Differences between young adult perceptions of family environment, family values, sexual behavior, sexual attitudes and attitude toward divorce by gender and family type

Graduation date: 1989Four questions were examined concerning student\ud perceptions of their launching family environment,\ud expected family environment, family values, sexual\ud attitudes and behavior, and attitudes toward divorce.\ud A total of 383 college students from three family types\ud participated in this study: intact (298, 77.8%),\ud divorced (47, 12.3%), and remarried (38, 9.9%). The\ud sample was evenly split between males (185; 48.9%) and\ud females (198; 51.1%). Using a 2 x 3 Manova for gender\ud by family type, no gender differences were found on the\ud Moos Family Environment Scale (R). Differences between\ud family type were revealed on two of ten subscales:\ud Moral-Religious Emphasis and Organization. Student\ud reports of their expectations of their future families\ud were compared on the Moos Family Environment Scale\ud (E), but family type differences were revealed subscale:\ud Control. Gender differences were found on five of the\ud ten Moos FES(E) subscales: Cohesion, Expressiveness,\ud Intellectual-Cultural Orientation, Active-Recreational\ud Orientation, and Moral-Religious emphasis. On a second\ud question, family type differences were found when\ud students evaluated three questions comprising the\ud Attitude Toward Divorce Scale (Ladd & Pratt, 1988).\ud Students from divorced families were more accepting of\ud divorce than students from the other two family groups,\ud and students from remarried families were more accepting\ud of divorce than students from intact families. On a\ud third question, no gender or family type differences\ud were found on the Hudson Short Form of the Sexual\ud Attitude Scale or student first sexual behaviors.\ud A fourth question, an attempt to measure student values\ud on the Family Value Index proved insignificant.\ud Examination of descriptive statistics indicates that\ud students from all three family types consider family\ud values to be very important. In conclusion, it appears\ud that gender is more discriminating than family type on\ud how family social environment is perceived. The\ud experience of living in a particular family type does\ud effect student attitudes toward divorce, but no judgment\ud can be made about future divorce behavior