Attitudes toward premarital, extramarital, and homosexual relations in the U.S. in the 1970s

Reported attitudes of American adults toward premarital, extramarital, and homosexual relations in the mid‐1970s are examined by use of data from seven independently drawn national samples of about 1,500 respondents each. Standards concerning extramarital and homosexual relations were highly restrictive, but standards concerning premarital sex were much more permissive and were rapidly changing in a permissive direction. Examination of reported attitudes by sex, age, race, religious preference, and level of education revealed marked inter‐category variation. Jews, persons with no religion, young adults, and persons with more than 12 years of school were distinctly more permissive—and Protestants, older persons, and persons with less than 12 years of school were distinctly more restrictive—than the adult population as a whole.