CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 101Marriage and Sexual RelationshipsGender and Feminist StudiesEvolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior

The sexual double standard and gender differences in attitudes toward casual sex among U.S. university students

Open access
England, Paula, Bearak, Jonathan·2014·Demographic Research
DOI 10.4054/demres.2014.30.46
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

BACKGROUNDA significant portion of premarital sexual activity is casual rather than in relationships, and commentators disagree on whether this is what women prefer. OBJECTIVEWe examine gender differences in attitudes toward casual sex.We also assess whether there is a double standard whereby women are judged more harshly for casual sex. METHODSWe use a large online survey of U.S. university students to examine gender differences with regard to attitudes and reports of sexual behavior. RESULTSWhile distributions overlap, the average man looks more favorably on casual sex than the average woman.Both sexes show substantial openness to relationships.We find evidence of a double standard: men are more judgmental toward women than toward men who have casual sex.Men appear to over-report and/or women to under-report intercourse and fellatio, suggesting that men see these acts as enhancing and/or women see them as diminishing their status. CONCLUSIONSWomen face more negative judgment than men when they are known to engage in casual sex, and they also report less interest in casual sex than men.Our analysis does not permit us to assess whether the double standard we find evidence of explains why women have less interest in casual sex, but we hypothesize that this is the case.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.4054/demres.2014.30.46

Cites

26 of 26 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Gender differences in romantic partnering preferences may result from, cause, or be reinforced by cultural double standards and social norms that result in women receiving negative social sanctions for engaging in casual sex while men receive social rewards.

    “Sociologists and feminists argue that gender differences in romantic partnering preferences may result from, cause, or be reinforced by cultural double standards and social norms that result in women receiving negative social sanctions for engaging in casual sex while men receive social rewards (Armstrong, Hamilton, Armstrong, & Seeley, 2014; England & Bearak, 2014; Hamilton & Armstrong, 2009; K”

    From The role of culture in explaining college students’ selection into hookups, dates, and long-term romantic relationships (2016) · cites this paper as England & Bearak, 2014

    Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Men generally were less interested than women of the same ages in settling down in stable relationships, had more permissive attitudes toward sex and casual sex, and were more likely to regret sexual inaction, while women were more likely to regret sexual action and to pursue sex within a relationship.

    “Men generally were less interested than women of the same ages in settling down in stable relationships, had more permissive attitudes toward sex and casual sex, and were more likely to regret sexual inaction, while women were more likely to regret sexual action and to pursue sex within a relationship (England & Bearak, 2014; Galperin et al., 2013 ; Laumann et al., 2004; Regnerus & Uecker, 2011).”

    From The role of culture in explaining college students’ selection into hookups, dates, and long-term romantic relationships (2016) · cites this paper as England & Bearak, 2014

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Men may also be conforming to societal expectations that they be more interested in casual sex.

    “Men may also be conforming to societal expectations that they be more interested in casual sex”

    From The role of culture in explaining college students’ selection into hookups, dates, and long-term romantic relationships (2016) · cites this paper as England & Bearak, 2014

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
England, P., & Bearak, J.
Affiliations
New York University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Demographic Research
Publisher
Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Published
2014-04-29
Volume
30
Pages
1327-1338
ISSN
1435-9871 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.4054/demres.2014.30.46
OpenAlex
W2111964210
Cited by
101
References
26
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4
FWCI
21.71
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Demographic Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Marriage and Sexual Relationships
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Keywords
sexual double standard, gender differences, casual sex, premarital sex, university students, female sexual behavior

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review