lso, even though women’s reasons for not having sex were more passionate ( i.e.; waiting for love, commitment) the number one reason for keeping virginity amongst male and females, was “ I’m waiting for the right one”. This indicates that many people are just waiting for the so-called “ perfect person” to sweep them off their feet.Sprecher and Regan found that apparently, both men and women in their sample desired sex, but abstained from it because they required an “appropriate” reason to become sexually active ( e.g., the “right” person) ; sought to avoid some real, potentially negative consequences of sexual intercourse ( e.g., unplanned pregnancy, disease); and were attempting to act in service of their personal beliefs ( “ College Virgins” 11 ) . Overall, the ratings of these reasons were very similar for men and women. However, they did find that gender differences were given to many of these reasons. The virgin women participants were more concerned than their male counterparts with interpersonal reasons for their virginity ( i.e., not enough love or not having met the right person) (Sprecher and Regan 12). They believe that the reason for this is stemmed in the adolescence upbringing of these individuals. They believe that during adolescence, girls are more likely than boys to have discussed the issue of abstinence and other sexual topics with their parents, laying the foundation for a general knowledge of acceptance of virginity. Finally, college virgins do not abstain from sex because of lack of sexual desire. This finding doesn’t support the stereotype of a “ frigid virgin” . The number one reason for abstaining amongst men and women had to do with the meeting of the “right person”. In a study by Herold and Goodwin, they also found this to be true.Another study that examined the first sexual experience amongst college youth, a...
