Religious Coping, Spirituality, and Hypersexual Behavior Among College Students

Collegiate Sexual Addiction: Exploring Religious Coping and Attachment

“…Participants who engaged in higher levels of NRC were more likely to be in the clinical range group. This finding mirrors previous studies identifying NRC as a significant predictor of hypersexual behavior (Giordano & Cecil, ) and a positive correlate of sexual addiction (Faigin et al, ). The relationship between addictive sexual behavior and religious coping strategies can be explained within the context of emotion regulation.…”

“…In line with previous findings, college students who participated in this study were at higher risk for sexual addiction than the general population, with 17.2% of participants scoring in the clinical range according to the SAST‐R Core Scale. Our findings have been replicated across multiple samples (Cashwell et al, ; Giordano & Cecil, ; Seegers, ) using various OCSB measures, thus adding veracity to the argument that college students likely experience sexual addiction at rates higher than the general population. Although the majority of college students are sexually active and almost 50% have had more than two sexual partners since age 18 (Monto & Carey, ), sexual addiction is distinct from normative sexual exploration.…”

“…College students are another population with elevated sexual addiction rates. For example, Giordano and Cecil () found that 16.2% of college men were in the clinical range for hypersexuality. Cashwell et al () determined that 21.2% of men and 6.7% of women met the criteria for further screening for sexual addiction.…”

“…The relationship between religious coping and sexual addiction also extends into college populations. Giordano and Cecil () surveyed 235 undergraduate students and found that NRC was a statistically significant predictor of hypersexuality, with higher NRC scores associated with higher levels of hypersexual behavior. Similarly, Faigin, Pargament, and Abu‐Raiya () found a correlation between higher NRC scores and higher levels of sexual addiction, leading them to conclude that spiritual struggle may pose a risk factor for sexual addiction (Faigin et al, ).…”

“…Specifically, DSM-5 reviewers had concerns about the misuse of an HD diagnosis in evaluations of sexually violent predators for civil commitments (Kafka, ). Thus, we sought to examine sexual addiction in a population reported to experience elevated levels—the college population (Cashwell, Giordano, Lewis, Wachtel, & Bartley, ; Giordano & Cecil, ; Seegers, )—with the aim of continuing the research in the field of compulsive sexual behavior.…”