Broderick and Rowe (1968) report a pyramidally structured set of stages of social heterosexual maturation. This more or less orderly pattern of progression is discernible during the preadolescent years and success or failure in each step appears to have consequences for more advanced stages of heterosexual development.1 The steps or stages in the process of heterosexual development as delineated by Broderick and Rowe are: (1) desire to marry someone, (2) having a certain girl friend (boy friend), (3) having been in love, (4) preferring a companion of the opposite sex over a member of the same sex or no companion at all when going to a movie, and (5) having begun to date.
The foundation or beginning point of subsequent progress in heterosexual relations
seems to be the child's attitude toward his own marriage. Next
comes an emotional attachment to a member of the opposite sex, as evidenced
in the reporting of having a special friend of the opposite sex.
The next step is to confess having been in love. After that comes an
expression of preference for a cross-sex companion rather than a same-
sex companion when going to a movie. And, finally, the most advanced
for preadolescents is actually going out on a date.
Each step is not an absolute prerequisite to the other, but the nature of the relationship
can be indicated by the following set of comparisons: 74 percent of the
ten to twelve year olds who wanted to get married some day reported a
boyfriend or a girlfriend, but only 34 percent of the others did; 66
percent of those who reported having a girlfriend or boyfriend also reported
having been in love, but only 19 percent of the others did so;
43 percent of those who had been in love said they would prefer a
cross-sex companion at the movies but only 21 percent of the others expressed
this preference; and finally 32 percent of those who would prefer
a companion of the opposite sex had actually gone out on a date,
while only 11 percent of the others had done so. Each of these differences
was significant beyond the 0.05 level when tested by Chisquare,
and the entire series met the criteria of a Guttman scale. (Broderick,
1966).
Broderick found some racial differences in the pattern of heterosexual
development. (Broderick, May 1965). Questionnaire data were collected
from 341 black and 929 white ten through seventeen year olds
living in the same urban industrial community. The most striking difference
between the races occurred during the preadolescence ages of
ten and thirteen. At these ages, the white children showed the traditional
pattern, with girls far more romantically orientated than boys,
although at about the same level in terms of heterosexual interaction.
Black boys, however, did not have the heterosexual reserve of the white
1 The Broderick and Rowe sample consisted of ten to twelve year olds in
the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades of ten central Pennsylvania
schools and 312 boys and 298 girls among grades five, six, and seven in
four localities including Kansas City and surrounding area.
boys. They were not markedly different from black girls on any item except
attitude toward marriage and, in fact, showed a higher level of
heterosexual interaction at twelve and thirteen than the girls did.
This high level of preadolescent heterosexual interest involvement
among black boys, together with an apparent progressive disenchantment
with marriage, suggests that the pattern of socio-sexual development in
the black subculture may differ from the dominant white culture. There
were differences in fathers' occupations and in family structure as
well, however.
In sum, sociological and anthropological data cast serious doubt on
the universal applicability of the concept of preadolescent sexual latency.
There has been a change over the years both in the attitude of
boys and girls in the United States toward heterosexual involvement and
in their experiencing of it. There has been a marked change toward
greater heterosexual experience of preadolescents with their peers.