Nonverbal Assessment of Anxiety as a Function of Intimacy of Sexual Attitude Questions

Abstract

60 female college students were videotaped in interviews during which they were questioned about premarital sexual attitudes about kissing, petting, sexual intercourse, and oral-genital sex. Independent pairs of judges rated the subjects shown on these videotapes on a global rating and also for immediacy, tone of voice, rate of speech, postural relaxation, eye contact, editorial errors, and filled pauses. The data indicated significant increases of sexual anxiety on all measures as the intimacy of questions increased. The largest increase in anxiety occurred between the petting and intercourse questions, with a smaller, but significant, increase between the questions on kissing and petting.