Abstract
Sociosexuality describes a person’s willingness and preparedness to engage in uncommitted sexual activity with various sexual partners. Sociosexuality has important implications for sexual health and HIV prevention because it mostly involves willingness to engage in casual sex. Yet to date, there are no prior studies on sociosexuality and its correlates in Ghana. To fill this gap, this study explored the association between sociosexuality (attitude, desire, and behaviour), gender, sexual sensation seeking, sexual attitudes, and religiosity in romantic relationships among participants (N = 315; men = 164, women = 151) from Ayawaso West Wuogon municipality in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Data were analysed using Hierarchical Multiple Regression. Results showed that, compared with women, men reported higher unrestricted sociosexuality. Further, sexual sensation seeking and sexual attitudes were positively associated with sociosexuality. However, personal religiosity was not associated with sociosexuality. Sexual attitudes interacted with sexual sensation seeking in influencing sociosexuality. Our results suggest that some Ghanaian men seem to view uncommitted sex as an appropriate sexual behaviour, consistent with prevailing masculine sexual script norms. The findings indicate that sexual risk reduction programmes in Ghana should target sociosexuality and sexual sensation seeking.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of Data and Material
The data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable written request.
References
Addai, I. (2000). Religious affiliation and sexual Initiation among Ghanaian women. Review of Religious Research, 41(3), 328–343.
Ahrold, T. K., Farmer, M., Trapnell, P. D., & Meston, C. M. (2011). The relationship among sexual attitudes, sexual fantasy, and religiosity. Archives of Sex Behavior, 40, 619–630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-010-9621-4.
Aluja, A., Garcia, O., & Garcia, L. F. (2002). A comparative study of Zuckerman’s three structural models for personality through the NEO-PI-R, ZKPQ-III-R, EPQ-RS and Goldberg’s 50-bipolar adjectives. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 713–726. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00186-6.
Anarfi, J. K., & Owusu, A. Y. (2011). The making of a sexual being in Ghana: The state, religion and the influence of society as agents of sexual socialization. Sexuality and Culture, 15, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-010-9078-6.
Bassett, R. L., Smith, H. L., Newell, R. J., & Richards, A. H. (1999). Thou shalt not like sex: Taking another look a religiousness and sexual attitudes. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 18, 205–216.
Benet-Martinez, V., & John, O. P. (1998). Los Cinco Grandes across cultures and ethnic groups: Multitrait-multi-method analyses of the Big Five in Spanish and English. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(3), 729–750. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.75.3.729.
Bogaert, A. F., Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2018). Personality and sexual orientation: Extension to asexuality and the HEXACO model. The Journal of Sex Research, 55(8), 951–961. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1287844.
Bourdage, J. S., Lee, K., Ashton, M. C., & Perry, A. (2007). Big Five and HEXACO model personality correlates of sexuality. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 1506–1516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.04.008.
Brelsford, G. M., Luquis, R., & Murray-Swank, N. A. (2011). College students’ permissive sexual attitudes: Links to religiousness and spirituality. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 21(2), 127–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2011.557005.
Brown, M., Sacco, D. F., & Medlin, M. M. (2019). Sociosexual attitudes differentially predict men and women’s preferences for agreeable male faces. Personality and Individual Differences, 141, 248–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.01.027.
Cain, M. K., Zhang, Z., & Yuan, K.-H. (2017). Univariate and multivariate skewness and kurtosis for measuring nonnormality: Prevalence, influence and estimation. Behavior Research Methods, 49, 1716–1735. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-016-0814-1.
Cleveland, M. J., Testa, M., & Hone, L. S. E. (2019). Examining the roles of heavy episodic drinking, drinking venues, and sociosexuality in college men’s sexual aggression. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 80(2), 177–185. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2019.80.177.
Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Donahue, M. J. (1985). Intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness: Review and meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48(2), 400–419. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.48.2.400.
Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS (3rd ed.). London: SAGE publications.
Fisher, T. D. (2007). Sex of experimenter and social norm effects on reports of sexual behavior in young men and women. Archives of Sexual Behaviour, 36, 89–100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-006-9094-7.
Frith, H., & Kitzinger, C. (2001). Reformulating sexual script theory: Developing a discursive psychology of sexual negotiation. Theory & Psychology, 11, 209–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354301112004.
Gaither, G. A., & Sellbom, M. (2003). The sexual sensation seeking scale: Reliability and validity within a heterosexual college student sample. Journal of Personality Assessment, 81(2), 157–167. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa8102_07.
Gettler, L. T., Kuo, P. X., Rosenbaum, S., Avila, J. L., McDade, T. W., & Kuzawa, C. W. (2019). Sociosexuality, testosterone, and life history status: Prospective associations and longitudinal changes among men in Cebu, Philippines. Evolution and Human Behavior, 40(2), 249–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.11.001.
Ghana Statistical Service. (2012). 2010 Population & housing census: Summary report of final results. Retrieved January 8, 2020 from https://www.statsghana.gov.gh/gssmain/storage/img/marqueeupdater/Census2010_Summary_report_of_final_results.pdf.
Gil-Llario, M. D., Morell-Mengual, V., Ballester-Arnal, R., Giménez-García, C., & Castro-Calvo, J. (2015). Sexual sensation seeking in Spanish young men and women with different sexual orientations. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 41(5), 525–530. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623x.2014.931316.
Hall, N. M. (2012). Sociosexuality, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) susceptibility, and sexual behaviour among African American women. Journal of AIDS and HIV Research, 5(2), 43–51. https://doi.org/10.5897/JAHR12.049.
Hall, N. M., & Pichon, L. C. (2014). Gender roles, sociosexuality, and sexual behaviour among US Black women. Health Psychology & Behavioural Medicine, 2(1), 171–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/21642850.2014.882236.
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Heaton, T., James, S., & Oheneba-Sakyi, Y. (2009). Religion and socioeconomic attainment in Ghana. Review of Religious Research, 51(1), 71–86.
Hendrick, C., Hendrick, S. S., & Reich, D. A. (2006). Brief sexual attitudes scale. Journal of Sex Research, 43, 76–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490609552301.
Holtzman, N. S., & Strube, M. J. (2013). Above and beyond short-term mating, long-term mating is uniquely tied to human personality. Evolutionary Psychology, 11(5), 1101–1129. https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491301100514.
John, O. P., Naumann, L. P., & Soto, C. J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative Big-Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and conceptual Issues. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 114–158). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Joseph, S., & DiDuca, D. (2007). The Dimensions of Religiosity Scale: 20-item self-report measure of religious preoccupation, guidance, conviction, and emotional involvement. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 10(6), 603–608. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674670601050295.
Kalichman, S. C., Johnson, J. R., Adair, V., Rompa, D., Multhauf, K., & Kelly, J. A. (1994). Sexual sensation seeking: Scale development and predicting AIDS-risk behavior among homosexually active men. Journal of Personality Assessment, 62(3), 385–397. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa6203_1.
Kalichman, S. C., & Rompa, D. (1995). Sexual sensation seeking and sexual compulsivity scales: Validity, and predicting HIV risk behavior. Journal of Personality Assessment, 65, 586–601. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa6503_16.
Kwateng-Yeboah, J. (2016). ‘I wish you prosperity!’: Analysing the social effect of the prosperity gospel on poverty alleviation in neo-pentecostal Accra, Ghana (master’s thesis). University of Oslo. Retrieved from https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/51218/James-Thesis-Final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
Markey, P., & Markey, C. (2013). Sociosexuality and relationship commitment among lesbian couples. Journal of Research in Personality, 47, 282–285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2013.02.002.
