Sexual Attitudes among Hispanic College Students: Differences between Males and Females

Abstract

Sexual attitudes were studied in 59 Hispanic university students, at a university in deep South Texas, near the Mexican border. Males and females rated their level of agreement to 42 items on a 1-to-5 scale. There were 31 items that showed statistically significant sex differences at the .05 level or better. For 13 items, males were more likely than females to endorse items reflecting sexual permissiveness, or other male cultural stereotypes (e.g., disapproval of homosexuality). For females, 18 items showed greater acceptance of certain attitudes, ranging from disapproval of masturbation, to feeling they had to have sex when aroused. Females showed significantly more jealousy than males on both jealousy items, one on partner sexual intercourse, and the other on partner emotional involvement, which contradicts, at least in part, Buss's evolutionary psychology theory of jealousy (Buss, 2000). Possible reasons for the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (journal abstract)