Search Here

Making out boosts and make love cuts social status among teenage girls, according to a new study.

However, the opposite is true for teenage boys. Kissing lowers social status while having sex boosts popularity.

"In our sample of early adolescents, girls' friendship networks shrink significantly after they have sex, whereas boys' friendship networks expand significantly," lead researcher Derek A. Kreager, an associate professor of sociology and criminology at Pennsylvania State University, said in a news release. "But what really surprised us was that 'making out' showed a pattern consistent with a strong reverse sexual double standard, such that girls who 'make out' without having sex see significant increases in friendships, and boys who engage in the same behavior see significant decreases in friendships."

The latest study, which involved 921 students from the PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) longitudinal study, revealed that girls experienced a 25 percent increase in peer acceptance after making out without having sex. In contrast, boys experienced a 29 percent decrease in popularity after making out without sex. However, sex was linked to a 45 percent decrease in peer acceptance for girls and 88 percent increase for boys.

"Our results are consistent with traditional gender scripts," said Kreager. "Men and boys are expected to act on innate or strong sex drives to initiate heterosexual contacts for the purpose of sex rather than romance and pursue multiple sexual partnerships. In contrast, women and girls are expected to desire romance over sex, value monogamy, and 'gatekeep' male sexual advances within committed relationships. A sexual double standard then arises because women and girls who violate traditional sexual scripts and have casual and/or multiple sexual partnerships are socially stigmatized, whereas men and boys performing similar behaviors are rewarded for achieving masculine ideals."

"This pattern suggests that other boys are the peers that police social norms when it comes to masculinity, whereas girls receive strong messages about gender-appropriate sexual behavior from boys and girls," he explained. "It is not surprising that girls do not punish boys for 'making out,' as this behavior is rewarding for girls both socially and physically. However, there is somewhat of a paradox for boys stigmatizing girls who have sex because these boys are punishing girls for behavior that benefits boys both socially and sexually. We believe one reason for this is that only a small minority of boys have such sexual access, so those who do not have sex negatively define the girls who are having sex."

"During early adolescence, peer evaluations of initial sexual behaviors and virginity loss are likely to have large and lasting impacts on later sexual adjustment," Kreager concluded.

The latest findings will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.