Published as a separate and in The Journal of Marriage, 1983, 85, 20- 21.

EFFECTS OF JUNIOR HIGH GIRLS HAVING SEX ON THEIR DIVORCE RATE BY THE TIME THEY TURN THIRTY^{12 3}

Departments of Sexual Relations and Divorce, Lovell West University

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of junior high girls having sex on their divorce rate by the time they turn thirty. Forty junior high girls Ss were divided by current sexual activity and promises of future continuance into an experimental group (having sex on a regular basis) and a control group (no sex now and until they are married).
At the end of a sixteen year program the two groups were very different. The divorce rate was twice as high for the women who had sex in junior high compared with the women that had waited until marriage. The women who had waited were successful in life and with their families as well, almost all of them were extremely self confident and happy with their lives. The women who had sex at the junior high age and continued through out their high school career were depressed, some had a hard time holding down a job, many became teenage mothers. A few were alcohol and drug addicts, and only five had successfully had a marriage last for at least five years.

A. INTRODUCTION

Sex is a good thing for many people, when they are old enough to be participating in such a big responsibility. Many people have sex, many teenagers have sex. In middle school the average of girls having sex is 16%. It is believed that having sex at an early age does damage to the development of the mind for young girls. Empirical studies have sustained these beliefs in part. Rogers (2) found that girls under the age of sixteen that are having sex are more prone to disease than girls who wait to have sex. In a similar study Donald (1) showed that women who wait to have sex until they are married are happier in life.
These studies suggest that by women waiting to have sex until they are married will help them later on in life with their marriages, careeners, and self confidence. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of junior high girls having sex and the divorce rate of women at thirty years old.

B. METHOD

1. Subjects

Ss were forty junior high females enrolled at Mt. Ararat Junior High School in Tampa, Florida.

2. Measuring Instruments

a. Florida Lie Detector Test. The Florida Lie Detector Test was developed by Gelwick (3) and has a reliability of .98. Ss took a lie detector test to assure that the control group was continuing to maintain abstinence and the experimental group was continuing to have sex.
b. Divorce rate Index. This is a survey that was taken by Thomas (4) on what the percentage of divorces is when the women have sex before they are married. Ss took this after the sixteen year program.

3. Procedure

In September of 1984 forty junior high girls were chosen to be in a sixteen year experiment. Twenty of the girls signed a contract that restricted them from having sex until they were married. The other twenty signed a contract that assured their sexual activity for sixteen years.
The students who were selected to participate in the experiment were randomly assigned to one of two groups- an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group was required to maintain sexual activity for sixteen years. They had to have sex at least once a week and at the end of the sixteen years they were given a lie detector test to make sure that they had done what they signed the contract to do.
The control group signed a contract that assured that they would practice abstinence until they were married, or for the next sixteen years, which ever came first. At the end of the sixteen years they to were given a lie detector test to make sure that they had completed their contract as well.
After the lie detector tests were given a survey was taken on how many of the women had been divorced, how many were happy with their lives, and how many had successfully maintained a marriage for at least five years.

C. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Following the sixteen year program the experimental group had twice as many divorces, one of the women had committed suicide, and three were either alcoholics or drug addicts.
The control group was extremely different from the experimental group. Out of the twenty, 17 were married and had been for at least five years, 13 out of the married ones had a family, none of the twenty had any children out of wedlock, and all of them were very happy with themselves and felt very successful in life.

REFERENCES

1. DONALD, R. Sex, Happiness, & Marriage. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1982.
2. ROGERS, K. Sex & Disease. New York: Franklin Watts, 1977.
3. GELWICK, B. Lie Detectors. New York: Hadden Crafts Men, Inc., 1980.
4. THOMAS, J. Divorce Rate Index. New York: Warner Books, 1976.


Department of Sexual Education
Lovell West University
202169 SFLA
Lovell, Maine 02069

¹ Received i n the editorial office on September 21, 1983, and published immediately at Brunswick, Maine. Copyright by The Journal Press.

² This experiment was supported in part by a Faculty Research Fellowship granted to Alexander M. Copp and Cheverson V. Smith by Lovell West University.

³ Requests for reprints should be sent to the fourth author at the address shown at the end of this article.