Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marrying 1st Edition

by Mark Regnerus (Author), Jeremy Uecker (Author)

25 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0199743285

ISBN-10: 0199743282

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The period of young adulthood, from ages 18 to 23, is popularly considered the most sexualized in life. But is it true? What do we really know about the sexual lives of young people today?

Premarital Sex in America combines illuminating personal stories and comprehensive research surveys to provide the fullest portrait of heterosexuality among young adults ever produced. Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker draw upon a wealth of survey data as well as scores of in-depth interviews with
young adults from around the country, both in and out of college. Digging underneath stereotypes and unexamined assumptions, the authors offer compelling--and often surprising--answers to such questions as: How do the emotional aspects of sexual relations differ between young men and women? What
role do political orientations play in their sexual relations? How have online dating and social networking sites affected the relationships of emerging adults? Why are young people today waiting so much longer to marry? How prevalent are nontraditional forms of sex, and what do people think of
them? To better understand what drives the sexual behaviors of emerging adults, Regnerus and Uecker pay special attention to two important concepts: sexual scripts, the unwritten and often unconscious rules that guide sexual behavior and attitudes; and sexual economics, a theory which suggests that
the relative scarcity of men on college campuses contributes to the "hookup" culture by allowing men to diminish their level of commitment and thereby lower the "price" they have to "pay" for sex.

For anyone wishing to understand how sexual relations between young adults have changed and are changing, Premarital Sex in America will serve as a touchstone for years to come.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marriage provides a fascinating and highly readable glimpse into the complicated sex lives of heterosexual young adults in the contemporary United States... Sociologists Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker provide one of the
most detailed and thought-provoking analyses to date of the ways that single men and women ages 18-23 pursue and negotiate sexual relationships..." --American Journal of Sociology

"A fascinating book." --Austin American Statesman

"Regnerus and Uecker have not set out to construct a new sexual ethics, and anyone who does so in public tends to take a beating. But this book, which offers a wide-ranging guide to where we are now, could occasion some thinking about where we want to be." --The New Republic

"Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker's Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think About Marrying draws from statistical analysis of several surveys and qualitative interviews." --Contemporary Sociology

"The book... studies a fairly narrow age range (18-23 years)... however, this age group has fascinated scholars and the public due to their ever-changing mindset and behaviors regarding sex. Thus, the book is geared toward those interested in understanding the complex topic of sexuality among those
at the beginning of young adulthood. While many Mormon youth often abstain from premarital sexual activity, Premarital Sex in America offers an inside look into the large culture that LDS youth will encounter. With this scope and complex topic in mind, the authors have certainly succeeded in
providing a well-documented look at the sexual lives of young adults." --BYU Studies Quarterly

About the Author

Mark Regnerus is Associate Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies and Research Associate, Population Research Center, at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers (OUP, 2009).

Jeremy Uecker is a postdoctoral fellow with the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (January 10, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 312 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199743282
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199743285
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 1.1 x 6.4 x 9.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #482,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #608 in Sociology of Marriage & Family (Books)
- #1,114 in Sociology (Books)

Customer Reviews:
25 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		68%
4 star		13%
3 star		9%
2 star		6%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Jayne

When sex is cheap, why would men work for it?

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2015

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I only wish I read this book sooner! I picked it up because it was cited frequently in Wendy Walsh's 30-Day Love Detox, and although many may criticize the book for its conservative tone, it's a soothing tonic to the sex-obsessed media that infiltrates our mind. From personal experience, I agree wholeheartedly that the hookup culture is hurting both women and men severely, but possibly women more. This book takes the emotions out of sex, puts it in plain terms like the "sexual economy", and gives it to you straight. Ironically, I think these are things I always knew intuitively but consistently second-guessed due to media and peers. Thanks for the education!

6 people found this helpful

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Rich

Sometimes it helps to leave nothing to the imagination. ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2014

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Sometimes it helps to leave nothing to the imagination. This book certainly doesn't do that, but in the case of this type of research, truth and clarity is helpful for those of us superficially connected with emerging adults. This book fills in the gap that other books (i.e. "Souls in Transition," Smith) skim over when reporting research on this age group. Hopefully, a longitudinal study will be done showing the impact of the lifestyle choices of emerging adults in their adulthood.

4 people found this helpful

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Jesse Smith

Really breaks it down

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2015

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In a sexually confused and chaotic cultural climate such as ours, this book provides some desperately needed clarity...both about what our current situation is and why it isn't working. This ought to be mandatory reading for emerging adults, and highly recommended for everyone else.

