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A Comparison of Adult Attitudes Toward Their Parents' Sexuality and Their Parents' Attitudes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Nicole Poulin  and
Brian L. Mishara
Nicole Poulin
Affiliation:
MÉTRO Local Community Service Centre
Brian L. Mishara
Affiliation:
Université du Québec à Montréal
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Abstract

This study compared the attitudes of adult children toward the sexuality of their older parents with their parent's own attitudes toward sexuality. A 56-item questionnaire was given to 41 family pairs consisting of a parent over age 65 and his or her son or daughter. Questions were based upon previous studies and involved six point Likért ratings. In general, attitudes toward sexuality were positive among parents and their adult children. However, adult children had significantly more positive attitudes than their parents. This difference was primarily due to more positive attitudes toward physical aspects of sexual behaviours. Overall, the disapproval and negative attitudes of adult children reported in previous research were not found in this study. Adult children had positive attitudes, much more positive attitudes than their parents, possibly due to a cohort effect

Résumé

Cette recherche compare les attitudes des enfants adultes concernant la sexualité de leurs parents âgés avec les attitudes de leurs parents concernant la sexualité. Quarante-et-un parents ayant plus de 65 ans et leurs fils ou filles ont répondu à un questionnaire de 56 items. Les questions découlent de recherches antérieures et les réponses devaient être indiquées selon une grille d'analyse de type «Likert» de six points. Les attitudes des parents concernant la sexualité ainsi que celles de leurs enfants d'âge adulte étaient généralement positives. Les attitudes des enfants adultes étaient significativement plus positives que celles de leurs parents. Cette différence est due principalement à une attitude plus positive chez les enfants concernant les aspects physiques des comportements sexuels. Cette recherche n'a pas démontré la présence d'attitudes négatives de la part des enfants adultes. Les attitudes des enfants adultes étaient positives et généralement plus positives que celles de leurs parents, possiblement à cause de différences de cohortes.

Keywords

Sexual AttitudesSexualityIntergenerational Differences.Attitudes sexuellessexualitédifférences intergénérationnelles.
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , Printemps/Spring 1994 , pp. 96 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1994

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