Spirituality, Religiosity, Shame and Guilt as Predictors of Sexual Attitudes and Experiences

Abstract

This study examines the relationship among levels of spirituality, religiosity, shame, and guilt on sexual attitudes and experiences. A convenience sample that included graduate and undergraduate students (N = 176; mean age = 37) completed a five-factor measure of personality as well as measures of spirituality, religiosity, shame, guilt, and sexual attitudes and experiences. Spirituality was negatively correlated with sexual permissiveness, and engaging in high risk sex. The moral emotion of shame increased when people had multiple sex partners within the past three months while those more spiritual or connected to God were less likely to have had sex after use of alcohol and/or drugs. Also, the more often someone attended religious services the less likely they were to have had multiple partners within the past three months. A sense of alienation from God predicted shame and guilt, but shame and guilt themselves did not predict sexual practices. These findings suggest that sexual attitudes and experiences are related to both spirituality and religious practices independently of personality, whereas they have no relationship to shame and guilt.

The Relationship Among Sexual Attitudes, Sexual Fantasy, and Religiosity

“…Individuals self-identifying as “spiritual but not religious” differ from those who identify as “spiritual and religious” in level of church attendance, frequency of prayer, religious orthodoxy, and sociopolitical conservatism (Zinnbauer et al, 1999). Measures of spirituality independent from religiosity include “spiritual connectedness,” which is associated with more conservative sexual attitudes in college students (Beckwith & Morrow, 2005; Murray, Ciarrocchi, & Murray-Swank, 2007) and “embodied spirituality,” or spiritual interpretation of sexual experiences, which is associated with more permissive sexual attitudes and increased comfort with sexual fantasy (Horn, Piedmont, Fialkowski, Wicks, & Hunt, 2005). …”

Exploring Religiosity and Spirituality in the Sexual Decision-Making of Black Gay and Bisexual Men

“…This stigma facilitates sexual risks for BMSM and decreases the efficacy of HIV prevention work (Watkins et al 2016a). Specifically, stigma discourages BMSM from establishing long-term, monogamous relationships with men, seeking prevention supplies (i.e., condoms and lubricant), and engaging in safer sex practices such as condom use (Foster et al 2011;Quinn and Dickson-Gomez 2016;Murray et al 2007;Watkins et al 2016a).…”

“…Specifically, religiosity has been associated with being HIV-negative and protective against participating in condomless receptive anal intercourse (RAI) (Watkins et al 2016a); interactions with religious family and churches are sources of support for some BGBM, even after sharing their sexuality or HIV status (Jeffries IV et al 2014). Higher scores of spirituality have been associated with fewer condomless anal sex acts, lower levels of condomless casual sex, and lower substance use (Murray et al 2007;Watkins et al 2016a). However, religiosity and spirituality have also been associated with HIV/STI infection, illicit drug use (Watkins et al 2016a), lower gay affirmation (Smallwood et al 2015), and increased numbers of sexual partners (Nelson et al 2017).…”

Examining the mediating factors between religiosity and pornography use in adolescents

“…Much work has linked attitudes and behaviors, and the same is true for sexual attitudes and behaviors (Zimmer-Gembeck & Hefland, 2008). In fact, Meier (2003) found that attitudes about sex mediate the relationship between religiosity and sexual behavior (see also Murray, Ciarrocchi, & Murray-Swank, 2007). Because sexual attitudes mediate the relationship between religiosity and sex, it is likely that conservative attitudes towards pornography would mediate the relationship between religiosity and pornography use as well.…”