Department of Sociology and Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Demography. 2022 Jun 1;59(3):895-920. doi: 10.1215/00703370-9931820.
Drawing on weekly panel data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life study, we investigate the relationship between religiosity and young Christian women's premarital intercourse, hormonal contraceptive use, and condom use for a period of up to 2.5 years. Mediation analyses reveal what explains the relationship between baseline religiosity and young women's subsequent reproductive behaviors, with consideration for their normative environments, moral order and learned competencies, attitudes, and anticipated guilt after sex. Results indicate that the more religious a young woman is, the less likely she is to have intercourse and to use hormonal contraception in a given week. However, when having intercourse and not using a hormonal method, the more religious a young woman is, the more likely she is to use condoms. Religiosity's relationship to these behaviors operates largely through women's reproductive attitudes, anticipated feelings of guilt after sex, and past sexual or contraceptive behaviors. Together, these findings highlight the complex relationship between religiosity and premarital sex and contraceptive use, elucidate key pathways through which religiosity operates, and draw attention to the often overlooked role of sexual emotions.
我们利用“关系动态与社会生活研究”（Relationship Dynamics and Social Life study）每周的小组数据，研究了宗教信仰与年轻基督教女性婚前性行为、荷尔蒙避孕措施以及长达 2.5 年的避孕套使用之间的关系。中介分析揭示了什么因素可以解释宗教信仰与年轻女性后续生育行为之间的关系，同时考虑了她们所处的规范环境、道德秩序和习得能力、态度以及性行为后的预期内疚感。结果表明，一个年轻女性越虔诚，她在特定一周内发生性行为和使用荷尔蒙避孕措施的可能性就越低。然而，当发生性行为且不使用荷尔蒙方法时，一个年轻女性越虔诚，她就越有可能使用避孕套。宗教信仰与这些行为之间的关系主要通过女性的生育态度、性行为后的预期内疚感以及过去的性行为或避孕行为来运作。总之，这些发现突出了宗教信仰与婚前性行为和避孕措施之间复杂的关系，阐明了宗教信仰运作的关键途径，并引起了人们对性情感这一经常被忽视的作用的关注。
