Citation
Jones, Katherine & Castiello (2008). Scripting relationships: An analysis of gender, religion, and abstinence. 2008 Add Health Users Conference. Bethesda, MD.Abstract
Both Evangelical Christianity and the abstinence movement share a strong focus on sexuality, marriage and the family. The public discourses of Evangelical Christianity and the abstinence movement include discourses of gender which are linked to traditional gender role ideologies in the family and romantic relationships. At the same time, Evangelical Christianity and the abstinence movement hold males and females to a single chaste standard in terms of sexual behavior. Will these traditional gender role ideologies lead to wider variations between the male and female relationship scripts? Or will the similar messages of chastity in dating and sexual behavior lead to more similar scripts for males and females? This research uses rank ordered logistic regression to explore how the contexts of gender, religion and the abstinence movement shape adolescent relationship scripts. Scripting theory is used to draw connections between these socio cultural contexts and individual ideals in romantic relationships. This study draws from Wave I of Add Health and uses the Ideal Romantic Relationship variables to construct an ideal relationship script. Despite the highly gendered ideologies of Evangelicals and the abstinence movement, being affiliated with them leads males and females to hold more similar relationship scripts. Though abstinence pledges are closely affiliated with Evangelical denominations, affiliation with the abstinence movement is linked to a different script than the one held by Evangelical teenagers.URL
https://addhealth.cpc.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/docs/news/users-conference/2008%20Add%20Health%20Users%20Conference%20Abstracts.pdfReference Type
Conference proceedingBook Title
2008 Add Health Users ConferenceAuthor(s)
Jones, KatherineCastiello