Meanwhile, the authors' antidote to the American sicknessa quest for democratic community that draws on our diverse civic and religious traditionshas contributed to a vigorous scholarly and popular debate. Attention has been focused on forms of social organization, be it civil society, democratic communitarianism, or associative democracy, that can humanize the market and the administrative state. In their new Introduction the authors relate the argument of their book both to the current realities of American society and to the growing debate about the country's future. With this new edition one of the most influential books of recent times takes on a new immediacy.\

Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life

Peter Berger (1929) is an American sociologist best known for his collaboration with Thomas Luckman in writing The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. That book argues that human reality, and knowledge of it, is a social construct, emerging from the individual or group’s interaction with larger social structures (institutions). Social structures, once widely adopted, lose their history as social constructions (objectivation), and come over time, by the people who live within them, to be deemed natural realities independent of human construction (reification). Berger predicted, in his later book, The Sacred Canopy, near-term all-encompassing secularization of religion, which prediction has proved false, especially in the third world (as Berger himself has acknowledged in his later work, Desecularization).

神圣的帷幕 : 宗教社会学理论之要素 = The sacred canopy elements of a sociological theory of religion

This survey of sexual practices in the United States has been combed by the media for items of interest to the public: monogamous sex is much more widespread in this country than has been thought; infidelity is less frequent than presumed; vaginal intercourse is the defining experience of heterosexual behavior; watching one's partner undress is stimulating to many people; married couples have more sex than single people (unmarried, cohabiting couples have the most sex of all); the majority of couples experience sex twice a week to several times a month; 2.8% of men identify themselves as homosexual and 1.4% of women do so, but a higher percentage of people consider a same-gender experience to have some appeal; 75% of men always experience orgasm compared with 28.6% of women, but more nearly equal numbers of men and women declare themselves satisfied with their sexual experiences. The book is, in fact, a

The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States

Habits of the Heart Individualism and Commitment in American Life

BackgroundThe rate of unintended pregnancy in the United States increased slightly between 2001 and 2008 and is higher than that in many other industrialized countries. National trends have not been reported since 2008. MethodsWe calculated rates of pregnancy for the years 2008 and 2011 according to women’s and girls’ pregnancy intentions and the outcomes of those pregnancies. We obtained data on pregnancy intentions from the National Survey of Family Growth and a national survey of patients who had abortions, data on births from the National Center for Health Statistics, and data on induced abortions from a national census of abortion providers; the number of miscarriages was estimated using data from the National Survey of Family Growth. ResultsLess than half (45%) of pregnancies were unintended in 2011, as compared with 51% in 2008. The rate of unintended pregnancy among women and girls 15 to 44 years of age declined by 18%, from 54 per 1000 in 2008 to 45 per 1000 in 2011. Rates of unintended pregnancy...

https://www.nejm.org/doi/suppl/10.1056/NEJMsa1506575/suppl_file/nejmsa1506575_appendix.pdf

Declines in Unintended Pregnancy in the United States, 2008–2011

This chapter presents national estimates of several types of sexual behavior among men and women 15–44 years of age in the United States in 2006–2010, as well as measures of sexual attraction and identity for adults 18–44. Data are drawn primarily from the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), a nationally-representative, probability-based sample of 22,682 men and women 15–44 in the U.S. household population. Among adults 25–44, about 98 % of women and 97 % of men ever had vaginal intercourse, 89 % of women 91 % of men ever had oral sex with an opposite-sex partner, and 37 % of women and 45 % of men ever had anal sex with an opposite-sex partner. Women 25–44 were twice as likely as men 25–44 to report any same-sex contact in their lifetimes (13 % of women and 5.7 % of men). Sexual attraction and identity correlate closely but not completely with reports of sexual behavior. Sexual behaviors, attraction, and identity vary by age, marital and cohabiting status, education, race and Hispanic origin. These behaviors and characteristics are relevant to birth and pregnancy rates, as well as the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

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Sexual Behavior, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Identity in the United States: Data from the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth

OBJECTIVE: This report presents national estimates of sexual activity contraceptive use and births among males and females aged 15-19 in the United States in 2006-2010 from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) For selected indicators data are also presented from the 1988 1995 and 2002 NSFG and from the 1988 and 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males conducted by the Urban Institute METHODS: Descriptive tables of numbers and percentages are presented and discussed Data were collected through in-person interviews of the household population of males and females aged 15-44 in the United States between July 2006 and June 2010 Interviews were conducted with 22682 men and women including 4662 teenagers (2284 females and 2378 males) For both the teen subsample and the total sample the response rate was 77% RESULTS: In 2006-2010 about 43% of never-married female teenagers (44 million) and about 42% of never-married male teenagers (45 million) had had sexual intercourse at least once These levels of sexual experience have not changed significantly from 2002 Seventy-eight percent of females and 85% of males used a method of contraception at first sex according to 2006-2010 data with the condom remaining the most popular method Teenagers contraceptive use has changed little since 2002 with a few exceptions: there was an increase among males in the use of condoms alone and in the use of a condom combined with a partners hormonal contraceptive; and there was a significant increase in the percentage of female teenagers who used hormonal methods other than a birth-control pill such as injectables and the contraceptive patch at first sex Six percent of female teenagers used a nonpill hormonal method at first sex

Teenagers in the United States: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, 2006-2010 national survey of family growth.

