Psych Unit 9

Question 1

Difficulty of Studying Sexuality

Answer 1

• Infants can’t be interviewed about their sex lives
• Older children’s understanding of sex is limited - they can be interviewed but they don’t fully understand their sexuality
• The interviewer may influence their replies - data not always reliable

Adults:
- they may have limited memories of their childhood and no recollection at all of their infancy
- retrospective method is hard

Parents and Society:
- hard to get parents to tell a researcher about their child’s sexual behavior – may ask teacher
- this is usually bc people don’t consider children to be sexual beings

• there’s ethical and legal problems
• it’s hard to do direct observational data bc children’s sexual behaviors are infrequent

Question 2

Cross-Cultural Attitudes about Sexuality

Answer 2

• the US is very conservative compared to other countries
  ex: in I Love Lucy Show – first to show a pregnant woman and they said she was “expecting”
• Before the 19th century, it was common for families to live in a one-bedroom house (kids would witness their parents having sex)
• Kids now are exposed a lot less to sexual behaviors

**we view children as innocent beings not exposed to sex

**Children exposed to sexual behaviors early on in life, tend to be okay later in life

Question 3

UCLA Longitudinal Study

Answer 3

Young children who happened to see their parents having sex or naked turned out fine – they were no more likely to experience psychological problems later in childhood than children who did not

• there was a tendency for them to have fewer problems – a finding that is in with another retrospective study

Question 4

Data Sources

Answer 4

We don’t have many sources or data
- we use surveys, questionaires, and interviews
- no researcher has done direct observation of childhood sexuality

Question 5

Early Infancy – General

Answer 5

Infants have a physiological capacity to have genital response present from birth (even in utero)

• some male babies are born with erections
• Female infants are found sometimes with vaginal lubrication after birth – also have been observed touching their vulva in utero
• a lot of physical contact between mom and baby (diaper changing, breastfeeding)

Question 6

Infant Attachment

Answer 6

bond forms in the following hours after birth and continues throughout the period of infancy

• bond forms thru cuddling and other physical contact
• the quality of the attachment influences the child’s ability to form emotional connections w ppl later in life (stable, security, insecurity…)

Question 7

Genital Touching in Infants

Answer 7

6-12 months
- they may touch their genitals unintentionally
- increases at 15-19 months

Question 8

Masturbation in Infants

Answer 8

2.5-3 years

• This tends to be oberveded equally between girls and boys at this stage
• These behaviors don’t indicate pathology
• Orgasms from self-stimulation are possible at this age (boys can’t ejaculate before puberty)

Question 9

Importance of Parent’s Reactions

Answer 9

This behavior is normative at this age, and if parents treat it that way, it can encourage more positive attitudes towards the body and sex

• Kids learn from their parent’s behaviors

ex: if parents see kid masturbate and have a positive reaction, kid won’t feel ashamed to do it in the future

Question 10

Infancy to 4 years: Learning Gender Concepts

Answer 10

• kids can understand sex at 3-4 months of age
• at 2-3 yrs old kids understand gender identity
• bc they have this now, they start to imitate their peers and want to become part of their gender’s group (if they’re a girl, they wear pink)
• a lot of this is bc of reward and punishment (kids look to see how their parents respond to them)

4-6 age:
- kids have a rigid understanding of gender but it becomes more fluid as they get older
- more social and sexual play happens
- kids want to look at genitals
- girls might try to pee like boys

Question 11

Trans Children’s Development

Answer 11

• kids at a young age may start to question their gender
• they question the rigid gender rules (maybe if they’re a girl they will cut their hair very short)

1% of kids don’t identify with the gender they were born with
- they show cross-gender behavior
- they may be reffered to a doctor and diagnosed with gender dysphoria

Question 12

Childhood 5-11

Answer 12

Freud was wrong about latency – it’s not a sexually dormant period
- lots of sexual behaviors exhibited at this stage

Question 13

Adrenarche Stage:

Answer 13

Adrenarche = (the maturation of the adrenal glands) occurs around 8-10 years old

• leads to increased levels of androgens in both girls and boys
• In a study, the average age of having a sexual attraction to each other was 10 (probably linked to adrenarche and the rise in androgens)

