Abstinence Memorable Message Narratives: A New Exploratory Research Study Into Young Adult Sexual Narratives

Abstract

Abstinence for most adolescent-aged college students relates to several factors, including strong religious beliefs, an aversion to taking risks, high career expectations, or limited attractiveness. Young adults receive hundreds of messages from various sources; therefore, understanding their memorable sexual messages is essential. This exploratory research uses an interpretive method to unravel the memorable sexual narratives of 65 virgin respondents. Findings yield two primary themes: involuntary abstinence, and conscious abstinence, which demonstrate that messages of abstinence are important yet often imbue punitive internal attitudes and beliefs derived from mainstream media and peer relationships. The article concludes with a recommendation for health practitioners and communication scholars to create positive open spaces where young adults can discuss sexuality, sexual relationships, and sexual behaviors. Additionally, understanding stigmas related to abstinence helps reframe normative sex communication messages and promote constructive short- and long-term sexual health behaviors.

Notes

¹ The survey question explicitly defined sex in terms of vaginal, oral, and anal variations as a means to foster consistent definitions among researchers and participants, something that has been problematic in the past (Sawyer et al., 2007).

² This process involved focusing on the essence of memorable messages (rather than the source or impact) and collapsing more specific preliminary themes into more broadly defined categories.

³ An alternative interpretation of these narratives is that these individuals’ lack of sexual experience is based on a memorable message that “sex is only for those who are attractive by societal standards.” The tenor of the participants’ words, however, does not reveal that this is a message that has been directly processed in those terms.

⁴ The percentage of virgin respondents in a sample of 476 was 14%.

⁵ In fact, some narratives were so short that it proved difficult to get a sense of what made the particular experience so memorable for the participant. Having opportunities to further engage participants for greater explanation and clarification would be extremely valuable in further understanding their experience.

⁶ The sample size regarding self-identified GLBTQ persons was too small to make any meaningful analyses.