The present paper analyzes a study on the role of gender differences as a predictor of particular sexual behaviors and attitudes. The study, entitled A Meta-Analytical Review of Research on Gender Differences in Sexuality, 1993-2007, was conducted by the University Wisconsin-Madison researchers Petersen and Hyde and was published in the Psychological Bulletin in 2010.
The authors set out to discover to what extent gender differences have an impact on people’s attitudes and preferences in sexual behaviors. Guided by several contemporary psychological and social theories, Petersen and Hyde hypothesized that there are no inherent significant gender differences that would explain different patterns of sexual activity between men and women. They expected social, ethnical, cultural, contextual, and age factors to be the main determinants of changing sexual behavior both over the recent decades and over the course of an individual’s life (Petersen and Hyde 21).
The authors’ main theoretical and methodological influence was a similar study conducted by Oliver and Hyde in 1993. As a matter of fact, for the most part, the authors model their research after the 1993 study, with some alterations necessary as “15 years of research … rendered it out-of-date” (Petersen and Hyde 21). Oliver and Hyde analyzed the results of almost 180 studies on reported sexual behaviors and attitudes, and they concluded that men, in general, exhibited more permissive attitudes and unrestrained behaviors. Petersen and Hyde acknowledge the “cultural shifts” that took place since 1993, such as the rise of the Internet and the growing acceptance of the LGBT community, and they would like to explore the impact of these changes on contemporary sexual behaviors and attitudes (21).
The authors use four theoretical frameworks for their analysis: evolutionary psychology (in particular, sexual strategies theory), cognitive social learning theory, social structure theory, and gender similarities hypothesis. The sexual strategies theory, which posits that men and women have different approaches to mating because of their biological differences, is mainly used to study the sexual preferences of different age groups.
Petersen and Hyde expect that “both older men and women prefer long-term mating strategies,” compared to their younger counterparts (22). The cognitive social learning theory postulates that people tend to adjust their attitudes and behavior due to social influences such as TV and media. The authors thus expect that “gender difference would decrease across time for number of sex partners, casual sex, and attitudes toward premarital sex” as women are more frequently depicted engaging in these activities (Petersen and Hyde 23).
The social structure theory attributes gender differences in sexuality to the power imbalance in the society, with men holding considerably more power than women. Based on this theory, Petersen and Hyde predict that “cultural variations in power” across different nations and ethnic groups within the United States will have a direct impact on the extent of gender differences in sexuality (23). Finally, the authors turn to the gender similarities hypothesis as an alternative approach to gender theory. Thus, the authors’ fundamental assumption is that genders tend to be more similar in respect to sexual behaviors and attitudes, and other factors, namely, contextual, social, and cultural, account for the existing gender differences in sexuality (Petersen and Hyde 24).
Petersen and Hyde use two large data samples for which they run two separate analyses. Both samples rely on secondary quantitative data: the first set is based on 834 “relevant studies … collected by computerized literature searches,” and the second sample uses seven national data sets (Petersen and Hyde 24). The authors use inferential statistical methods to analyze the data they have collected. Namely, they employ a new meta-analytical technique: a mixed models method that combines the fixed-effects and the random-effects models. While this method accounts for the impact of “unidentified random … sources”, it also allows to measure the influence of systematic moderators that the authors use in their study (Petersen and Hyde 22).
These moderators, apart from gender distribution and differences in sexuality, include the publication year, age group, gender empowerment, and ethnicity – which is consistent with the authors’ assumptions in view of the referenced theoretical frameworks.
As a result of their meta-analysis, the authors find that “men typically report more sexual behaviors and more permissive sexual attitudes than women,” although these gender differences are relatively small (Petersen and Hyde 35). The results of the study are consistent with the theory of evolutionary psychology, with men generally having more relaxed views on casual sex and with gender differences reducing with age.
The expectations based on the social structure theory are also supported by the study’s findings as sexual behaviors and attitudes are found to be closely linked to the participants’ ethnicity and cultural background. Gender empowerment has also been found to be a strong predictor of how significant the difference between sexual activities of men and women will be. Higher levels of gender equality in the society usually yield more similar results on sexual attitudes and behaviors among men and women (Petersen and Hyde 35-36).
Contrary to the cognitive social learning theory, gender differences have not been always found to decrease over time. According to the analysis of previous studies, differences in some key sexual activities and attitudes (namely, casual sex and sexual permissiveness) generally decreased over time, while in others (such as attitude towards homosexuals) they went up. The authors attribute this disparity to the fact that “exposure to more sexualized media images in recent years may increase stereotypes about gender differences in sexuality, thus increasing the gender gap … for some sexual behaviors” (Petersen and Hyde 35).
Given the publication medium of this study, the authors’ primary audience are other professionals in the field of gender and sexuality. At the same time, as the authors suggest in their conclusion, this study has important implications for the broader public as the existing gender stereotypes, unsubstantiated by scientific research, hurt both men and women (Petersen and Hyde 36).
The main strength of this research is that it relies on comprehensive and up-to-date data and employs analytical methods that account for publication and other biases. Since the authors supplement their data with the large government data sets, the findings of their research are more reliable and generalizable.
However, as the authors themselves acknowledge, a shortfall of this study is that it excludes certain populations, as previous research mainly focused on white participants between 14 and 30 years old (Petersen and Hyde 36). The study also does not escape another problem that all sexuality research faces: the authors have to rely on reported, rather than actual behaviors and attitudes. Nevertheless, this study is highly significant as it gives scientific weight to the existing perceptions of gender differences in sexuality.
Works Cited
Petersen, Jennifer L. and Janet Shibley Hyde. “A Meta-Analytical Review of Research on Gender Differences in Sexuality, 1993-2007.” Psychological Bulletin 136.1 (2010): 21-38. Print.