Question 14

Childhood: Masturbation

Answer 14

40% of college kids said they masturbated before puberty
- boys do it before girls
- Around 40% of boys and 20% of girls report masturbation by age 12

• Boys and girls learn about masturbation in different ways (boys = male peers, seeing male peers doing it, reading about it) ; (girls = accidental self-discovery)

Question 15

Gender segregated social organization

Answer 15

Only played with people of your gender (girls play with girls)

Sexual exploration is likely to be with kids from the same gender

Kids learn more about heterosexual activity (from media, friends, and older kids)

*children who engage in sexual play are just as well-adjusted as kids who didn’t

Question 16

Heteronormativity

Answer 16

Learn a lot about sex in terms of heteronormativity

heteronormativity = belief that heterosexualiuty is the only pattern that is normal and natural

ex: They think that boys and girls are different and that boys should be attracted to girls (vice versa)

Question 17

Gender Essentialism

Answer 17

Gender essentialism: the belief that boys and girls are very different from one another (girls should be attracted to boys)

Question 18

Same Gender Sexual Behavior in Children

Answer 18

Gender-segregated social organization = boys play separately from girls, and so children spend most of their time with members of their own gender

• Sexual exploration is likley to be down with the same gender
  ex: boys do a circle jerk
  ex: girls may kiss each other’s necks

Study of lesbian, gay, and bisexual kids found that on average they reported their first same-gender sexual attraction at age 10 or 11

Question 19

Goldman Study 1982

Answer 19

interviewed kids from 4 diff countries (5-15)

results:
- American children no nothing about sexuality
- 50% of Australian kids knew the correct terms for genitals and only 20% of American kids did

-

Question 20

How Are Babies Made? Study

Answer 20

Compared the US to 3 European countries
- They asked 6-year-olds to make drawings of how babies are made and then told them to explain it

results:
The kids in the US knew much less than the kids from the European countries (a lot less)
- The kids also filled out the sexual awareness scale, and many of the US kids scored a 0

Question 21

Are Today’s Children Being Sexualized?

Answer 21

sexualization = occurs when a person is valued only by their sexual appeal or behavior, when a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy, a person is sexually objectified, and when sexuality is inappropriately imposed on a child

ex: beauty pageants

• they think media is making this worse
• sexualization is also when girls are being treated like objects

being of this, many do self-sexualization and get cosmetic surgery later

Question 22

How the Sexualization of Teen Girls on Social Media is Affecting their Self-Esteem:

Answer 22

This gets talked about a lot on the news
- public panic about this
- They think it is about the way girls dress today, filters on social media, and how the influencers pose and act (young girls want to mimic this behavior)

• The sexualization of girls has an impact on their mood, school performance, and self-esteem (could lead to depression and anxiety)

Question 23

Adolescence: Surge of Sexual Interest

Answer 23

12-18

Happens because of bodily changes and awareness of them and rises in levels of sex hormones
- See this data in masturbation

Not all adolescent sex is good sex – sometimes they’re too young, it’s unprotected, or the sex is coerced
- Lots of processes being developed (sexual identity, gender identity)
- More than 50% of US teens report being in a romantic relationship in the past 18 months
***a lot of the data on this is negative bc they talk abt how sex is risky for adolescents
– kinsey increased our knowledge about it especially in women

In high school students, 15-19 – 41% of girls did this and 40% of boys had heterosexual sex

Question 24

Puberty

Answer 24

Marked by biological changes that affect the entire body

• Development of secondary sex characteristics (facial and body hair)
• latin word (puescere) = to grow hair
• Girls develop breasts and mensturate
• Boys get enlargement of testes, scortum, penis, voice deepening and their first ejaculation
• Boys can have erections before puberty but can’t ejaculate before puberty
• All experience growth spurts
• All can experience acne
• Changes in the brain

**a lot of western cultures have an earlier onset of puberty for girls and boys
- This happens because we have changed our diets (we eat more kinds of foods and eat a lot of nutrient-dense foods, which makes kids grow faster and makes them grow more fat
- Also happens because of industrial pollutants

