The interrelationships between relevant sex variables and individuals' reported ages and sources of information for learning and experiencing sexual concepts

The purpose of this study was to determine whether: 1) individuals who reported learning about sexual concepts at younger ages had higher levels of sex information, lower levels of sexual guilt, more liberal sexual attitudes, more liberal sexual behaviors, and higher levels of overall self esteem than individuals who reported learning about sexual concepts at older ages; 2) individuals who reported experiencing sexual concepts at younger ages had higher levels of sex information, lower levels of sexual guilt, more liberal sexual attitudes, more liberal sexual behaviors, and higher levels of overall self esteem than individuals who reported experiencing sexual concepts at older ages; and 3) individuals who reported learning about sexual concepts from the schools and factual textbooks or magazines had higher levels of sex information, lower levels of sexual guilt, more liberal sexual attitudes, more liberal sexual behaviors, and higher levels of overall self esteem than individuals who reported learning about sexual concepts from other sources. Data collected from 348 university students were analyzed to test the three hypotheses. The raw data for this study consisted of the university students' responses to five instruments: a sex information questionnaire, a sex information test, a sex guilt questionnaire, a sex attitude and behavior questionnaire, and a self concept scale. The university students' mean ages for learning sexual concepts, mean ages for experiencing sexual concepts, source of information scores for learning about sexual concepts, sex information scores, sex guilt scores, orthodoxy of attitude scores, orthodoxy of behavior scores, and overall self esteem scores were calculated so the data would be amenable to statistical analyses. Pearson product moment correlational analyses and multiple regression analyses were employed to test the three hypotheses. The results of this study indicated that: 1) individuals who reported learning about sexual concepts at younger ages had more liberal sexual behaviors; 2) individuals who reported experiencing sexual concepts at younger ages had more liberal sexual behaviors and lower levels of overall self esteem; and 3) individuals who reported learning about sexual concepts from the schools and factual textbooks or magazines had higher levels of sex information, more orthodox sexual behaviors, and more orthodox sexual attitudes. Based on these results, inferences were drawn concerning the need for formal sex education programs in the schools.