Scottish Government

Chapter six Attitudes towards sexual relationships in various circumstances

6.1 The preceding chapters have focused on public opinions and public knowledge about the norms and law surrounding the wider kin relationships beyond marriage and parenthood within marriage, the traditional focus of family law, and some of the normative issues raised by increasing levels of unmarried cohabitation, step-parenthood, same sex partnerships as well as grandparents and grandchildren.

6.2 These concerns are prompted by the relatively recent and fundamental demographic changes in family life that include less and later marriage, more remarriage, more lone parenthood, lower and later fertility, the growth in unmarried cohabitation, high levels of divorce and relationship breakdown, and the increasing prevalence of parenthood outside marriage. All of these structural changes have taken place in parallel to substantial changes in individuals' sexual behaviour and attitudes and it is impossible to fully appreciate the one set of changes without reference to the other. Therefore to set the earlier chapters in context, we present here the findings from questions about public attitudes towards sexual relationships in a range of contexts outside marriage and towards the place of marriage in people's lives, as set out in Figure 6.1.

6.3 Some of the same questions were asked in a family issues module in the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2000. Where we also have data from that survey, the findings from the 2004 survey are set beside them so public attitudes towards sexual relationships outside marriage in 2000 and 2004 can be compared.

6.4 Public attitudes towards sexual relationships outside marriage vary according to the context of the relationship. Sexual relations before marriage are considered to be either rarely wrong or not wrong at all by a large majority: 75% of respondents, a higher proportion than the 67% who thought so in 2000 (Table 6.1). However underage sex is thought to be mostly or always wrong by a large majority: 86%, slightly lower than the 90% who thought so in 2000 (Table 6.2). A slightly higher proportion (90%) consider that extramarital sexual relations are mostly or always wrong, about the same proportion as in 2000 (Table 6.3).

6.5 Homosexual sexual relations are thought to be rarely wrong or not wrong at all by 42% of respondents, a higher proportion than the 37% who thought so in 2000 (Table 6.4). It is perhaps not surprising that 39% of respondents thought that gay or lesbian couples should be able to marry if they wish to (Table 6.11), a slightly higher proportion than the 35% who disagree or strongly disagree with same sex marriage. A slightly lower proportion, 41%, thought same sex sexual relationships were mostly or always wrong, than the 48% who thought so in 2000.

Attitudes and knowledge about marriage and partnership

6.6 A narrow majority (51%), though a smaller one than in 2000 (58%), believe, erroneously, that 'common law marriage' exists in Scotland (Table 6.5), what Barlow and colleagues (2005) have termed the 'common law marriage myth'. The belief that after a period of time, cohabiting partners acquire the same rights as married couples could result in unexpected hardship for some economically weaker partners if a cohabiting relationship breaks down. The current Family Law (Scotland) Bill addresses this risk by giving the court discretion to make financial provision on cohabitation breakdown in such circumstances to help to mitigate some of the harsher consequences of this erroneous belief. The belief in the 'common law marriage myth' did not vary by age, gender, social class or housing tenure.

6.7 Unlike England and Wales, there is in Scotland an antiquated but still extant route to marriage called marriage by cohabitation with habit and repute. This form of marriage in Scotland has existed for centuries, but is not what is commonly referred to as 'common law' marriage. It is rather an alternative means of establishing a marriage, which the 1992 Scottish Law Commission consultation document, Reform of Family Law 135 argued was too vague, uncertain, arbitrary, retrospective and hard to apply. While it recommended its abolition, a view endorsed in the 1999 Scottish Executive Green Paper, the 2000 White Paper opted to retain it and the current Family Law (Scotland) Bill is silent on this subject.

6.8 The institution of marriage continues to command support on a number of indicators, and is seen as preferable to some other forms of partnership, although there is also evidence of growing neutrality and tolerance for other forms of partnership. While a majority of respondents (57%) agreed with the claim: "Even though it might not work out for some people, marriage is still the best kind of relationship", this was a smaller majority than in 2000 (62%). Respondents in 2004 were more likely (65%) than in 2000 (53%) to think that marriage provides greater financial security than cohabitation (Table 6.10). Perhaps this is indicative of an increasing awareness that the framework of legal protection and financial provision surrounding cohabitation breakdown is weaker than the one that applies on divorce.

6.9 As far as whether parenthood is best within the setting of marriage, a changing picture emerges. There is support, though declining support, for marriage as a preferred setting for having children. In 2004, 48% of respondents thought that people who want children should marry, a lower proportion than the 55% of respondents in 2000 who thought so (Table 6.6). More people, a narrow majority, however, felt neutral about this or disagreed with the proposition. A declining proportion of the population (21% in 2004, compared with 26% in 2000) agreed with the claim that married couples make better parents than unmarried ones (Table 6.8).

6.10 There is slightly less support for pre-marital cohabitation than in 2000; 50% of respondents in 2004, compared with 55% in 2000, thought it was a good idea for people to live together before marrying-with slightly more feeling neutral on this issue in 2004. Only 15% of respondents disagreed with this proposition (Table 6.7).

How do knowledge and attitudes vary across the population?

6.11 We turn briefly to how these attitudes vary across the population according to age, gender, marital status, social class, income and housing tenure, and comment where some significant differences were found.

6.12 There are significant differences by age in attitudes towards sex before marriage. While 75% of those aged 18-24 and 85% of those aged 25-39 state it is not wrong at all, only 32% of those aged 65 or more think this. There are also differences in attitudes on this question by marital status, with perhaps not surprisingly, 90% of respondents who are cohabiting stating it is not wrong at all, compared with 61% of those who are married and 33% of those who are widowed (though the latter is likely to be closely associated with an age effect). In contrast, there are no major differences in attitudes according to respondents' social class (except those from social class 1 are less likely to state that sex before marriage is not wrong at all), housing tenure or gender.

6.13 We find differences by age and marital status in relation to the questions about underage sex, where 43% of those aged 18-24 and 53% of those aged 25-39 state it is always wrong, compared with 64% of those aged 40-64 and 76% of those aged 65 or more. Those who are living together as married or who are not married are less likely (47% and 51%, respectively) than those who are married or widowed (65% and 76%, respectively) to state underage sex is always wrong. There were no major differences in relation to gender, social class or housing tenure.

6.14 As far as extramarital sexual relations are concerned, differences in attitude are found by gender, but not age, marital status, housing tenure, or social class (except for respondents in social class 1 who were less likely than others to state it was always wrong). However 69% of women, compared with 57% of men, stated it was always wrong. Similarly in relation to attitudes towards sexual relations between partners of the same sex, there were differences by gender, age and marital status, but not by housing tenure. Differences by respondents' social class showed some variation but in a pattern that was hard to interpret.

6.15 A picture of changing sexual mores emerges. We see high levels of approval for some sexual relationships outside marriage, but disapproval of others. There is a high degree of tolerance or approval for sex before marriage, except for underage sex. Nevertheless there is a low level of tolerance or approval for extramarital sexual relations. There is also an increasing level of tolerance or approval for same sex sexual relationships; indeed, slightly more approval than disapproval for same sex relationships and same sex marriage. This suggests that the Civil Partnership Act 2004, on balance, is broadly in tune with public opinion.