Four theories about cultural suppression of female sexuality are evaluated. Data are reviewed on cross-cultural differences in power and sex ratios, reactions to the sexual revolution, direct restraining influences on adolescent and adult female sexuality, double standard patterns of sexual morality, female genital surgery, legal and religious restrictions on sex, prostitution and pornography, ...

PURPOSE We examine trends in religious attendance by educational group, with an emphasis on the "moderately educated:" individuals with a high-school degree but not a 4-year college degree. METHODOLOGY We conduct multivariate ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression models using data from the General Social Survey (from 1972 to 2010) and the National Survey of Family Growth (from 1982 to 2008)...

Legislatures and courts are debating whether businesses can deny services to same-sex couples for religious reasons. Yet, little is known about public views on this issue. In a national survey experiment, Americans (n = 2035) responded to an experimental vignette describing a gay or interracial couple refused service. Vignettes varied the reason for refusal (religion/nonreligious) and by busine...

Examined the relations between depressive symptoms and (a) 3 standard indicators of religiousness and (b) a potentially more age-specific indicator in a sample of 744 adolescents (M age = 13.06 years, SD = 0.45). Adolescents completed the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality. Results indicate that several dimensions of religi...

BACKGROUND Gender identity disorder and its treatment with sex reassignment surgery is a profound experience, which can affect the mental, interpersonal, social and religious aspects of one's life. METHODS This was a qualitative content analysis study focusing on the various dimensions of the experiences of seven patients suffering from gender identity disorder in a female-to-male subgroup. T...

PURPOSE To describe patterns of heterosexual oral sexual experience in a nationally representative sample of youth aged 15 to 21 and identify social and demographic correlates of oral sexual experience among youth who had not engaged in vaginal intercourse. METHODS Descriptive analysis and multinomial logistic regression using data from Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth, conduct...

This study uses General Social Survey data to compare gender and homosexuality across American religious groups from the 1970s to 2014, examining three possible patterns for how evangelical attitudes relate to those of other groups: (1) they are similar; (2) they are different, but move together over time; (3) they are different and converge or diverge over time. Evangelical gender attitudes re...

BACKGROUND The increasing trend of premarital sexual experience and unintended pregnancies in Malaysia warrants sustained and serious attention. The sensitivities of sex-related issues in a Muslim-majority country create various types of barriers to sexual and reproductive health information, support and practices. This study aims to gain understanding of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of ...

Recent reviews suggest that religiosity is associated with the delay of adolescent coital debut (Rostosky, Wilcox, Wright, Randall, in press; Wilcox, Rostosky, Randall, Wright, 2001). Few studies, however, have examined this association using longitudinal data to test theoretically driven models. We analyzed data from 3,691 adolescents (ages 15-21), testing the hypothesis that adolescent religi...