A Study of Sexual Debut among Indian Adults: Role of Virginity Beliefs and Gender

Introduction: The notion of people about virginity or sexual experiences varies from country to country and culture to culture. The cultural expectancies or cultural scripts have an impact on the age at which men and women engage in their first sexual experience. However, the role of virginity beliefs in sexual debut was not yet explored among Indian adults. Aims: 1) to explore gender differences in virginity beliefs and age of sexual debut and 2) to study the role of virginity beliefs and gender in predicting age of sexual debut. Method: In this study, 151 adults aged 18 to 52 were recruited through snowball sampling methods by sending an invitation to participate in research through social media platforms. The participants provided information about themselves, partner of the first intercourse, and their relationship with them. They had also completed the 22-item ‘Virginity Beliefs Scale’ developed by Eriksson and Humphreys (2014). Results: The results revealed that stigma-related virginity beliefs were higher in Indian men and gift-related virginity beliefs were higher in women as compared with their counterparts. Indian men had an early age of sexual debut than women. Only, gift-based virginity belief was the predictor of sexual debut among Indian adults.