Citation

Seal DW, Smith M, Coley B, Perry J, Gamez M. Sex Roles 2007; 58(9-10): 626-638.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11199-007-9369-z

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A heterogeneous sample of 38 young adult heterosexual couples living in a US city (N = 76) provided narratives about their first, most physically arousing, and most emotionally intimate sexual experiences. Physical arousal and passion and emotional intimacy intrapsychic scripts were evident across all three sexual experiences, although both discourses encompassed multiple sub-themes. First sexual occasions generally adhered to more traditional interpersonal sexual scripts, while greater mutuality was observed in the other two sexual experiences. Traditional interpersonal scripts were most prevalent within couples in which there was a greater male-to-female age differential and in which the male partner was older or Black. Our findings reinforce the need to systematically examine sexual scripts among underrepresented populations and across diverse types of sexual experiences.