Multiple Orgasm in the Human Male

<< Pre-marital Intercourse and Age >>

The term coitus, as used in the present volume, refers to a union of female and male genitalia. The term intercourse, when used without a modifier, is often intended as an exact synonym of coitus; but the term intercourse may also be used with a modifier, as in the phrases oral or anal intercourse, to refer to the union of the genitalia of one individual with some non-genital portion of another individual’s body. In this broader sense it is possible for two individuals of the same sex, as well as two of the opposite sex, to have intercourse; but coitus can be had only between individuals of opposite sex. The data in the present chapter are limited to coital activities, meaning heterosexual, vaginal intercourse between females and males.

In all other anthropoids effective coitus develops out of pre-adolescent attempts at heterosexual relations and begins as soon as the animal is physically capable and psychically oriented toward socio-sexual contacts. While there are families of a sort among anthropoids in the wild, where the male’s right to his females may be defended against outsiders, there is, of course, nothing to demark pre-marital from marital chapters in the coital history. Among some of the most poorly educated groups in our own culture the distinctions between pre-marital and marital experience are hardly greater than those among the sub-human anthropoids; and there is no doubt that all males in an uninhibited society would have pre-adolescent and adolescent intercourse before marriage if there were no social restraints to prevent them. The only conceivable exceptions would be found among those few individuals who were either physically incapable or physically so weak that they could not assert themselves against competing males.

It is, in consequence, not surprising to find that most human males do have intercourse prior to marriage. Twenty-two per cent of all the preadolescents attempt coitus, chiefly between age ten and adolescence (Table 27). Having once begun, the childhood activity carries over into adolescence in more than half of all the cases—among three-quarters of all the boys of the lower educational levels (Table 29). Heterosexual coitus provides the first ejaculation for an eighth (12.5%) of all the boys (Table 38), for a higher percentage (18.5%) of the boys who will not go beyond grade school, and for a much lower percentage (1.4%) of those who will ultimately go to college.

Nearly 50 per cent of the females in our sample had had coitus before they were married (the data do not cover pre-adolescent activities, or the activities of females who were again single because they were widowed or divorced).
    The incidences of pre-marital coitus reported in previous surveys are highly diverse because of the limited and selected samples on which the studies were based. The data represent accumulative incidences only when they are based on married females for whom the pre-marital period was, in consequence, complete. The following American studies were so based: Hamilton 1929:347 (35 per cent of 100 upper level females). Strakosch 1934:53 (22 per cent of 298 psychopaths). Glueck and Glueck 1934:88 (74 per cent of 254 females who were married before commitment to a reformatory). Terman 1938:320 (37 per cent of 777 females). Landis et al. 1940:290 (36 per cent of 85 married females). Warner 1943:295 (42 per cent of 402 brides who sought medical consultation). Locke 1951:134 (35 per cent of 200 happily married females, and 41 per cent of 201 divorced females).
    The data in the following are incomplete because they were based on single females: Achilles 1923:50 (24 per cent). Dickinson and Beam 1934:32, 425-426, 459 (12 to 33 per cent). Strakosch 1934:53 (19 per cent of 402 single psychopathic females), Landis et al. 1940:64 (25 per cent of 210 single females). Warner 1940:6 (38 per cent of 93 engaged females). Clark 1952:27 (63 per cent of a clinical sample of 107 females).
    Because the data were not systematically gathered, the figures in the following American studies are quite inadequate: Davis 1929:19 (7 per cent). Dickinson and Beam 1931:81 (8 per cent).
    Non-American incidence data on pre-marital coitus may be found in: Schbankov acc. Weissenberg 1924a: 13 (10 per cent of 263 single Russian students). Hellmann acc. Weissenberg 1924b :212 (67 per cent of 104 married, middle class Russian females). Golossowker acc. Weissenberg 1925:175 (16 per cent of 107 married Russian females). Gurewitsch and Woroschbit 1930:66 (23 per cent of 1696 married Russian peasants). Diick 1941:11 (80 per cent of 500 German females). Asayama 1949:175 (5 per cent of 282 Japanese college females). Brattgârd 1950:1678 (74 per cent of 114 Swedish females). Friedeburg 1950:12 (69 per cent of 517 German females). Fink 1950:34 (44 per cent of 100 Australian females). Jonsson in Wangson 1951:195-196 (52 per cent of 132 single Swedish females and 80 per cent of 182 married Swedish females). England acc. Rosenthal 1951:56 (39 per cent of single British females, and 47 per cent of married British females). Slater and Woodside 1951:288 (40 per cent of 172 British working class wives).

