Abstract
Researchers have devoted much attention both to the analysis of the first sexual experience and to how the couple was established, but little is still known about age differences of partners at their first sexual relationship. The availability of two highly comparable waves of a survey on the sexual behavior of college students in Italy (SELFY—Sexual and Emotional LiFe of Youth) carried out in 2000 and 2017 allowed us to study the predictors of age differences between partners at first sex, filling the existing gap on recent research. Results of multivariate analyses show important gender differences on mate selection: women tend to choose an older partner for having their first sexual experience and are less likely as men to be involved in age discordant first sex relationships with a younger partner. Age gaps between partners also influence age at sexual debut, which tends to occur earlier in a relationship with an older partner and later if having first sex with a younger partner. Another important predictor of the age gap is the type of relationship that linked the respondent to its partner at first sex. Our estimations indicate a lower likelihood of having had an older first sex partner for students who had their first sexual experience with the own boy/girl-friend or with a friend compared to those who have had it with a stranger. Finally, we have found a higher likelihood of first sex relationships among same-age partners relative to older partners through SELFY waves and small changes on variables influencing such relationships.
Highlights
Sexuality is a crucial individual component that involves beliefs and behaviors influenced by biological and psychological factors, personal and family values, moral and societal norms (Potki, Ziaei, Faramarzi, Moosazadeh, & Shahhosseini, 2017)
The three groups of control variables that research has found to be relevant for the study of youth’ sexual behaviors, are the following: Characteristics related to the family of origin Extensive research has shown that both family structures and processes are associated with sexual behaviors adopted during adolescence and early youth (Wight, Williamson, & Henderson, 2006; Aspy et al, 2007), but only a few have analyzed which and how characteristics related to the family of origin influence age differences between sexual partners
The age differences between men and women highlight that age homogeneity at first sex is quite gender balanced, even if the percentage of males who had first sex with same-age partners increased between waves, while agediscordant relationships at first sexual intercourse are mostly male if the partner is younger and predominantly female if the partner is older
Summary
Sexuality is a crucial individual component that involves beliefs and behaviors influenced by biological and psychological factors, personal and family values, moral and societal norms (Potki, Ziaei, Faramarzi, Moosazadeh, & Shahhosseini, 2017). Being our sample limited to university students, the hypotheses of the life-history perspective might not hold because respondents are too young to be already searching for the partner with whom starting the own family, instead, they might be experiencing a long period of “sexual youth” before engaging in a more definitive relationship (Bozon & Rault, 2012) We consider these theories as a useful framework to interpret the results of our analyses, but we have developed our research hypotheses based on the studies that considered specific aspects that our data allow to evaluate (as follows). Due to the highest share of females involved with older partners, we expected higher odds than those of males
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