Masters, N. T., Casey, E., Wells, E. A., & Morrison, D. M. (2013). Sexual scripts among young heterosexually active men and women: Continuity and change. Journal of Sex Research, 50, 409–420. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2012.661102.
Matarelli, S. A. (2013). Sexual sensation seeking and Internet sex-seeking of Middle Eastern men who have sex with men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 42(7), 1285–1297. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-013-0073-5.
Moussa, S. (2016). A comment on the estimation of the reliability of multidimensional marketing constructs: A store personality scale application. Global Business Review, 17(5), 1125–1144. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150916656668.
Nascimento, B. S., Hanel, P. P. H., Monteiro, R. P., Gouveia, V. V., & Little, A. C. (2018). Sociosexuality in Brazil: Validation of the SOI-R and its correlates with personality, self-perceived mate value, and ideal partner preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 124, 98–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.12.007.
Neto, F. (2015). Revisiting correlates of sociosexuality for men and women: The role of love relationships and psychological maladjustment. Personality and Individual Differences, 83, 106–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.03.033.
Nguyen, H. V., Koo, K. H., Davis, K. C., Otto, J. M., Hendershot, C. S., Schacht, R. L., et al. (2012). Risky sex: Interactions among ethnicity, sexual sensation seeking, sexual inhibition, and sexual excitation. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41(5), 1231–1239. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-9904-z.
Oliver, M. B., & Hyde, J. S. (1993). Gender differences in sexuality: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 114(1), 29–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.114.1.29.
Penke, L., & Asendorpf, J. B. (2008). Beyond global sociosexual orientations: A more differentiated look at sociosexuality and its effects on courtship and romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1113–1135. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.95.5.1113.
Peters, J. R., Eisenlohr-Moul, T. A., Pond, R. S., Jr., & DeWall, C. N. (2014). The downside of being sexually restricted: The effects of sociosexual orientation on relationships between jealousy, rejection, and anger. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 18–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2014.04.002.
Petersen, J. L., & Hyde, J. S. (2010). A meta-analytic review of research on gender differences in sexuality, 1993–2007. Psychological Bulletin, 136(1), 21–38. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017504.
Petersen, J. L., & Hyde, J. S. (2011). Gender differences in sexual attitudes and behaviours: A review of meta-analytic results and large datasets. Journal of Sex Research, 48(2–3), 149–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2011.551851.
Roberti, J. W. (2004). A review of behavioral and biological correlates of sensation seeking. Journal of Research in Personality, 38, 256–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00067-9.
Robinson, D. (2017). Succeed here and in eternity: The prosperity gospel in Ghana. Irish Theological Quarterly, 82, 2. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021140017695699e.
Rowatt, W. C., & Schmitt, D. P. (2003). Associations between religious orientation and varieties of sexual experience. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 42(3), 455–465. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5906.00194.
Schmitt, D. P. (2005). Sociosexuality from Argentina to Zimbabwe: A 48-nation study of sex, culture, and strategies of human mating. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28, 247–311. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x05000051.
Schmitt, D. P., & Fuller, R. C. (2015). On the varieties of sexual experience: Cross-cultural links between religiosity and human mating strategies. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 7(4), 314–326. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000036.
Schmitt, D. P., & Shackelford, T. K. (2008). Big five traits related to short-term mating: From personality to promiscuity across 46 nations. Evolutionary Psychology, 6, 246–282. https://doi.org/10.1177/147470490800600204.
Simon, W., & Gagnon, J. H. (1986). Sexual scripts: Permanence and change. Archives of Sexual Behaviour, 15, 97–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01542219.
Simpson, J. A., & Gangestad, S. W. (1991). Individual differences in sociosexuality: Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 870–883. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.60.6.870.
Simpson, J. A., & Gangestad, S. W. (1992). Sociosexuality and romantic partner choice. Journal of Personality, 60(1), 31–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1992.tb00264.x.