Table 99. Comparisons of older and younger generations of the college level:
total intercourse, and total pre-marital intercourse

Accumulative Incidence, Two Generations Educational Level 13+
Age	Total Intercourse				Pre-marital Intercourse
	Older Generation		Younger Generation		Older Generation		Younger Generation
	Cases	% with Exper.	Cases	% with Exper.	Cases	% with Exper.	Cases	% with Exper.
8	382	0.0	2435	0.0	382	0.0	2435	0.0
9	382	0.0	2435	0.0	382	0.0	2435	0.0
10	382	0.0	2435	0.0	382	0.0	2435	0.0
11	382	0.0	2435	0.2	382	0.0	2435	0.3
12	382	0.5	2345	1.1	382	0.5	2435	1.1
13	382	3.7	2435	3.0	382	3.7	2435	3.0
14	382	6.3	2435	5.9	382	6.3	2435	5.9
15	382	9.4	2435	9.5	382	9.4	2435	9.5
16	382	14.9	2434	15.6	382	14.9	2434	15.6
17	382	21.5	2432	23.4	381	21.3	2431	23.4
18	382	27.2	2356	31.5	381	27.0	2353	31.4
19	382	32.5	2192	39.3	380	31.8	2185	39.0
20	382	40.1	1957	46.8	376	38.8	1932	45.4
21	382	44.5	1651	52.4	369	42.5	1611	50.6
22	382	52.4	1290	60.0	363	48.2	1218	55.8
23	382	58.9	1015	64.5	342	52.9	907	58.4
24	382	66.0	770	70.3	320	55.3	647	61.2
25	382	72.8	620	76.5	292	62.0	469	65.9
26	382	79.3	502	80.7	262	63.0	341	66.9
27	382	82.5	392	82.7	214	64.0	218	66.1
28	382	84.8	317	85.5	185	65.9	144	67.4
29	382	87.4	252	86.5	164	67.7	96	66.7
30	382	89.3	191	90.1	142	69.7	60	63.3
31	382	90.8	147	91.2	123	69.1
32	382	91.9	110	89.1	106	69.8
33	382	92.1	66	84.8	96	69.8
Pre-marital intercourse based on single males, including intercourse with companions and with prostitutes. Total intercourse based on life span, including pre-marital, marital, extra-marital, and post-marital relations with companions and with prostitutes. Median difference of age between the two generations is 22 years.

Figures 110-111. Comparisons of accumulative incidence for older and younger generations of college level:
total and pre-marital intercourse.

Data for total intercourse include all coital experience, regardless of marital status.
Median age difference between the two generations is 22 years.

Finally, the fundamental position of heterosexual coitus in the lives of younger males is attested by the fact that the place of intercourse in the present day is not materially different from what it was twenty-two years ago (Table 99). As regards the incidences and frequencies with which it is had in each social level, intercourse in the present generation is about what it was a generation or two ago. For the college segment of the population, as many males are involved, and with the same frequencies, as in the older generations. In view of the considerable efforts that have been made by some groups to control pre-marital intercourse, this failure to change the pattern is most significant. For the lower educational levels, the accumulative incidence figures for the younger generation are also the same as those for the older generation; but the lower level boys of the younger generation start earlier and have higher frequencies at an earlier age. This earlier activity may be the product of improved nutritional and health conditions in the lower levels today.

In any sort of coitus there are many females who do not reach orgasm in more than a portion of their contacts. This is true whether the coitus be pre-marital, marital, or extra-marital. The accumulative incidence curve of females who had responded to the point of orgasm more or less parallels the accumulative incidence curve for experience in pre-marital coitus, but at a somewhat lower level. Approximately two-thirds of the females in the active sample had reached orgasm, on at least some occasion, in their premarital coitus. Interestingly enough, the percentage of the pre-marital coitus which had led to orgasm for the females in the sample seems not to have been materially different from the percentage of marital coitus which had led to orgasm.

