Sex guilt or sanctification? The indirect role of religiosity on sexual satisfaction.

Leonhardt, Nathan D.; Busby, Dean M.; Willoughby, Brian J.

doi:10.1037/rel0000245

Cited by 33 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Since an initial study published in 1999 on the sanctification of marriage (Mahoney et al, 1999), over 17 studies have found that greater perceived sanctity of marriage or marital sexuality is tied to greater marital quality in cross-sectional, experimental, or longitudinal studies (e.g. DeMaris et al, 2010;Ellison et al, 2011;Hernandez-Kane & Mahoney, 2018;Leonhardt et al, 2020;Mahoney et al, in press). For instance, greater belief regarding the sanctity of one's marriage has been repeatedly tied to greater subjective marital satisfaction, forgiveness, and sacrifice (e.g.…”

Section: Sanctification Of Marriagementioning

confidence: 99%

Sanctification of marriage, religious coping and marital adjustment of Iranian couples

Fallahchai¹,

Fallahi²,

Moazenjami

et al. 2021

Archive for the Psychology of Religion

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This study examined cross-sectional links of the theistic and non-theistic sanctification of marriage and positive and negative religious coping with marital adjustment for 316 married Muslims (women = 157, men = 159) from Iran. Perceiving marriage to be a manifestation of God (i.e. theistic sanctification) and reflective of sacred qualities (i.e. non-theistic sanctification) as well as engaging in positive and negative religious/spiritual (r/s) coping strategies each uniquely contributed variance to marital adjustment, after controlling for each other and global indicators of devotion to Islam (e.g. frequency of prayer, religious pilgrimages, fasting, reciting the Quran), and demographic variables (e.g. education level). Specifically, theistic sanctification (β = .40), non-theistic sanctification (β = .29), and positive r/s coping (β = .56) were uniquely tied to higher marital adjustment whereas negative r/s coping was uniquely tied to lower marital adjustment theistic (β =-15) in a hierarchical regression model with all primary variables and controls entered. These findings replicate and extend prior findings on the perceived sanctity of marriage with US samples of predominantly Christians to Muslims living in the Middle East, and offer novel cross-cultural insights into the possible roles that sanctification of marriage and r/s coping may play for marital well-being for non-distressed married Muslims.

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Section: Sanctification Of Marriagementioning

confidence: 99%

Sanctification of marriage, religious coping and marital adjustment of Iranian couples

Fallahchai¹,

Fallahi²,

Moazenjami

et al. 2021

Archive for the Psychology of Religion

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show abstract

“…One recent study called for a dualistic perspective in assessing more proximal connections between religiosity and sexuality (Leonhardt, Busby, & Willoughby, 2020). Highlighting the aforementioned tangle of associations, they suggested religiosity may indirectly influence sexual satisfaction through both positive and negative mechanisms.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sanctification or inhibition? Religious dualities and sexual satisfaction.

Leonhardt¹,

Busby²,

Hanna‐Walker³

et al. 2021

Journal of Family Psychology

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Religiosity can influence sexual satisfaction both positively and negatively. To test positive and negative mechanisms, we assessed how religiosity is indirectly associated with sexual satisfaction through sexual sanctification and inhibited sexual passion. We sampled individuals from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N ϭ 1,695, Study 1) and mixed-sex dyads from Bovitz Inc. (N ϭ 481 dyads, Study 2). Religiosity consistently had a positive indirect association with sexual satisfaction through sexual sanctification; little evidence suggested religiosity had an indirect association with sexual satisfaction through inhibited sexual passion. When accounting for these mechanisms simultaneously, however, religiosity consistently had a negative direct association with sexual satisfaction, supporting the possibility of religious dualities. In the couple study, men's religiosity predicted their partner reporting higher sexual sanctification (for married couples), but women's religiosity did not predict partner sexual sanctification. Altogether, these results paint a complex picture for how religiosity might influence sexuality. Understanding the nuance of these results may help people maximize the potential benefits of their belief systems in sexual relationships.

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“…However, greater sanctification of sexuality predicts greater sexual satisfaction crosssectionally among married and unmarried partners (Leonhardt et al, 2021) and longitudinally among newlyweds (Hernandez-Kane & Mahoney, 2018). It also is tied to lower sex guilt among opposite-sex, same-sex, and cohabiting partners (Leonhardt et al, 2019;Phillips et al, 2017) and to lower odds of physical and emotional cheating, even after controlling for plausible alternate explanations (general R/S, problematic alcohol use, trait self-control; McAllister et al, 2020).…”

Section: Sanctification Of Couple and Family Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Handbook of Positive Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality

Davis¹,

Worthington²,

Schnitker³

2022

Preprint

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This handbook aims to bridge the gap between the fields of positive psychology and the psychology of religion and spirituality. It is the authoritative guide to the intersections among religion, spirituality, and positive psychology and includes the following sections: (1) historical and theoretical considerations, (2) methodological considerations, (3) cultural considerations, (4) developmental considerations, (5) empirical research on happiness and well-being in relation to religion and spirituality, (6) empirical research on character strengths and virtues in relation to religion and spirituality, (7) clinical and applied considerations, and (8) field unification and advancement. Leading positive psychologists and psychologists of religion/spirituality have coauthored the chapters, drawing on expertise from their respective fields. The handbook is useful for social and clinical scientists, practitioners in helping professions, practitioners in religious and spiritual fields, and students of psychology and religion/spirituality.

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Sex guilt or sanctification? The indirect role of religiosity on sexual satisfaction.

Cited by 33 publications

References 58 publications

Sanctification of marriage, religious coping and marital adjustment of Iranian couples

Sanctification of marriage, religious coping and marital adjustment of Iranian couples

Sanctification or inhibition? Religious dualities and sexual satisfaction.

Handbook of Positive Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality

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