Simpson, J. A., Wilson, C. L., & Winterheld, H. A. (2004). Sociosexuality and romantic relationships. In J. H. Harvey, A. Wenzel, & S. Sprecher (Eds.), Handbook of sexuality in close relationships (pp. 87–111). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Spitalnick, J., DiClemente, R., Wingood, G., Crosby, R. A., Milhausen, R. R., Sales, J. M., et al. (2007). Brief report: Sexual sensation seeking and its relationship to risky sexual behaviour among African-American adolescent females. Journal of Adolescence, 30(1), 165–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2006.10.002.
Sprecher, S., Treger, S., & Sakaluk, J. K. (2013). Premarital sexual standards and sociosexuality: Gender, ethnicity, and cohort differences. Archives of Sexual Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-013-0145-6.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Tawiah, O. (2018). ‘Prosperity gospel’ leading many astray—Ministers caution. Myjoyonline. Retrieved from https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2018/April-22nd/prosperity-gospel-leading-many-astray-ministers-caution.php.
Testa, M., & Hone, L. S. E. (2019). Sociosexuality predicts drinking frequency among first-year college women. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 33(7), 644–648. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000507.
Treger, S., & Sprecher, S. (2011). The influences of sociosexuality and attachment style on reactions to emotional versus sexual infidelity. The Journal of Sex Research, 48(5), 413–422. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2010.516845.
Trinitapoli, J., & Regnerus, M. D. (2006). Religion and HIV risk behaviors among married men: Initial results from a study in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45(4), 505–528. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2006.00325.x.
Vasilenko, S. A., Duntzee, C. I., Zheng, Y., & Lefkowitz, E. S. (2013). Testing two process models of religiosity and sexual behaviour. Journal of Adolescence, 36(667–673), x. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.04.002.
Voisin, D. R., Tan, K., & DiClemente, R. J. (2013). A longitudinal examination of the relationship between sexual sensation seeking and STI-related risk factors among African American females. AIDS Education and Prevention, 25(2), 124–134. https://doi.org/10.1521/aeap.2013.25.2.124.
Webster, G. D., Laurenceau, J.-P., Smith, C. V., Mahaffey, A. L., Bryan, A. D., & Brunell, A. B. (2015). An investment model of sociosexuality, relationship satisfaction, and commitment: Evidence from dating, engaged, and newlywed couples. Journal of Research in Personality, 55, 112–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2015.02.004.
Wongsomboon, V., Burleson, M. H., & Webster, G. D. (2020). Women’s orgasm and sexual satisfaction in committed sex and casual sex: Relationship between sociosexuality and sexual outcomes in different sexual contexts. The Journal of Sex Research, 57(3), 285–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2019.1672036.
Wright, P. J. (2018). Pornography and sexual behaviour: Do sexual attitudes mediate or confound? Communication Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650218796363.
Yost, M. R., & Zurbriggen, E. L. (2006). Gender differences in the enactment of sociosexuality: An examination of implicit social motives, sexual fantasies, coercive sexual attitudes, and aggressive sexual behavior. Journal of Sex Research, 43(2), 163–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490609552311.
Zheng, L., & Zheng, Y. (2014). Online sexual activity in Mainland China: Relationship to sexual sensation seeking and sociosexuality. Computers in Human Behavior, 36, 323–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.03.062.
Zuckerman, M. (1994). Behavioral expressions and biosocial bases of sensation seeking. New York: Cambridge Press.
Funding
Not applicable.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
ETK and FK conceptualised the study. FK collected the data. ETK analysed the data and interpreted the results. ETK and FK drafted the manuscript. ETK reviewed the manuscript for critical intellectual content. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to report.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Approval for this study was obtained from the Ethics Committee for the Humanities at the University of Ghana (Protocol Number: ECH045/18-19).
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Koomson, F., Teye-Kwadjo, E. How Much Do We Really Know About Sociosexuality in Ghana?. Sexuality & Culture 25, 167–188 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09764-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09764-y