Table 136. Accumulative incidence data on total pre-marital intercourse

Age	Total Pre-marital Intercourse: Accumulative Incidence Data
	Total Population U. S. Corrections		Educ. Level 0-8		Educ. Level 9-12		Educ. Level 13+
	Cases	% with Exper.	Cases	% with Exper.	Cases	% with Exper..	Cases	% with Exper.
8	3994	0.0	683	0.0	494	0.0	2817	0.0
9	3994	0.0	683	0.0	494	0.0	2817	0.0
10	3994	0.0	683	0.1	494	0.0	2817	0.0
11	3993	1.0	682	1.3	494	1.0	2817	0.2
12	3993	4.9	682	6.5	494	5.1	2817	1.0
13	3992	13.8	681	14.5	494	16.2	2817	3.1
14	3989	27.8	678	28.0	494	33.4	2817	6.0
15	3982	38.8	671	42.2	494	44.7	2817	9.5
16	3957	51.6	652	56.9	489	58.1	2816	15.5
17	3887	61.3	608	66.8	467	68.3	2812	23.1
18	3709	68.2	560	76.1	415	73.7	2734	30.8
19	3418	71.5	501	80.0	352	75.6	2565	38.0
20	3031	73.1	438	82.9	285	75.1	2308	44.4
21	2597	74.9	385	83.6	232	76.7	1980	49.1
22	2078	76.6	310	83.5	187	78.6	1581	54.1
23	1662	78.7	257	85.2	156	80.8	1249	56.9
24	1317	80.2	224	87.1	126	81.7	967	59.3
25	1061	83.3	189	89.9	111	83.8	761	64.4
26	861	83.1	165	91.5	93	81.7	603	65.2
27	663	84.3	150	92.0	81	84.0	432	65.0
28	530	86.1	131	93.9	70	85.7	329	66.6
29	434	85.5	113	92.9	61	85.2	260	67.3
30	353	86.4	100	94.0	51	84.3	202	67.8
31	283	86.4	83	94.0			155	67.1
32	243	86.6	77	94.8			127	65.4
33	213	85.4	68	94.1			110	64.5
34	181	. 85.3	64	95.3			87	67.8
35	156	87.5	59	94.9			73	65.8
36	140	89.4	58	98.3			63	63.5
37	121	90.4	52	98.1			53	64.2
38	114	92.2	50	98.0			51	66.7
“Educ. level 0-8” are the males who never go beyond grade school. “Educ. level 9-12” are the males who enter high school but never go beyond. “Educ. level 13+” are the males who will ultimately go to college.
Including pre-marital intercourse with companions and with prostitutes. In three educational levels, and in the total population corrected for the U. S. Census of 1940.

Figures 145, 43f, 146, 46f. Total pre-marital intercourse: accumulative incidence among single males and females, in total U. S. population and in three educational levels. Vs.mstrbtn

For males, includes pre-marital intercourse with companions and pre-marital intercourse with prostitutes. Based on pre-marital histories of population corrected for U. S. Census distribution. Showing percent of total population that has ever had pre-marital experience by each of the indicated ages. Data based on on unmarried males and females.

It is probable that heterosexual intercourse would provide the major source of pre-marital outlet if there were no restrictions on the activity of the younger male. There is, however, no other sort of activity that is so markedly affected by the tradition of the social level in which the individual is raised. The incidence and frequencies of pre-marital intercourse are very low for the more educated portion of the population; but for lower educational levels this remains as the chief source of outlet before marriage. Data on pre-marital intercourse must, therefore, be interpreted in connection with the other factors which are treated in the present volume.

