Judging the Acceptability of Sexual Intercourse Among People with Learning Disabilities: A Mexico-France Comparison

The respective attitudes of Mexican and French laypeople regarding regular sexual intercourse involving at least one person with learning disabilities were compared. The study was a replication of a study conducted in France in a community sample from Mexico (aged 22–75). Only three of the four factors that were found to have a significant effect among French participants—use of contraceptive devices, level of personal autonomy, and partner’s age—were found to be significant among the Mexican participants. The partner’s handicap factor was not significant, but the impact of the contraception factor was stronger among the Mexican participants than among the French participants. Contrary to what was observed among the French participants, among the Mexican participants the three factors were combined in a strictly additive way. That is, each factor contributed independently to the acceptability judgments.