Moorman Jessica D
Department of Communication, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201 USA.
Sex Roles. 2022;87(5-6):289-305. doi: 10.1007/s11199-022-01316-y. Epub 2022 Sep 1.
The terms single and singlehood conflate marital (e.g. divorced, widowed, and never married) and relationship (e.g. partnered or not) statuses, complicating researchers' understandings of their unique impact on women's lives. Despite qualitative research demonstrating unmarried and unpartnered statuses have distinct implications for women's sexual socialization, little quantitative research has explored these differences. To address this gap, the current project surveyed 506 unmarried Black women ( = 33.02) to explore how common singlehood experiences (dating, motherhood, and intimate partner violence [IPV]) moderated associations between respondents' media use (television, social media, movies, and magazines) and relationship beliefs. This project focused on Black women because of their high rates of unmarried status and the pervasiveness of media stereotypes of their singlehood. Hierarchical linear regressions and the PROCESS model were used to test two-way interactions of media and singlehood experiences. Ecological systems and cultivation theories guided analyses. Across the dependent variables, media types were differentially associated with measures of relationship beliefs and these associations were differentially moderated by singlehood experiences. Weekly television was the most consistent predictor of relationship beliefs and experience with IPV was the most consistent moderator of associations. Women without partners, children, or experiences of IPV exhibited significant associations between media and relationship beliefs while their more experienced peers did not, suggesting singlehood experiences and media work together to shape unmarried Black women's sexual socialization, though more work is needed to determine how. Results illuminated key differences between groups of unmarried Black women, complicating current understandings of single status and challenging how singlehood is conceptualized in sexual socialization research.
“单身”和“单身状态”这两个术语将婚姻状况（如离婚、丧偶和未婚）和恋爱关系状况（如是否有伴侣）混为一谈，这使得研究人员难以理解它们对女性生活的独特影响。尽管定性研究表明未婚和无伴侣状态对女性的性社会化有不同的影响，但很少有定量研究探讨这些差异。为了填补这一空白，当前项目对506名未婚黑人女性（平均年龄=33.02岁）进行了调查，以探讨常见的单身经历（约会、为人母和亲密伴侣暴力[IPV]）如何调节受访者的媒体使用（电视、社交媒体、电影和杂志）与恋爱关系信念之间的关联。该项目聚焦于黑人女性，因为她们的未婚率很高，而且媒体对她们单身状态的刻板印象很普遍。使用分层线性回归和PROCESS模型来测试媒体与单身经历的双向交互作用。生态系统理论和培养理论指导分析。在各个因变量中，不同类型的媒体与恋爱关系信念的测量指标存在差异关联，并且这些关联因单身经历而有不同的调节作用。每周看电视是恋爱关系信念最一致的预测因素，而IPV经历是关联最一致的调节因素。没有伴侣、孩子或IPV经历的女性在媒体与恋爱关系信念之间表现出显著关联，而经验更丰富的同龄人则没有，这表明单身经历和媒体共同作用塑造了未婚黑人女性的性社会化，不过还需要更多研究来确定具体方式。研究结果揭示了未婚黑人女性群体之间的关键差异，使当前对单身状态的理解变得复杂，并挑战了性社会化研究中对单身状态的概念化方式。
