Sexual Satisfaction, Sexual Attitudes, and Shame in Relation to Religiosity

Marcinechová, Denisa; Záhorcová, Lucia

doi:10.1007/s12119-020-09727-3

Original Paper
Published: 08 April 2020

Sexual Satisfaction, Sexual Attitudes, and Shame in Relation to Religiosity

Sexuality & Culture volume 24, pages 1913–1928 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Given the historical coexistence of religion and sexuality, the main aim of this study was to examine how religiosity is related to sexusal attitudes and sexual satisfaction and, besides that, to examine the potential role of sexual shame and shame proneness in religiosity and sexual satisfaction. The study also focused on gender and marital differences in sexual attitudes, sexual satisfaction, shame, and religiosity. The research was conducted on 411 participants ranging in age from 18 to 44 years (M = 23.66; SD = 4.17). The data were obtained by the Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale, Sexual Satisfaction Scale, Swedish Religious Orientational Scale, Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3, and Kyle Sexual Shame Inventory. The data were analysed with correlational and regression analysis. The study confirmed a negative association between intrinsic religiosity and permissiveness. Sexual shame was positively related to religiosity and negatively related to sexual satisfaction. Intrinsic religiosity, shame proneness, and sexual shame explained 19% of the variance of sexual satisfaction, while the strongest negative predictor was sexual shame. We highlight the potential benefits of focusing on unpleasant feelings of sexual shame in therapy in order to potentially increase sexual satisfaction. This seems to be particularly important for individuals who have experienced non-consensual sexual activity in the past.

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Institute of Experimental Psychology, Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská Cesta 5819/9, 841 04, Karlova Ves, Bratislava, Slovakia
Denisa Marcinechová
Department of Psychology, Trnava University in Trnava, Hornopotočná 23, 91701, Trnava, Slovakia
Lucia Záhorcová

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Denisa Marcinechová
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Correspondence to Denisa Marcinechová.

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Marcinechová, D., Záhorcová, L. Sexual Satisfaction, Sexual Attitudes, and Shame in Relation to Religiosity. Sexuality & Culture 24, 1913–1928 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09727-3

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Published: 08 April 2020
Issue Date: December 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09727-3

Keywords

Religiosity
Sexual attitudes
Sexual satisfaction
Sexual shame
Shame proneness