A look through the kaleidoscope of culture: How Canadian second-generation immigrants’ identities shape their sexual attitudes

People’s sexual attitudes vary based on their culture. Sexual attitudes include peoples’ thoughts and feelings on sexuality broadly and on their sexual behaviours specifically. Cross-cultural researchers often categorize societies into Western and non-Western groups. Western societies typically include countries influenced by European cultural, political, and economic values, such as North America and Europe (World Values Survey, 2020). In these societies, sexual permissiveness and openness to sexual exploration are often endorsed (Aboulhassan & Brumley, 2019; Hall & Graham, 2021). Non-Western societies are not rooted in European values and encompass diverse cultural groups (e.g., Middle East, Latin America, Africa; World Values Survey, 2020). People in these societies tend to endorse binary gender norms and disapproval toward premarital sex (especially for women) and same-sex relationships (Hall & Graham, 2021; Human Dignity Trust, 2023). These norms were often enforced through the spread of Christian values during European colonization (Amnesty International, 2023). The dichotomy between Western and non-Western cultures does not account for the sexual attitudes multicultural people may hold. Multicultural people are likely to encounter sexual attitudes from multiple cultural groups to different extents. For instance, generational status may mould people’s sexual attitudes. Second-generation immigrants (SGIs) are born and live in a country where at least one of their parents was not born (Statistics Canada, 2011). SGIs are a unique generation of multicultural people socialised in at least two cultures from birth: their parent(s)’ origin culture, and their birthplace’s culture (Yampolsky et al., 2015). Navigating sexuality within multiple cultural contexts can be complex, as SGIs may receive cultural messages with conflicting sexual attitudes. On the one hand, the Western culture into which SGIs are born tends to promote openness toward sexual exploration, often referred to as permissiveness. On the other hand, their parents’ non-Western cultures may promote sex only within marriage. Qualitative research suggests that SGIs often blend these messages, endorsing sexual exploration primarily within the context of committed romantic relationships. Valuing emotional connection in sexual relationships is a sexual attitude referred to as sexual communion (Hendrick et al., 2006; under review, Noorishad et al., 2025). However, the available data on these sexual attitudes is largely qualitative, causing a gap in understanding the extent to which SGIs endorse sexual permissiveness and communion. The conflicting cultural messages SGIs navigate when forming their sexual attitudes can raise a more specific set of sexual attitudes: sexual shame and sexual pride. Sexual shame refers to feelings of failure, guilt, or inadequacy related to one’s sexual thoughts, feelings, or behaviours (Rendina et al., 2018; Ussher et al., 2017). Conversely, sexual pride reflects a sense of confidence, self-acceptance, and self-worth in relation to sexuality (Gordon, 2017; Rendina et al., 2018). SGIs who identify more with non-Western cultures may endorse negative messages on sexual exploration, which can contribute to sexual shame (Ussher et al., 2017). Conversely, SGIs who identify more with Western cultures may explore their sexualities without constraints and experience more sexual pride (Rendina et al., 2018). Taken together, these sexual attitudes provide a deeper understanding of how SGIs experience their sexuality in multicultural contexts. The processes through which SGIs integrate, negotiate, or reject cultural norms may shed more light on their sexual attitudes than their generational status alone. Acculturation, cultural identity, and language spoken at home have been tied to sexual attitude formation (Coleman-Minahan et al., 2020; Doucerain et al., 2017; la Roi & Mood, 2023). Most researchers who examine how cultural processes explain attitudes do so through a framework called acculturation (Doucerain et al., 2017). In acculturation theories, immigrants go through a decision-making process of integrating or rejecting cultural components from each of their cultures into their identities (Sam & Berry, 2010; Yampolsky et al., 2013). Acculturation may not apply well to SGIs, given that they are born into more than one culture. Acculturation tends to focus on objective membership to a cultural group (i.e., behaviours that are deemed as fitting into a culture such as speaking the language of the origin culture; Ryder et al., 2000). However, cultural identity is about people’s subjective levels of identification with their culture; it can illuminate how people integrate multiple identities into the self (Yampolsky et al., 2016). For example, if a person identifies strongly with their origin culture’s sexual attitudes, they may hold more non-Western sexual attitudes such as greater communion (la Roi & Mood, 2023). Taken together, SGIs’ cultural identities offer a lens into how they navigate sexual attitudes such as permissiveness, communion, sexual shame, and sexual pride. Acculturation and cultural identity do not fully account for how multiple overlapping identities and social contexts shape SGIs’ sexual attitudes. SGIs have reported that their sexual attitudes are influenced by their sociodemographic identities, such as religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Intersectionality offers a framework for understanding how social identities—such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and socioeconomic status—interact to shape lived experiences and exposure to oppression (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991). It is a dynamic process shaped by and shaping systems of power, including racism, sexism, and heterosexism (Bowleg et al., 2024; Collins, 2019, 2020). For example, a heterosexual and a gay SGI man may share similar cultural backgrounds and generational status, yet experience sexuality differently due to sexual orientation (Nakamura et al., 2013). Dhoest (2016) found that gay SGI men often faced homophobia within their origin cultures and racism in their birthplace cultures. Other intersecting factors, such as having at least one parent born in a Western country of birth, have been linked to more permissive sexual attitudes (Kalmijn & Kraaykamp, 2018). It is also likely that having a partner from the birthplace country or of Western background may impact sexual attitudes in similar ways. The intertwined nature of identity underscores the importance of an intersectional approach in understanding the sexual attitudes of SGIs. The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) examine the extent to which cultural factors (i.e., acculturation, cultural identity, and language spoken at home) and intersecting identity variables (e.g., sexual orientation, age, gender) explain variance in sexual attitudes among Canadian SGIs, including both general attitudes (permissiveness and communion) and specific sexual attitudes (sexual shame and sexual pride), and (2) compare whether cultural factors or intersecting identity variables more strongly predict general versus specific sexual attitudes. To address our two objectives, we conducted an online survey with emerging Canadian adult SGIs, using two separate samples: one from a student population and one from the general community. This survey will answer the following research questions: • RQ1: To what extent do acculturation, cultural identity, and language spoken at home predict sexual attitudes (permissiveness, communion, sexual shame, and sexual pride, respectively) among SGIs? • RQ2: To what extent do acculturation, cultural identity, and language spoken at home predict sexual attitudes (permissiveness, communion, sexual shame, and sexual pride, respectively) among SGIs, after accounting for the effects of age, gender, and sexual orientation?

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