How does sexuality change in the childhood and adolescence? - Chapter 9

Lifespan development refers to the study on sexuality across the lifespan.

What kind of scientific data sources are available to study sexual behaviour?

The Kinsey reports and the NHSLS (Laumann et al., 1994) are the main sources of studying sex. Surveys are often being used, but they are subject to errors with recall and memory. Another option is studying sexual behaviour and arousal. Especially research of sexuality in children is very problematic in this sense and brings ethical concerns.

What do we know about sexuality during infancy and preschool years?

Freud was one of the first to acknowledge sexuality in children. The capacity to show sexual responses are present from birth. Reflex erections even happen before birth in the uterus. The first intimate relation that is experiences is with a parent, especially with the mother. This relationship involves a lot of physical contact can produces a sensuous response. There are several concepts that are important in studying infant and preschool sexuality.

• Attachment refers to the bond between infant and mother, father or caregiver. The bond starts to form right after birth and continues until the end of infancy. Attachment is the first encounter with emotional intimacy and love. The capacity of romantic attachment is based on the attachment style that an infant had with its parents.

• Self-stimulation occurs in infants, around the age of sex to twelve children start to touch their own genitals. This behaviour is quite normal and even orgasms are possible.

• Child-child encounters occur from the age of four to five, when children become more social. Children may hug each other or hold hands. Some children learn about heterosexual behaviour by seeing their parents have sex, or witnessing the primal scene. According to Freud this could inhibit one’s sexual development.

• Sexual knowledge and interests start in the preschool years. Children become interested in different forms of urinating and children enjoy hugging and kissing their parents. They also learn about marriage.

• Knowledge about gender starts around the age of two or three. Children start to develop a gender identity. Some children start to exhibit cross-gender behaviour. Others might experience gender dysphoria.

What is known about childhood sexuality?

The term latency is used by Freud to refer to a period in childhood where the Oedipus complex is resolved. During latency, sexual urges are not expressed. Therefore, sexual awakening for most people happens during adolescence. Adrenarche is explained as the maturation of the adrenal glands and occurs around eight to ten years of age. It indicates that sex hormone action happens way before adolescence. Many people recall sexual attraction to another person by the age of ten.

• Masturbation often happens before puberty. Orgasms are recalled by many people before the age of twelve.

• Heterosexual behaviour is learned through gender and learning about intercourse. The response to children learning about intercourse is often a combination between shock and disbelief.

• Same-gender sexual behaviour is a normal part in the sexual development of children. Children often have a gender-segregated social organisation where boys play separately from girls and spend most of their time among other children of the same gender. Therefore, they will exhibit sexual behaviours such as kissing or masturbating with each other.

• Sex knowledge and interests are often shaped by heteronormativity, the belief that heterosexuality is the only pattern of acceptable sexual behaviour.

• The sexualization of children is something many parents are worried about. It includes the value of sexual appeal -or behaviour, standard attractiveness, sexual objectification of a person and unappropriated imposed sexuality on a child. One example is when little girls play with sexualized dolls or when little boys are exposed to television shows stating boys should have “buff” bodies and be aggressive.

What is known about sexuality in adolescence?

The term adolescence is describing the period from age eleven/twelve to age twenty-one/twenty-two. Sexuality plays an important and positive role in adolescence and psychological development. However, not all adolescence sex is good. Most research found the negative aspects and consequences of adolescent sex for the family and society. Both social and biological factors are important in the adolescent development of sexuality. For example, testosterone levels in boys play a significant role in sexual activity such as masturbation and intercourse.

• The amount of masturbation increases from the age thirteen to fifteen. They used to believe it led to insanity, but attitudes are more positive now. This results in a change of attitude and affect behaviour and feelings about masturbation.

• Same-gender sexual behaviour is mostly recognised between the age of fourteen and twenty-one.

• Heterosexual behaviour is the major sexual outlet and often starts with kissing and progresses towards oral sex and vaginal intercourse. In many countries, the age where people start with sexual intercourse has risen as people become less influenced by family and community and more by mass media.

• Too early sex has several risks including teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease.

• Romantic relationships during adolescence often include sexual behaviour. Low-quality relationships with conflict, controlling behaviour and dating violence can be negative outcomes of these relationships. Also, these relationships are important for learning skills and scripts for future relationships.

• New technologies have a major effect on sexual identity and learning about the body. Sexting is defined as sending of sexually charges messages or images. Consequences of sexting can be serious, when someone receives a sexting message from someone under aged this suffices as possession of child pornography.

What is known about sexual behaviour in college years?

College years are known for experimenting with sexual behaviour with little or no responsibility. There is less information available of people in the same age group that did not follow a college education.

• Masturbating during the college years is very normal. Around eighty percent of women and ninety-eight percent of men masturbate during the college years. It is a source of great pleasure, but also seen as a taboo. Especially women struggle with this kind of contradiction.

• Patterns of heterosexual behaviour can be very different between individuals during these years. There are different clusters: active unprotected, satisfied, pressured and inactive.

• Casual sex or hooking up refers to a sexual encounter between strangers of brief acquaintances. Much of this sex is bad, because it is either coercive or unpleasant. Friends with benefits refers to two people without a romantic connection engaging in occasional sex. A fuck buddy is someone to have sexual intercourse with but is not a friend or romantic partner. A booty call is the urgent request for sexual activity to a person who is not a romantic partner. The difference with hooking up is that these people are not in the same room with each other (yet).

• Same-gender sexual behaviour occurs more between women than men in the college years. People in college start to form a sexual orientation, such as lesbian, bi, gay or straight.

How does sexuality aid develop?

Erikson (1950, 1968) proposed a model of psychosocial behaviour that explained eight life cycles with crises of development. Social influences are particularly important in the outcomes of these crises. Some of the outcomes of the crises are linked to sexuality. For example, the crisis between autonomy and shame. When a young child masturbates this shows initiative an autonomy but will often be punished leading to shame and might lead to a loss of self-esteem. Furthermore, the crisis on intimacy and isolation explains the role of sexuality in the development of the capacity for intimacy.