Van Dyke, Rosie
College of Education and Behavioral Sciences
Professor: Dr. Renata Nero
ABSTRACT:
Previous studies have critically evaluated the influence of spirituality and religiosity on sexuality. According to Beckwith and Morrow (2005), religiosity was significantly related to permissiveness, sexual practices, and sexual instrumentality in college students. Brelsford, Luquis, and Murray-Swank (2011) found that there were significant links between private religious practice, daily spiritual experiences, and conservative sexual attitudes.
Researchers have studied other influences sexual attitudes and behaviors as well. One major alternative in relation to sexual attitudes is ethnicity. Davidson, Moore, Earle, and Davis (2008) argued that race appeared to be influential when determining sexual attitudes. Ahrold and Meston (2010) argued that there is an ethnic-by-religious effect.
This study will address five research questions: (1) Is religiosity related to sexual attitudes? (2) Is there a gender difference pertaining to sexual attitudes? (3) Is there a gender difference related to religiosity? (4) Among students who score high in intrinsic religiosity, is there an ethnic difference in sexual attitudes? (5) Among students who score high in intrinsic religiosity, is there a difference in sexual attitudes based upon gender?
The design will be a quantitative correlational study with one independent variable and one dependent variable. Both tests consist of a five point Likert scale, with one being “strongly disagree” and five being “strongly agree”. Gender and ethnicity will be included and analyzed with the dependent and independent variable.
The participants will be comprised primarily of undergraduate students either taking psychology courses as an elective or psychology majors and minors at a small, private Christian university. The researcher plans to measure other students from a history course as well. There will be 166 participants of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. The Hendrick Sexual Attitude Scale and The Age Universal I-E Scale will be used. Spearman’s rho or Pearson’s r will be used to analyze the data.