• girls of color usually get their periods before white girls

Question 25

Urdy’s Theoretical Model: 1988

Answer 25

He thinks early teen sex results from factors: - he measured their hormone levels Social factors: permissive attitudes, father absence of girls, church attendance Biological factors: testosterone levels Biological effects can either magnify or suppress the effects of social factors — these work to predict the age of when someone might first have sex (attending church makes someone older age of having sex) ***results: 35% of the boys and 14% of the girls had engaged in intercourse *the study shows that testosterone levels impact sexuality of adolescent boys and girls

Question 26

Kinsey: Cumulative Incidence of Masturbation

Answer 26

- Age is lower in men and steeper - In women, it’s not as steep - This happens around 13 or 15, masturbation increases - At 15, 82% of the boys in the Kinsey study had masturbated - Cis women masturbated later than cis men - Trans women and trans men started at 10-12 - Non-binary people half reported masturbating at 10-12

Question 27

Attitudes Towards Masturbation:

Answer 27

We have pretty positive attitudes about masturbation now - Dramatic changes about it - Now much more positive (people used to think it caused blindness) More information on masturbation now – What a Boy Should Know (handout) was written - Now recommended as a remedy in sex therapy

Question 28

Too Early Sex

Answer 28

- 6% of kids have sex before 13 in the US - Those who have intercourse too young are less likely to use a condom (increases teen pregnancies) factors indicating increase earlier sex: - Living with non-biological parents - Less parental monitoring - Parents with less education - Poor parental relationship - More dating - More television viewing - Permissive attitudes about intercourse - Females who reported early sex were less likely to be married 10-12 years later - Teens who have sex earlier are more likely to engage in risky behavior (not use a condom, get STIs)

Question 29

Teen Pregnancy

Answer 29

it's not inherently a bad thing - very stigmatized - Public health research says that it might be biologically adaptive to have earlier pregnancies negatives: - When teens get pregnant unintended and have the baby, the children are less likely to be breastfed and more likely to have health problems than other children - Impairs teens’ ability to get education and employment (hard to be in college when you have a baby) ***The rate of teen pregnancy has steadily declined throughout decades

Question 30

Romantic Relationships

Answer 30

- Intercourse usually happens with adolescents in a romantic relationship - Relationships can contribute to psychological development — can have negative outcomes too (sexual violence) - High-quality relationships are associated with qualities of support and emotional intimacy **How teens learn the scripts needed to sustain a long-term relationship

Question 31

Internet Use, Risk, and Sexting

Answer 31

Sexting = sending sexually charged messages or images by cell phone or other device Consequences of sending nudes (child pornography) - Lots of horror stories of people getting in big trouble (federal level) for sending or receiving nudes

Question 32

Risky Sex and the Adolescent Brain

Answer 32

They engage in risky sexual behavior because their brain has an uneven maturation pace - Areas of the brain associated with emotion develop earlier than impulse control areas of the brain The amygdala - emotion Ventral striatum - pleasure seeking - These two mature earlier Prefrontal cortex - impulse control - matures later **part of risky behavior is biological bc your brain develops later

Question 33

The College Years

Answer 33

19-22 This period is “emerging adults” - a time for sexual exploration - The media portrays college students as having lots of hookups, but sexuality and engaging it is diverse (not all people engage in hookup culture) hooking up = a sexual encounter that involves people who are strangers or brief acquaintances without an expectation of forming a relationship - usually hookups are bad - Men may be rewarded or viewed as cool for having hooked up with a lot of people, whereas women are called sluts

Question 34

Casual Sex

Answer 34

- thought not be very pleasurable - big orgasm gap between men and women Double Standard = men gain a lot of social status and respect when they have a high number of sexual partners, whereas women can be labeled a slut for engaging in the same sexual activities 4 types of casual sex: One-night stand Friends with benefits Fuck buddy – has intercourse regularly but that’s it Booty call

Question 35

Erik Erikson's Model

Answer 35

Erik Erikson came up with a model of how we experience crises at each stage of life - Social influences are important for determining the outcome of the crisis ex: if a child masturbates at 5 (showing autonomy and initiative) – if the parents react to it that by punishing them, the child may feel shame and guilt **his model doesn't account for the crisis between identity and role confusion