Premarital Sexuality Among
Young People, 1973

Study Description

Table of Contents

• Unique Identification Number
• Type of File
• Methodology
• Summary
• Geographic Coverage
• Descriptors
• Technical Notes
• Cited References

* Most of this information has been taken from the original study description which was written in 1985.

Abstract

Unique Identification Number:

QK-030-001-2-1-USA-DPLS-1973-1

 

Type of File:

Numeric.

 

Methodology:

Data were obtained from two samples of young people. The first sample was composed of University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduates obtained from a 6 percent random sample of the complete student file.  The second group consisted of persons between the ages of 18 and 23 who resided in Madison but were not students at the university.  These nonstudents were obtained by calling a systematic probability sample of residences in the telephone directory.  From a stratified sample of 1,115 college students, with a goal of 125 in each class-gender category, interviews were completed with 985 respondents, for a completion rate of approximately 82% of the total sample.  For the nonstudent sample, 1,134 persons were identified in the screening calls, and interviews were completed with 663.  Of those interviewed, 211 were married and thus were excluded from the data.  In addition, 61 interviews were excluded as being invalid, giving total samples of single individuals of 432 student males, 220 nonstudent males, 431 student females, and 293 nonstudent females, for a grand total of 1,376 respondents.

 

Summary:

This study focuses on the social aspects of premarital sexuality, sociopsychological characteristics, current sexual behavior, and contraceptive knowledge and use among young people.  Information on personal and family characteristics, sexual experience, peer group influence, and self-image was also collected.

 

Geographic Coverage:

Madison, Wisconsin

 

Descriptors:

sexuality, contraceptive knowledge and use, premarital sex, sexual behavior, peer group influence, family and personal characteristics

 

Technical Notes:

The file structure has been broken up into separate files for male students (432 records), female students (431 recs), male, single, non-students (220), and female, single non-students (293), for a total of four data files. The record length for each is 892.

 

Cited References:

Premarital Sexuality: Attitudes, Relationships, Behavior by John DeLamater and Patricia MacCorquodale (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979).

Acknowledgement of Donation

This edition of the Premarital Sexuality Among Young People, 1973 has been deposited at the Data and Program Library Service, University of Wisconsin-Madison for distribution by John DeLamater, University of Wisconsin, Department of Sociology. This research was supported by a three-year grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, grant number 1-R01-HD-06264.

Acknowledgement of Assistance

All manuscripts utilizing data made available through the Data and Program Library Service should acknowledge that fact as well as cite the title of the study as indicated on the title page and sample catalog statement and identify the original collector(s) of the data. All users of these data are urged to follow some adaptation of this statement with the parentheses indicating items to be completed or deleted appropriately by the individual analyst.

The data (and tabulations) utilized in this publication were made available (in part) by the Data and Program Library Service, University of Wisconsin, Madison. The Premarital Sexuality Among Young People, 1973 was produced by John DeLamater and Mary Ann Prate, and is distributed by the Data and Program Library Service. The research was supported by a three-year grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, grant 1-R01-HD-06264. Neither John DeLamater, the National Institutes of Health, nor the Data and Program Library Service bears any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.

In order to provide funding agencies with essential information about the use of archival resources and to facilitate the exchange of information about DPLS participants' research activities, each user of these facilities is expected to send two copies of each completed manuscript, thesis abstract, or reprint to the Data and Program and Library Service.

Back to Main Premarital Sexuality Page.

Email: disc@mailplus.wisc.edu