TY - JOUR
T1 - Religiosity, sexual behaviors, and sexual attitudes during emerging adulthood
AU - Lefkowitz, Eva S.
AU - Gillen, Meghan M.
AU - Shearer, Cindy L.
AU - Boone, Tanya L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant #R-01 HD 41720 to Eva S. Lefkowitz. We are grateful to Shelley Hosterman, Eric Loken, Susan McHale, Lyndsey Sturm, Elizabeth Tempio, and Georgette Villareal for their help with study design, data collection, data scoring and entering, data cleaning, and statistical analyses. Address correspondence to Eva S. Lefkowitz, 110 South Henderson Building, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; e-mail: [email protected].
PY - 2004/5
Y1 - 2004/5
N2 - The current study examined associations between religiosity and sexual behaviors and attitudes during emerging adulthood. Two hundred and five emerging adults completed surveys about five aspects of their religiosity (group affiliation, attendance at religious services, attitudes, perceptions of negative sanctions, and adherence to sanctions) and their sexual behaviors (abstinence, age of onset, lifetime partners, condom use) and attitudes (conservative attitudes, perceived vulnerability to HIV, and condom-related beliefs). Associations were found between the measures of religiosity and sexuality, although the patterns differed by measures used. Religious behavior was the strongest predictor of sexual behavior. Many aspects of religiosity were associated with general sexual attitudes, which was not the case for perceived vulnerability to HIV and condom-related beliefs. The findings support reference group theory and highlight the importance of considering the specific constructs of religiosity and sexuality assessed in studies of these topics.
AB - The current study examined associations between religiosity and sexual behaviors and attitudes during emerging adulthood. Two hundred and five emerging adults completed surveys about five aspects of their religiosity (group affiliation, attendance at religious services, attitudes, perceptions of negative sanctions, and adherence to sanctions) and their sexual behaviors (abstinence, age of onset, lifetime partners, condom use) and attitudes (conservative attitudes, perceived vulnerability to HIV, and condom-related beliefs). Associations were found between the measures of religiosity and sexuality, although the patterns differed by measures used. Religious behavior was the strongest predictor of sexual behavior. Many aspects of religiosity were associated with general sexual attitudes, which was not the case for perceived vulnerability to HIV and condom-related beliefs. The findings support reference group theory and highlight the importance of considering the specific constructs of religiosity and sexuality assessed in studies of these topics.
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U2 - 10.1080/00224490409552223
DO - 10.1080/00224490409552223
M3 - Review article
C2 - 15326540
AN - SCOPUS:3042733599
SN - 0022-4499
VL - 41
SP - 150
EP - 159
JO - Journal of Sex Research
JF - Journal of Sex Research
IS - 2
ER -
