Abstract
Virginity, as a status, carries with it enormous personal and social meaning and represents a sexual milestone with high cultural significance. In this paper, we describe the correlates of virginity in Italy by consulting a large-scale survey of university students conducted in 2000 and 2017 (N = 12,400). First, we note a reduction between 2000 and 2017 of both male and female students reporting themselves as virgins at the time of the interview. Second, we highlight the salience of several demographic-, family-, interpersonal-, bodily-, and health-related factors associated with their virginity status. Third, the findings of the present study draw special attention to two crucial characteristics of Italian society: regional divisions and the role of religiosity. We show that, although religiosity is still important to the sexual lives of Italian youths, its relevance is weakening over time. In all, our study extends research on sexuality among Italian youths and sheds light on factors related to their virginity, seeking to feed future research on the topic.
Highlights
Modernization, secularization, more relaxed social norms, and greater gender equality have galvanized important changes in the sexual and affective behaviors of contemporary societies
This paper aims to depict the socio-demographic profiles of virginity among a specific segment of youths in Italy— namely, university students
We considered all the variables proven to be related to virginity from the literature review outlined so far— with the limits posed by the variables available in the “Sexual and Emotional Life of Youths” survey (SELFY) dataset
Summary
Modernization, secularization, more relaxed social norms, and greater gender equality have galvanized important changes in the sexual and affective behaviors of contemporary societies. Rarely discussed or analyzed, the onset of the transition to adulthood starts with the first sexual experiences during adolescence— in relation to increasing independence, responsibility, and the management of at-risk behaviors (Poscia, La Milia, Lohmeyer, et al, 2015) In this context, the virginity status symbolizes an important touchstone of adolescent development in both contemporary and historical societies (Landor & Simons, 2019). Vaginal intercourse embodies enormous personal and social meaning, representing a life-changing event in the transition to sexual adulthood (Carpenter, 2005; Higgins, Trussell, Moore, & Davidson, 2010). Its loss represents a means of gaining experience and becoming more knowledgeable about sexuality
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