Cross-National Variation in Attitudes to Premarital Sex: Economic Development, Disease Risk, and Marriage Strength

Sexual behavior responds adaptively to local costs and benefits. It was thus predicted that acceptance of premarital sex would increase with economic development (gross domestic product [GDP]), female labor participation, and births outside wedlock but would decline with marriage strength (marriage rate minus divorce rate), HIV/AIDS incidence, infectious disease risk, and religiosity. Pew Research data on attitudes to premarital sex in 40 countries supported these predictions in correlational analysis (exception HIV/AIDS). Regression analyses found significant effects of GDP, marriage strength, religiosity, and births outside wedlock while women at work was marginally significant (with 82 % of the variance explained). Acceptance of premarital sex increases adaptively with economic development, and declining marriage strength and religiosity, but is not consistently affected by disease risks. Differences in cross-national predictors of premarital sex and casual sex are discussed.