For females, pre-marital coitus is had much less frequently than marital coitus, partly because unmarried youth may have some difficulty in locating sexual partners and the places where coitus may be comfortably had, but primarily because of the social restrictions on such pre-marital activity. Nevertheless, the females in the sample who were having any pre-marital coitus were having it at an average (active median) frequency of about once in five or ten weeks if they were under twenty years of age, and about once in three weeks if they were over twenty years of age. As with most other sorts of sexual activity among females, the frequencies had not reached their peak until the twenties. Then they had stayed remarkably level without any evident aging effect until the middle fifties or even later.
The very limited material in Dickinson and Beam 1934:171 seems to provide the only previously published data on frequencies of pre-marital coitus.

There was, of course, considerable variation in the frequencies of pre-marital coitus among the females in any particular group, and for most of them the activity was sporadic. Outside of marriage relatively few females have coitus with anything like the regularity that is typical of the male. Half or more of the females in the sample had had pre-marital coitus as often as three or more times in some single week, although often they had not had it again for weeks or months or even years. Some 20 per cent of the females had had coitus as often as every day in some single week and 7 per cent had had it as often as 14 times or more in a single week—but usually with periods of inactivity occurring between the periods of coitus.

Table 54. Non-marital intercourse with companions, and age

Age Group	Cases	Non-marital intercourse with companions: Sample Population							Non-marital intercourse with companions: U. S. Population
		Total population			Active Population				Total population		Active Population
		Mean Frequency	Me- dian Freq.	% of Total Outlet	Incid. %	Mean Frequency	Me- dian Freq.	% of Total Outlet	Mean Freq.	% of Total Outlet	Incid. %	Mean Freq.	% of Total Outlet
Single Males: Pre-marital Intercourse
Adol.-15	3012	0.40 ± 0.03	0.00	14.12	24.3	1.67 ± 0.10	0.60	36.12 ± 1.18	0.80	25.56	40.4	1.98	42.18
16-20	2868	0.73 ± 0.04	0.02	25.43	52.4	1.39 ± 0.07	0.45	35.98 ± 0.85	1.32	39.16	70.5	1.87	47.10
21-25	1535	0.77 ± 0.05	0.06	29.46	58.5	1.32 ± 0.09	0.43	37.19 ± 1.14	1.25	40.94	68.3	1.83	47.90
26-30	550	0.73 ± 0.07	0.07	28.23	59.5	1.23 ± 0.11	0.49	40.26 ± 1.88	0.99	33.76	67.3	1.46	44.06
31-35	195	0.61 ± 0.11	0.06	26.44	57.4	1.07 ± 0.18	0.43	44.00 ± 3.32	0.72	30.96	62.2	1.15	44.96
36-40	97	0.42 ± 0.09	0.02	20.80	53.6	0.79 ± 0.16	0.32	35.21 ± 5.08	0.48	26.00	55.2	0.86	38.18
41-45	56	0.40 ± 0.10	0.02	23.10	51.8	0.77 ± 0.17	0.44	46.28 ± 6.86	....	....	....	....	....
46-50	39	0.28 ± 0.09	0.01	14.81	51.3	0.54 ± 0.16	0.22	40.88 ± 9.03	....	....	....	....	....
Married Males: Extra-marital Intercourse
16-20	288	0.41 ± 0.07	0.00	9.08	35.4	1.15 ± 0.17	0.40	18.66 ± 1.99	0.45	9.64	36.8	1.23	18.36
21-25	813	0.30 ± 0.06	0.00	7.44	24.4	1.25 ± 0.22	0.25	15.68 ± 1.56	0.40	9.22	31.3	1.28	16.36
26-30	850	0.16 ± 0.02	0.00	4.71	26.0	0.61 ± 0.08	0.15	12.19 ± 1.16	0.24	6.57	32.3	0.72	12.32
31-35	666	0.15 ± 0.02	0.00	5.35	28.4	0.52 ± 0.07	0.19	13.30 ± 1.32	0.15	5.16	30.9	0.50	13.04
36-40	475	0.20 ± 0.05	0.00	7.69	27.8	0.71 ± 0.17	0.22	18.44 ± 2.15	0.15	5.82	27.2	0.54	17.42
41-45	324	0.13 ± 0.02	0.00	5.24	23.5	0.53 ± 0.08	0.22	21.88 ± 3.12	0.10	4.50	23.1	0.41	19.96
46-50	210	0.19 ± 0.04	0.00	8.61	25.2	0.73 ± 0.14	0.34	26.40 ± 3.96	0.11	5.88	30.1	0.43	21.33
51-55	130	0.17 ± 0.05	0.00	9.88	22.3	0.76 ± 0.18	0.42	30.84 ± 5.77	....	6.84	....	....	....
56-60	77	0.14 ± 0.05	0.00	12.05	22.1	0.65 ± 0.16	0.50	40.94 ± 9.25	....	....	....	....	....
In this, and in the succeeding charts in this and the following chapter, means and medians represent average frequencies per week. “% of Total Outlet” in the total population shows what portion of the total number of orgasms is derived from masturbation in the total population. A total of such figures for all the possible sources of outlet equals 100%, which is the total outlet of the group. “% of Total Outlet” for the active population represents the mean of the figures showing the percentage of the total outlet which is derived from this source by each individual who has any masturbation in his history, in that particular age period. The percents for the several possible outlets do not total 100% because different individuals are involved in the populations utilizing each type of outlet.
U. S. population figures are corrections of the raw data for a population whose age, marital status, and educational level are the same as those shown in the U. S. Census for 1940.