2 people found this helpful

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Michael Dremel

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2014

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Good gift for the therapist friend or relative

2 people found this helpful

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Annie

Excellent overview of today's relationship landscape

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2014

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Great book detailing today's sex and relationship landscape. Clearly written and well-evidenced with representational graphs. Good conclusion debunking myths and reinforcing truths.

4 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Good book of research

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2011

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These authors are excellent and have compiled an enormous amount of information to help with youth direction and counseling. Hope they compose more research in the future.

3 people found this helpful

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Michelle Llewellyn

Dark and disturbing. I couldn't put it down!

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2013

This is a copy/paste from my Goodreads.com review. Please see some of my other reviews too!
Five stars. That's rare for me. Nevertheless, I simply could not put this book down. It's a heavy read. It's full of hard, undeniable facts we've all known about but no one wants to admit. It leaves nothing out. It introduces lots of new vocabulary about sex in America such as sexual economics theory, sexual scripts, and the changing attitudes of oral vs. vaginal. The statistic tables are hard to read but easy to skip over and the authors are kind enough to include the same demographical findings of the sexual behavior and history of young American adults in the text.

Everyone can find themselves somewhere in this book. I did, on p.65, in the section about double standards (Utah has a Mormon "double standard" too when it comes so sex) and the losers like me who set such a high price for sex that I miss out on all the fun of cohabitation while watching as the pool of available men shrinks before my eyes. Indeed, I've been observing that shrinking pool since high school where the imbalanced sex ratio between males and females condemned me from the very start and my dreams of a temple marriage never came to fruition. The authors conclude that pornography is entirely to blame and I'm in 100% agreement.

This book gave me some validation as to why, until Sheri Dew dies, I'm destined to be the oldest living virgin in Utah! Read this book and pass it on to everyone you know.

5 people found this helpful

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Nathan Hitchcock

Sex and the Story

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2013

Sex sells. Books on sex sell. And occasionally, there can be found substance behind the skin.

In this case, Regnerus and Uecker tap into the Add Health longitudinal studies, the National Survey of Family Growth, the College Women's Survey, and the College Social Life Survey to provide current statistics on the attitudes of modern Americans, especially heterosexual young adults. The outcome is a demographic study sure to fascinate. Consider, for example:
- Among unmarried 18 to 23 year-olds, 84% have already had sex.
- Unattractive women are having about the same amount of sex as attractive women.
- High religious commitment is the best indicator for chastity until marriage, especially among men. Yet evangelical women report a greater number of sexual partners than mainline Christian women.
- For Asian men, who tend to be risk-averse and have high expectations, there is an even higher likelihood of commitment to virginity.
- Virgins report being less self-confident than non-virgins - but also happier.
- Blue-state and red-state young adults announce different mentalities about sex, but their sexual practices (such as frequency of coitus and orgasms) are functionally the same.
- Young adults have very ambivalent attitudes toward hooking up. Men, who averaged four alcoholic drinks before having anonymous sex, were likely (70%) to admit they regretted at least one hook-up.
- 18.1% of women aged 18-23 reported some same-sex attraction, while only 1% identified as lesbian.
- Young men report that 36% of their relationships become sexual within two weeks. Young women report 22%.
- Age matters. Public opinion is widely negative toward consenting 16 year-olds having sex, but widely positive toward consenting 18 year-olds having sex. And while women express openness to dating younger men, only 4% of them said they were in a relationship with a man younger by two years or more.

Readers looking for broad conclusions or broad solutions will find themselves disappointed. Regnerus and Uecker avoid grand claims in order to tell a believable story about American mores and the persons behind them. Interviews provide up-close pictures to fill in the demographic panorama. The result? Premarital Sex in America will change your mind about something, if only because you won't be able to stop thinking about the book.

13 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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Cliente Amazon

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 17, 2018

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Great book

Paul Chatfield

Buon libro

Reviewed in Italy on February 10, 2017

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Pieno di statistiche che per me aiuta perche' toglie l'aspetto piu' soggettivo. A me piace e lo consiglierei a qualcuno che vuole uno studio serio.

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Gracia

Well researched and well written! Debunks a lot of ...

Reviewed in Canada on May 18, 2015

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Well researched and well written! Debunks a lot of the myths about premarital sex in America; a must read for everyone if we want to see our society's mental health improve!