Turks not so hot on cohabitation
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Milliyet
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 13, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Women are more averse to the idea of living together outside of marriage, while single people appear more open minded about cohabitation, a survey finds. When it comes to the issue of sex before marriage, Turks continue to be conservative, with most saying that a woman needs to be a virgin when she gets married.
The majority of Turks say they are opposed to the idea of couples living together outside of wedlock, a recent survey revealed.
The study, conducted by respected pollster Adil Gür’s A&G polling company, showed that 70 percent of those surveyed responded negatively to the suggestion that "people need to live together before marriage to get to know each other." Just 19 percent said they agreed with the statement; 10.5 percent partially agreed.
A&G conducted face-to-face interviews with 2,466 people in 35 provinces around the country between Dec. 20 and 23 of last year.
The survey found that women are more averse to the idea of living together outside of marriage, while single people appeared more open minded about cohabitation, with 33 percent of unmarried respondents agreeing with the statement, compared to just 13.3 percent of married ones.
Conservative about virginity
When it comes to the issue of sex before marriage, Turks continue to be conservative, with most saying that a woman needs to be a virgin when she gets married. Of the respondents, 77.5 percent said a woman definitely needs to be a virgin when she gets married, while 11 percent said they partially agreed with this statement and just 11.5 percent said they disagreed. Men tended to attach more importance to virginity than women, while the respondents’ age and level of education were also key in determining their opinions. Not surprisingly, the older or the less educated the respondent, the more conservative he or she was likely to be.
Singles also seemed less conservative than married respondents when it came to the issue of virginity. Additionally the A&G survey found that income levels were a factor, with those with an income lower than 1,250 Turkish Liras a month attaching more importance to virginity.
Men not so keen to wait
When it came to men’s sexual history, there was a clear difference of opinion, with only 41.2 percent saying a man’s first sexual experience should be with his wife. Another 33.2 percent said they did not agree with that ideal, while 25.6 percent said they partially agreed with the idea that an man should remain a virgin until he is married. Slightly more than half of women interviewed (52 percent) believed a man should have sex for the first time with his wife. Men, on the other hand, were less enthusiastic about the idea, with only 30.4 percent agreeing with the statement.
In rural Turkey, both sexes tended to be more in favor of the man abstaining from sex before marriage. When asked if they were jealous partners, 34.1 percent said they were and 25.7 percent said they weren’t. Another 40.1 percent said circumstances determined whether or not they became jealous.
The survey showed men were more jealous than women, with 40.9 admitting to their jealousy, 41 percent saying it depends on the circumstances and only 18 percent saying they were not jealous.
Only 28.3 of women said they were generally jealous, while 39.3 percent said it depended on the moment and 32.4 percent said they were not jealous lovers.
There was an inverse correlation demonstrated between age and jealousy, with the portion of individuals saying they are not generally jealous increasing from 22.8 percent among those under the age of 28 to 31.9 percent among people over the age of 44. In rural Anatolia, people tended to express more jealousy about their partners, the survey also showed.
More than half of Turks disagreed with the idea that having children dampens the sexual appetite, with 53 percent of respondents saying it does nothing to harm sex lives and just 14 percent saying it does. A mixed response of yes and no was given by 32.9 percent.
Among divorcees, 65 percent said the fire dwindles to some extent after having children, while 52.3 percent of single people said they think it has no bearing on a couple’s passion.
More women than men, however, said they thought having children harmed their sexual relations. A&G also found that as the number of children in a family increased, a slightly higher number of people thought it had an impact in the bedroom.
The study, conducted by respected pollster Adil Gür’s A&G polling company, showed that 70 percent of those surveyed responded negatively to the suggestion that "people need to live together before marriage to get to know each other." Just 19 percent said they agreed with the statement; 10.5 percent partially agreed.
A&G conducted face-to-face interviews with 2,466 people in 35 provinces around the country between Dec. 20 and 23 of last year.
The survey found that women are more averse to the idea of living together outside of marriage, while single people appeared more open minded about cohabitation, with 33 percent of unmarried respondents agreeing with the statement, compared to just 13.3 percent of married ones.
Conservative about virginity
When it comes to the issue of sex before marriage, Turks continue to be conservative, with most saying that a woman needs to be a virgin when she gets married. Of the respondents, 77.5 percent said a woman definitely needs to be a virgin when she gets married, while 11 percent said they partially agreed with this statement and just 11.5 percent said they disagreed. Men tended to attach more importance to virginity than women, while the respondents’ age and level of education were also key in determining their opinions. Not surprisingly, the older or the less educated the respondent, the more conservative he or she was likely to be.
Singles also seemed less conservative than married respondents when it came to the issue of virginity. Additionally the A&G survey found that income levels were a factor, with those with an income lower than 1,250 Turkish Liras a month attaching more importance to virginity.
Men not so keen to wait
When it came to men’s sexual history, there was a clear difference of opinion, with only 41.2 percent saying a man’s first sexual experience should be with his wife. Another 33.2 percent said they did not agree with that ideal, while 25.6 percent said they partially agreed with the idea that an man should remain a virgin until he is married. Slightly more than half of women interviewed (52 percent) believed a man should have sex for the first time with his wife. Men, on the other hand, were less enthusiastic about the idea, with only 30.4 percent agreeing with the statement.
In rural Turkey, both sexes tended to be more in favor of the man abstaining from sex before marriage. When asked if they were jealous partners, 34.1 percent said they were and 25.7 percent said they weren’t. Another 40.1 percent said circumstances determined whether or not they became jealous.
The survey showed men were more jealous than women, with 40.9 admitting to their jealousy, 41 percent saying it depends on the circumstances and only 18 percent saying they were not jealous.
Only 28.3 of women said they were generally jealous, while 39.3 percent said it depended on the moment and 32.4 percent said they were not jealous lovers.
There was an inverse correlation demonstrated between age and jealousy, with the portion of individuals saying they are not generally jealous increasing from 22.8 percent among those under the age of 28 to 31.9 percent among people over the age of 44. In rural Anatolia, people tended to express more jealousy about their partners, the survey also showed.
More than half of Turks disagreed with the idea that having children dampens the sexual appetite, with 53 percent of respondents saying it does nothing to harm sex lives and just 14 percent saying it does. A mixed response of yes and no was given by 32.9 percent.
Among divorcees, 65 percent said the fire dwindles to some extent after having children, while 52.3 percent of single people said they think it has no bearing on a couple’s passion.
More women than men, however, said they thought having children harmed their sexual relations. A&G also found that as the number of children in a family increased, a slightly higher number of people thought it had an impact in the bedroom.