Double standard effects in inferences about quality of parenting and adult sexual outcomes for children were investigated under five conditions of single-parent sexual behavior. The sample comprised six hundred married parents from three major metropolitan areas in Texas. Subjects were administered a scenario about a hypothetical single parent family. The scenario varied with respect to parent gender, child gender, and type of parental sexual activity (e.g., abstinence, limited affairs away from home, involvement with a live-in lover, frequent partners spending the night, and a control condition containing no sexual message). Subjects were asked to rate a parent from the scenario on quality of parenting and predict the adult sexual behavior of the child. Hypothesized double standard effects did not emerge. A double standard in judgments about sexually active single parents and parenting did appear. Main effects were found for child gender and sexual lifestyle of the parent (e.g., parents with boys rated less favorably than parents with girls; promiscuous fathers were rated lower than promiscuous mothers). Several interaction effects among parent gender, child gender, and sexual lifestyle condition were also found (e.g., promiscuous parents were rated lower as parents and seen as negatively influencing the child's sexual development). Recommendations for future research include refining the two scales used in this study; extending the study to include data from single parents; examining whether the judgments of sexually active single parents affect the quality and quantity of interactions others have with either the parent or child.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc331399 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Castillo, Michael G. (Michael George) |
| Contributors | Johnson, Ray W., Haynes, Jack Read, Hipple, John L. |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | viii, 307 leaves, Text |
| Rights | Public, Castillo, Michael G. (Michael George), Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. |
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