The highest incidence of pre-marital intercourse comes in the late teens, where nearly three-quarters (70.5%) of the total U. S. population is involved (Table 54, Table 64, Figures 71-76). From that point the incidence drops, but still stays high. In every age group between 16 and 50, more than half (from 70.5% down to 51.3%) of the single males engage in heterosexual intercourse.

The data show that 3 per cent of the females in the total sample, irrespective of the age at which they had married, had had coital experience by fifteen years of age, 20 per cent had had it between the ages of sixteen and twenty years, and 35 per cent had had it between twenty-one and twenty-five years of age. In the next twenty years something over 40 per cent of the unmarried females were having some pre-marital coitus.
What are apparently active incidences of pre-marital coitus are in the following American studies: Ackerson 1931:172 (for 689 girls at 111. Inst, for Juv. Res., ages 13-18, 26 per cent). Glueck and Glueck 1934:430 (ages of first coitus for 448 delinquent females). Bromley and Britten 1938:287 (7 per cent by end of high school, 25 per cent by college age for 618 females). Lion et al. 1945: 23 (ages of first pre-marital coitus of 365 “promiscuous’* females of lower educational levels; one-third before age 16, two-thirds before age 18). In non-American studies, see the following: Hellmann acc. Weissenberg 1924b:212 (13 per cent first coitus by age 16, 82 per cent at ages 17-25, 5 per cent after 25, among 124 Russian females). Schbankov acc. Weissenberg 1924a: 13 (26 Russian females). Gurewitsch and Woroschbit 1930:67 (among Russian peasants, note higher incidences of pre-marital coitus in later marriages: 27 per cent if married at 15-19, 43 per cent if married at 25-33). Asayama 1949:175 (13 Japanese college girls). Fink 1950:34 (among 100 Australian girls who married at ages 17-23, 20 per cent had pre-marital coitus; among those married after age 30, 70 per cent were experienced). Wolman 1951:551 (9 per cent of 207 Israeli females had coitus by age 19).

A considerable portion of the pre-marital coitus had been had in the year or two immediately preceding marriage, with a portion of it confined to the fiancé in a period just before marriage. Consequently the incidences had depended upon the age of marriage. The females who married at earlier ages had had pre-marital coitus when they were younger; the females who married at later ages had not begun coitus until much later. There is an obvious correlation between the two phenomena and it is a question whether early experience in coitus leads to early marriage, or whether the possibility of a forthcoming marriage leads, as it certainly does in some cases, to an acceptance of coitus just before marriage.

Very nearly 50 per cent of the females who were married by age twenty had had pre-marital coitus. Similarly those who were married between ages twenty-one and twenty-five had had pre-marital coitus in nearly 50 per cent of the cases. Those who were married between the ages of twenty-six and thirty had had pre-marital coitus in something between 40 and 66 per cent of the cases. If the data are calculated for the entire sample without respect to the age of marriage, the total number of unmarried females who had had coitus by any one of these ages would be very much smaller, but it is statistically incorrect to determine the number of persons who ultimately have pre-marital experience by the use of such an accumulative incidence curve.

