Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Graham, Steven

Keywords

Self-Determination, Sex, Sexuality, Sexual Adjustment, Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness, Virgin, Virginity

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Self-Determination theory has been variously applied to different health constructs. This theory posits that people have three basic needs; autonomy, competence, and relatedness. These needs are satisfied the most when a person engages in intrinsically motivated behaviors (done for the experience alone with a perceived internal locus of control). In this thesis we explored how the motivational style of participants influenced their motivations to engage in their first sexual experience. We also explored how the participant's motivations for their first sexual experience influenced their immediate affective reactions, their current sexual self-efficacy, and their current sexual anxiety. Our initial hypotheses were not supported in the study. We did find that participants who cited marriage as their motivation for their first sexual experience had higher sexual anxiety scores (F (3, 25) = 4.389, p = .013), but with on three participants in this motivational category we are cautious of the conclusions we can draw.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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