begin to spend
time in mixed-gender or heterosocial groups.
– The first romantic or sexual behaviors often
occur in this context.
• Dating emerges in the seventh grade.
• Romantic dyadic relationships involve a small
percentage of youth.
• In some cultures, boys and girls are married at
age 13.
1-9
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Adolescence (13 to 19 Years):
Masturbation
• According the the Kinsey data, there is a sharp
increase in the incidence of masturbation for
boys between ages 13 and 15.
• Girls also begin masturbating in adolescence, but
the increase in behavior is much more gradual
and continues past adolescence.
• Was once believe to cause everything from warts
to insanity, but current attitudes are more
positive.
1-10
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1-11
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Adolescence (13 to 19 Years)
• Same-gender behavior
– About 10% of college men and 6% of college
women report having had one homosexual
partner in high school.
• Heterosexual behavior
– More and more young people engage in
heterosexual sex with more and more frequency.
– Over four years, there is a regular progression
from kissing, through French kissing and
fondling, to intercourse and oral-genital contact.
1-12
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Premarital Sex
• How many people have premarital intercourse?
– 70% of females
– 78% of males
• First Intercourse - major transition with
psychological and social significance
• Fewer men have premarital sex with a prostitute
than in the past.
• Techniques in premarital sex include increased
use of oral-genital contact.
1-13
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1-14
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Lower Ages at First Intercourse
1-15
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Attitudes Toward
Premarital Intercourse
• Abstinence
– Wrong for males and females regardless of
the circumstances.
• Permissiveness with affection
– Permissible for males and females if it
occurs in a stable relationship of love,
commitment, or being engaged.
1-16
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Attitudes Toward
Premarital Intercourse
• Permissiveness without affection
– Permissible for males and females,
regardless of emotional commitment,
simply on the basis of physical attraction.
• Double standard
– Acceptable for males but not for females.
1-17
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Abstinence
• In one recent survey, 74 percent of teens
ages 15 to 17 said they had “made a
conscious decision to wait.”
• In some surveys, high intelligence is
associated with postponing intercourse and
delaying other partnered sexual activities.
• Some schools and community-based
programs campaign to persuade teens to
publicly sign virginity pledges.
1-18
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Motives for Having
Premarital Intercourse
•
•
•
•
Love
Physical arousal and pleasure
Peer pressure
Women are more likely to mention
love and affection.
• Men mention physical pleasure.
1-19
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Dating, Going Steady,
Getting Engaged
• Dating and going steady occurs at younger ages.
• Serial monogamy - while in a relationship, the
partners are monogamous; when relationship ends,
partners move on to another partner.
• Conflicts:
– Between restrictive sexual ethic and permissive
one
– Between parents and children
– Between behaviors and attitudes or standards
1-20
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How Sexuality Aids in
Development: Early Childhood
• In early childhood there is a crisis between
autonomy and shame, and later, between
initiative and guilt.
– The child who masturbates at age 5 is showing
autonomy and initiative, but if parents react by
punishing the child, their actions may produce
shame and guilt.
1-21
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How Sexuality Aids in Development:
Adolescence and Young Adulthood
• Adolescence - crisis between identity and
role confusion
• Young adulthood - crisis between intimacy
and isolation
1-22
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1-23
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