OBJECTIVE: This report presents national estimates of sexual activity contraceptive use and births among males and females 15-19 years of age in the United States in 2006-2008 from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Selected data are also presented from the 1988 1995 and 2002 NSFGs and from the 1988 and 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males (NSAM) conducted by the Urban Institute. METHODS: Descriptive tables of numbers and percents are presented and discussed. Data were collected through in-person interviews of the household population in the United States conducted between July 2006 and December 2008. Interviews were conducted with 7356 females-1381 of whom were teenagers--and 6140 males--1386 of whom were teenagers-for a total of 2767 teenagers. The overall response rate for the 2006-2008 NSFG was 75%. The response rate for female teenagers was 77% and for male teenagers 75%. RESULTS: In 2006-2008 about 42% of never-married female teenagers (4.3 million) and about 43% of never-married male teenagers (4.5 million) had had sexual intercourse at least once. These levels of sexual experience have not changed significantly from 2002 the last time the NSFG collected these data. Among never-married teenagers 79% of females and 87% of males used a method of contraception at first sex. With a few exceptions teenagers use of contraceptives has changed little since 2002 and the condom remained the most commonly used method. One exception was an increase in the use of condoms and the use of a condom combined with a hormonal contraceptive (dual method use) among males. Another exception was a significant increase in the percent of female teenagers who had ever used periodic abstinence or the "calendar rhythm" method. This method had been used by 17% of female teenagers in 2006-2008.

Teenagers in the United States: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, national survey of family growth 2006-2008.

Objective—This report presents national estimates of several measures of sexual behavior, sexual attraction, and sexual identity among males and females aged 15–44 years in the United States, based on the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). These data are relevant to demographic and public health concerns, including fertility and sexually transmitted infections among teenagers and adults. Data from the 2006–2008 NSFG are compared with data from the 2002 NSFG and other national surveys. Methods—Data for 2006–2008 were collected through in-person interviews with a national sample of 13,495 males and females in the household population of the United States. The measures presented in this report were collected using audio computer-assisted self interviewing (ACASI), in which the respondent enters his or her own answers into the computer without telling them to an interviewer. The overall response rate for the 2006–2008 NSFG was 75%. Results—Sexual behaviors among males and females aged 15–44 based on the 2006–2008 NSFG were generally similar to those reported based on the 2002 NSFG. Among adults aged 25–44, about 98% of women and 97% of men ever had vaginal intercourse, 89% of women and 90% of men ever had oral sex with an opposite-sex partner, and 36% of women and 44% of men ever had anal sex with an opposite-sex partner. Twice as many women aged 25–44 (12%) reported any same-sex contact in their lifetimes compared with men (5.8%). Among teenagers aged 15–19, 7% of females and 9% of males have had oral sex with an opposite-sex partner, but no vaginal intercourse. Sexual attraction and identity correlates closely but not completely with reports of sexual behavior. Sexual behaviors, attraction, and identity vary by age, marital or cohabiting status, education, and race and Hispanic origin.

/pdf/sexual-behavior-sexual-attraction-and-sexual-identity-in-the-3ydpbnqm1i.pdf

Sexual Behavior, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Identity in the United States: Data From the 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth

Objectives—This report presents nationally representative estimates and trends for infertility and impaired fecundity—two measures of fertility problems—among women aged 15–44 in the United States. Data are also presented on a measure of infertility among men aged 15–44. Methods—Data for this report come primarily from the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), which consisted of 22,682 interviews with men and women aged 15–44, conducted from June 2006 through June 2010. The response rate for women in the 2006–2010 NSFG was 78%, and for men was 75%. Selected trends are shown based on prior NSFG years. Results—The percentage of married women aged 15–44 who were infertile fell from 8.5% in 1982 (2.4 million women) to 6.0% (1.5 million) in 2006–2010. Impaired fecundity among married women aged 15–44 increased from 11% in 1982 to 15% in 2002, but decreased to 12% in 2006–2010. Among all women, 11% had impaired fecundity in 2006–2010. Both infertility and impaired fecundity remain closely associated with age for nulliparous women. Among married, nulliparous women aged 35–44, the percentage infertile declined from 44% in 1982 to 27% in 2006–2010, reflecting greater delays in childbearing over this period. Among married women in 2006–2010, non-Hispanic black women were more likely to be infertile than non-Hispanic white women. Some form of infertility (either subfertility or nonsurgical sterility) was reported by 9.4% of men aged 15–44 and 12% of men aged 25–44 in 2006–2010, similar to levels seen in 2002.

Casey E Copen

Papers

Sexual Behavior, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Identity in the United States: Data from the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth

Teenagers in the United States: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, 2006-2010 national survey of family growth.

Teenagers in the United States: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, national survey of family growth 2006-2008.

Sexual Behavior, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Identity in the United States: Data From the 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth

Infertility and impaired fecundity in the United States, 1982-2010: data from the National Survey of Family Growth.