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The Power of Prestige: Why Young Men Report Having more Sex Partners than Young Women

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Abstract

In a survey of 48 men and 61 women from a southwestern US college, the gender difference in reported number of sex partners was mediated by the degree to which individuals felt that men and women who had many sexual partners were prestigious. In addition, men cared about the quantity and quality of their sex partners more than women did and these two factors were also related to reported number of sexual partners. The gender difference in reported sex partners is not veridical; it can be accounted for with attitudinal measures related to status and sex that are more common in men than women. Results are discussed in terms of understanding biased reporting in young American men and women.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA

    Peter K. Jonason

  2. The Ohio State University at Mansfield, Mansfield, OH, USA

    Terri D. Fisher

Authors
  1. Peter K. Jonason
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  2. Terri D. Fisher
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Correspondence to Peter K. Jonason.

Additional information

The authors would like to thank Pamela Izzo, Jaime Hughes, Michael Marks, and Gregory Webster for help in preparing this manuscript. Results from this study were reported at the November, 2007 meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality in Indianapolis, IN.

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Jonason, P.K., Fisher, T.D. The Power of Prestige: Why Young Men Report Having more Sex Partners than Young Women. Sex Roles 60, 151–159 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9506-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9506-3

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