Except among the females who had married earlier, pre-marital coitus was relatively rare in the early teens. This may have depended in part upon the fact that only a small number of the younger girls are sexually responsive. It must also have depended on the fact that public opinion and the law in this country impose especially heavy penalties on the males who have sex relations with younger girls.
The maximum penalties for “statutory"' rape (coitus by a man with a consenting girl who is below a certain age fixed by statute) are only exceeded by those for murder. They are only equaled by those for forcible rape and kidnapping. Unless the jury recommends mercy, the death sentence is mandatory in 6 states (Del., Fla., Ga., La., N.C., S.C.). A capital sentence is possible in an additional 10 states (Ala., Ky., Md., Miss., Mo., Okla., Tenn., Tex., Va., W. Va.). A life sentence is possible under some circumstances in another 19 states (Ariz., Cal., Colo., Ida., 111., Ind., la., Me., Mass., Minn., Nev., N. M., N. Dak., Ore., S. Dak., Utah, Wash., Wyo.). In the other 13 states the maxima range from 10 years in New York to 99 years in Montana. When the girl is under ten or twelve years of age, the minimum is life imprisonment in several states (e.g., Minn., N. M., Wash.).

Table 64. Intercourse with companions in relation to marital status and age

Age Group	Total Sample Population
	Cases			Mean Frequency			% of Total Outlet
	Pre- mar- ital	Extra- mar- ital	Post- mar- ital	Pre- mar- ital	Extra- mar- ital	Post- mar ital	Pre- mar- ital	Extra- mar- ital	Post- mar- ital
Adol.-15	3012			0.40			14.12
16-20	2868	288	46	0.73	0.41	3.19	25.43	9.08	79.91
21-25	1535	813	119	0.77	0.30	2.79	29.46	7.44	76.87
26-30	550	850	182	0.73	0.16	2.13	28.23	4.71	73.65
31-35	195	666	158	0.61	0.15	1.37	26.44	5.35	70.29
36-40	97	475	128	0.42	0.20	1.17	20.80	7.69	68.64
41-45	56	324	96	0.40	0.13	0.85	23.10	5.24	57.82
46-50	39	210	63	0.28	0.19	0.76	14.81	8.61	60.39
51-55		130	42		0.17	0.88		9.88	74.60
56-60		77			0.14			12.05
Age Group	Active Cases in Sample Population
	Incidence %			Mean Frequency			% of Total Outlet
	Pre- mar ital	Extra- mar ital	Post- mar ital	Pre- mar ital	Extra- mar ital	Post- mar ital	Pre- mar ital	Extra- mar ital	Post- mar ital
Adol.-15	24.3			1.67			36.12
16-20	52.4	35.4	93.5	1.39	1.15	3.41	35.98	18.66	79.34
21-25	58.5	24.4	95.8	1.32	1.25	2.91	37.19	15.68	68.15
26-30	59.5	26.0	89.6	1.23	0.61	2.38	40.26	12.19	68.52
31-35	57.4	28.4	81.6	1.07	0.52	1.68	44.00	13.30	68.27
36-40	53.6	27.8	80.5	0.79	0.71	1.45	35.21	18.44	67.25
41-45	51.8	23.5	68.8	0.77	0.53	1.24	46.28	21.88	62.43
46-50	51.3	25.2	66.7	0.54	0.73	1.15	40.88	26.40	63.71
51-55		22.3	71.4		0.76	1.23		30.84	69.50
56-60		22.1			0.65			40.94
Age Group	Corrected for U. S. Population
	Total Population				Active Population
	Mean Frequency		% of Total Outlet		Incidence %		Mean Frequency		% of Total Outlet
	Pre- mar- ital	Extra- mar- ital	Pre- mar- ital	Extra- mar- ital	Pre- mar- ital	Extra- mar- ital	Pre- mar- ital	Extra- mar- ital	Pre- mar- ital	Extra- mar- ital
Adol.-15	0.80		25.56		40.4		1.98		42.18
16-20	1.32	0.45	39.16	9.64	70.5	36.8	1.87	1.23	47.10	18.36
21-25	1.25	0.40	40.94	9.22	68.3	31.3	1.83	1.28	47.90	16.36
26-30	0.99	0.24	33.76	6.57	67.3	32.3	1.46	0.72	44.06	12.32
31-35	0.72	0.15	30.96	5.16	62.2	30.9	1.15	0.50	44.96	13.04
36-40	0.48	0.15	26.00	5.82	55.2	27.2	0.86	0.54	38.18	17.42
41-45		0.10		4.50		23.1		0.41		19.96
46-50		0.11		5.88		30.1		0.43		21.33
51-55				6.84
Data for the U. S. population are based on the sample population which is corrected for the distribution of educational levels shown in the U. S. Census for 1940. For sigmas of means, median frequencies, etc., see the Table 54.

