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Understanding Religious Variations in Sexuality and Sexual Health

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Handbook of the Sociology of Sexualities

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

In this chapter, we provide an overview and critical examination of published research concerning the impact of religious involvement on the outcomes of sexuality and sexual health across the life course. We take a broad approach, focusing on a variety of important topics, including sexual behavior, sexual health education, abortion attitudes and behavior, HIV/AIDS, attitudes toward gays and lesbians, and the lived experiences of sexual minorities. In the future, researchers should (1) employ more comprehensive measures of religious involvement, (2) investigate understudied outcomes related to sexuality and sexual health, (3) explore mechanisms linking religion, sexuality, and sexual health, (4) establish subgroup variations in the impact of religious involvement, and (5) formally test alternative explanations like personality selection and social desirability. Research along these lines would certainly contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of religious variations in sexuality and sexual health across the life course.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA

    Amy M. Burdette

  2. School of Sociology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Terrence D. Hill

  3. Department of Sociology, University of Utah, 84112, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Kyl Myers

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  1. Amy M. Burdette
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  2. Terrence D. Hill
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  3. Kyl Myers
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Correspondence to Amy M. Burdette .

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    John DeLamater

  2. Department of Sociology, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, USA

    Rebecca F. Plante

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Burdette, A., Hill, T., Myers, K. (2015). Understanding Religious Variations in Sexuality and Sexual Health. In: DeLamater, J., Plante, R. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Sexualities. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17341-2_20

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