The Sacred Bed: Sex Guilt Mediates Religiosity and Satisfaction for Unmarried People

Hackathorn, Jana; Ashdown, Brien K.; Rife, Sean C.

doi:10.1007/s12119-015-9315-0

Cited by 28 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…However, for men, it appears that religiosity is only positively related to sexual satisfaction insofar that men utilize their religious experience to develop a sanctified view of sexuality. These results support previous suggestions by scholars about the importance of considering potential explanatory variables between religiosity and sexual satisfaction to help clarify the associations (Hackathorn et al, 2016;Hardy & Willoughby, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Sex guilt or sanctification? The indirect role of religiosity on sexual satisfaction.

Leonhardt¹,

Busby²,

Willoughby³

2020

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

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With a Mechanical Turk sample of 1,614 sexually active individuals (62.6% women, 85% heterosexual, mean age of 34.47 years) who had been in a committed sexual relationship for at least two years, we used structural equation modeling to better understand how global religiosity may indirectly influence sexual satisfaction. Because religiosity has been linked to the way people make sense of sexuality, we assessed positive (sexual sanctification) and negative (sexual guilt) meaning making variables as mediators between religiosity and sexual satisfaction. Consistent with prior research, greater sanctification of sexuality was directly tied to greater sexual satisfaction, whereas greater sexual guilt was directly tied to less sexual satisfaction. Greater general religiosity was indirectly related to greater sexual satisfaction for men and women through greater sexual sanctification. Contrary to expectations, no significant pathways emerged between greater religiosity and less sexual satisfaction via sexual guilt, possibly due to reliance on a one item indicator for the latter variable. Also, in structural equation models, when sanctification of sexuality was taken into account, greater religiosity was directly tied to less sexual satisfaction for women, but not for men. This suggests that sanctification of sexuality represents a facet of religiousness that facilitates women's and men's sexual satisfaction, whereas other religious beliefs may inhibit women's sexual satisfaction.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Sex guilt or sanctification? The indirect role of religiosity on sexual satisfaction.

Leonhardt¹,

Busby²,

Willoughby³

2020

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

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“…We need more research, and perhaps a more in-depth understanding of couple context, to better understand potential negative mechanisms. It would be valuable to assess how religiosity influences sexual attitudes at an earlier stage of the relationship, as Hackathorn et al, 2016 found that religiosity was linked with sexual guilt for unmarried individuals (but not married). The mean relationship length of their participants, however, was two and a half years for unmarried participants; our studies had mean relationship lengths of eight years and 11 years for Study 1 and Study 2, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sanctification or inhibition? Religious dualities and sexual satisfaction.

Leonhardt¹,

Busby²,

Hanna‐Walker³

et al. 2021

Journal of Family Psychology

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Religiosity can influence sexual satisfaction both positively and negatively. To test positive and negative mechanisms, we assessed how religiosity is indirectly associated with sexual satisfaction through sexual sanctification and inhibited sexual passion. We sampled individuals from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N ϭ 1,695, Study 1) and mixed-sex dyads from Bovitz Inc. (N ϭ 481 dyads, Study 2). Religiosity consistently had a positive indirect association with sexual satisfaction through sexual sanctification; little evidence suggested religiosity had an indirect association with sexual satisfaction through inhibited sexual passion. When accounting for these mechanisms simultaneously, however, religiosity consistently had a negative direct association with sexual satisfaction, supporting the possibility of religious dualities. In the couple study, men's religiosity predicted their partner reporting higher sexual sanctification (for married couples), but women's religiosity did not predict partner sexual sanctification. Altogether, these results paint a complex picture for how religiosity might influence sexuality. Understanding the nuance of these results may help people maximize the potential benefits of their belief systems in sexual relationships.

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“…may be unrelated to or inhibit sexual activity and satisfaction, even within marriage (Hackathorn et al, 2016;McFarland et al, 2011).…”

Section: Goals and Hypotheses Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex through a sacred lens: Longitudinal effects of sanctification of marital sexuality.

Hernandez-Kane¹,

Mahoney

2018

Journal of Family Psychology

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Research attending to the role of religion and spirituality in enhancing sexuality in marriage is virtually absent. In response to this scarcity, this longitudinal study examined the sanctification of marital sexuality among newly married, heterosexual individuals (N = 67; married 4-18 months at Time 1). Greater sanctification of marital sexuality early in the marriage predicted more frequent sexual intercourse, sexual satisfaction, and marital satisfaction 1 year later for individual respondents, after controlling for initial levels of the dependent variable as well as age, frequencies of religious service attendance and prayer, and biblical conservatism. Greater sanctification continued to longitudinally predict greater sexual frequency and sexual satisfaction after also controlling for initial marital satisfaction. Participants with higher initial levels of sanctification of marital sexuality, relative to those with lower levels, experienced smaller declines in sexual satisfaction across 1 year. Findings add to empirical evidence that greater sanctification of close relationships facilitates relational well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record

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The Sacred Bed: Sex Guilt Mediates Religiosity and Satisfaction for Unmarried People

Cited by 28 publications

References 38 publications

Sex guilt or sanctification? The indirect role of religiosity on sexual satisfaction.

Sex guilt or sanctification? The indirect role of religiosity on sexual satisfaction.

Sanctification or inhibition? Religious dualities and sexual satisfaction.

Sex through a sacred lens: Longitudinal effects of sanctification of marital sexuality.

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