Religious Orientation and Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors

• Published in: Journal of research on christian education 2011-05, Vol.20 (2), p.195-206
• Main Authors: McMILLEN, EILEEN K., HELM, HERBERT W., McBRIDE, DUANE C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitudes; Beliefs; Correlation; Measures (Individuals); Moral Values; Religion; Religious Factors; Religious studies; Scores; Sexual behavior; Sexual orientation; Sexuality
• ISSN: 1065-6219; 1934-4945
• DOI: 10.1080/10656219.2011.590755

Religion is one of the major forces of control over sexuality, and many studies have observed an inverse relationship between religiosity and sexual permissiveness. The Religious Orientation Scale has been used to study the relationship between religious orientation and sexuality. It has been found that those with intrinsic views are more conservative in their sexual values while those who are extrinsic have more liberal views. The purpose of this study was to use the Religious Life Inventory, an instrument that also has a quest orientation, to evaluate the relationship between religious orientation and various premarital sexual activities and attitudes within a sample of conservative religious students. Inverse correlations were found for those with internal and external scores, while weak but positive correlations were found for those with quest scores. These findings suggest that those with a more open-minded position on religion may have the same open-minded position on sexuality.