Figures 71-76. Relation of age and marital status to non-marital intercourse with companions

The variation in frequency of pre-marital intercourse in any group is at its maximum between adolescence and 25 years of age (Table 49). From that point, the range becomes increasingly restricted in each older population. At 15 years of age, the most active male is having pre-marital intercourse with ejaculation on an average of 25 times per week. At 30 years of age, the extreme male still has a rate of 16 per week; but by 50 years of age, the maximum frequency is down to 3.5 per week.

For the total population, the highest frequency of pre-marital intercourse occurs in the 16-20 year group, where the mean is about one and a third times (1.32) per week. If the calculations are made on the active males only, the highest average frequency is in the youngest group, between adolescence and 15 years of age, where the corrected figure is almost exactly 2 per week. It again becomes evident that the youngest boy has the greatest capacity and the highest frequency of activity if he has the opportunity to exercise it. From age 16 on, the frequencies drop, and those males who are still unmarried at 50 engage in intercourse only a quarter as often (0.5 per week) as the active teen-age boys.

With advancing age, the average unmarried male draws a somewhat decreasing proportion of his total outlet from pre-marital intercourse. The average teen-age boy (of the active population) derives nearly half of all his outlet from intercourse. The average 50-year old, unmarried male derives nearer a third of his outlet from heterosexual intercourse (the data based on interpolations from the uncorrected figures in Table 54). This follows the now familiar pattern of each outlet beginning at its peak in the middle teens, and going down in rate with advancing age.

In 1938, Terman, in a volume on Psychological Factors in Marital Happiness, attempted to compare the amount of pre-marital intercourse in older and younger generations. He reached the conclusion that there had been a steady increase in the incidence of such activity among the persons born in four successive decades (before 1890, and through 1910), and that these trends were proceeding with such “extraordinary rapidity” that “intercourse with future spouse before marriage will become universal by 1950 or 1955”—meaning among persons born in those years. This finding is not borne out by data in the present study. Since the Terman figures have been extensively quoted, it is important to point out that the study, of which those data were a part, involved some basic procedural errors. There was no sufficient, successive breakdown of the population for the series of biologic and social factors which must be kept constant if sound analyses are to be made. The study was based upon group-administered questionnaires, which have proved inadequate for sex studies in all but a very few special cases. The subjects were mostly clients of family relations institutes, and it is not certain that such a sample is representative of the population as a whole. The group represented mixed educational levels. Nearly 71 per cent of the male population had had college or more advanced training, but 30 per cent were persons who had not gone beyond high school, or in some cases not beyond grade school. In view of the considerable differences which our present data show to exist between these several educational levels, it is obvious that any mixed population is inadequate for analyzing pre-marital intercourse.

It should also be emphasized that the most strategic population in the Terman series, the sample which established the last point (for 1910) on the curve, included only 22 males. Such a sample is, of course, totally insufficient for representing any large portion of the American population. The data which we now have on pre-marital intercourse would lead us to predict that there will always be a segment of the population which will, as a moral issue, avoid such activity. While the incidence of premarital intercourse has remained stable within each social level in the last twenty or thirty years, it should be pointed out that the number of persons who go to college has materially increased in that period. Since this is the group that has the least pre-marital coitus, this means that there is now a distinctly larger portion of the population which is going without premarital coitus than there was when Terman made his prediction ten years ago.

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