| dc.description.abstract | Worldwide, adolescents are having their sexual debut (their first time of sex) at a younger age. However, the average age of a sexual debut in the Netherlands seems to be increasing. Due to the possible negative consequences of an early sexual debut, such as early pregnancy, it is important to investigate what factors underlie an early sexual debut. This study examines the association between implicit and explicit stereotypes, about the sexual double standard (SDS-stereotypes), and the age of the sexual debut. It also examines whether this association is different for boys and girls. Dutch adolescents (16 and 20 years old, N = 210), who have had their sexual debut, completed an online survey at school about what they think of the SDS-stereotypes and their own sexual experiences. A questionnaire based on the SASSY is used to measure explicit SDSstereotypes and an Implication Association Task (IAT) is used to measure implicit SDSstereotypes. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that there is no significant association between explicit as well as implicit SDS-stereotypes and the age of the sexual debut. Additionally, the associations were not different for boys and girls. Thus, explicit as well as implicit SDS-stereotypes did not play a role in the age of the sexual debut and there were no gender differences in this association. There is also no gender difference in the sexual debut of adolescents. The absence of a gender difference in sexual debut could possibly be explained by the small age range of the adolescents. A possible explanation for the not significant association could be that the Netherlands has increasingly become a gender-egalitarian country in which SDS-stereotypes are less traditional. As a result, adolescents may behave less obedient to traditional SDSstereotypes, which allows girls to be as (un)affected by the SDS-stereotypes as boys. Therefore, more research is required. | |
