Heterosexual involvement of unmarried under-graduate females in relation to self-evaluations

It was hypothesized that a higher degree of heterosexual involvement among unmarried female undergraduates would be associated with more positive self-evaluations. This idea was investigated among 79 college women tested as freshmen, and again as sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Self-esteem, ratings of physical attractiveness, ratings of future marriage, and seriousness about boyfriend increased over the years, while number of different men dated declined. All participants except 2 had dates with men, and 80% reported having a steady boyfriend in one year or another. Participants expected both to marry and to have a career, and showed courtship progress during the college years. Those with greater heterosexual involvement, as indicated by frequency of dating and having a steady boyfriend, were more serious about their boyfriends, showed higher self-evaluations, were more sure of marrying, and expected to marry at a younger age. Cross-lagged correlations, although suggestive, did not provide clear evidence about antecedent-consequent relations between heterosexual involvement and self-evaluations.