Cultural Relativism and Premarital Sex Norms

Abstract

By means of record linkage, it was possible to measure and compare the phenomenon of premarital pregnancy across three widely divergent Western cultures: Utah, with its very conservative sex norms; Indiana, which is approximately average for the United States; and Denmark, which typifies the rather liberal sex codes of Scandinavia. Not only did Denmark show the highest incidence of premarital pregnancy, and Utah the lowest, but the premaritally pregnant couples in Denmark tended to take their time about getting married, and tended not to let the pregnancy affect them negatively to the point of divorce (in comparison with those from the other two cultures). Thus, sexual permissiveness was found to be associated with higher incidences but lower negative effects of premarital pregnancy. Nevertheless, not every aspect of the phenomenon was culturally relevant.

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