J Relig Health DOI 10.1007/s10943-014-9831-5 ORIGINAL PAPER

Gender, Religiosity, Sexual Activity, Sexual Knowledge, and Attitudes Toward Controversial Aspects of Sexuality Zeynep Hatipog˘lu Su¨mer

Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the role of gender, religiosity, sexual activity, and sexual knowledge in predicting attitudes toward controversial aspects of sexuality among Turkish university students. Participants were 162 female and 135 male undergraduate students who were recruited on a volunteer basis from an urban state university in Turkey. The SKAT-A Attitude Scale along with background information form, sexual activities inventory, and sexual knowledge scale were administered to the participants. Simultaneous multiple regression analyses revealed that religiosity, particularly attendance to religious services was the most significant predictor in explaining university students’ attitudes toward masturbation, abortion, homosexuality, pornography, and sexual coercion. Keywords Sexual attitudes  Religiosity  Sexual activity  University students  Turkey

Introduction Over the years, sexual attitudes have been extensively studied among adolescents and young adults in many Western countries in relation to various variables (e.g., Beckwith and Morrow 2005; Beitz 1995; Bailey 1993; Carlton et al. 2000; Haglund and Fehring 2010; Hendrick et al. 1985; Leiblum et al. 2003; McKelvey et al. 1999; Meston et al. 1998; Patel and Johns 2009; Widmer et al. 1998). Former studies emphasize that attitude toward sexuality is multifaceted and related to the interaction of various factors that influence individuals having either conservative or liberal sexual beliefs.

Z. H. Su¨mer (&) Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education, Middle East Technical University, Universiteler Mahallesi, Dumlupinar Bulvari, 1, Cankaya, 06800 Ankara, Turkey e-mail: [email protected]

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One factor that has been recurrently studied in sexual attitudes of college students is gender. Although some meta-analytic studies suggested that the gap between men and women in sexual attitudes and behaviors has been closing (Oliver and Hyde 1993; Wells and Twenge 2005), the literature regarding attitudes toward controversial aspects of sexuality (i.e., masturbation, homosexuality, abortion, coercion, pornography, and premarital sex) still presents studies suggesting that gender difference does continue to exist. These studies reported that women were more sexually conservative than men with respect to masturbation, pornography, premarital, and extra-relationship sex, but that they tended to be more tolerant toward homosexuality, and were more approving of abortion (e.g., Bailey 1993; Fisher et al. 1994; Lottes et al. 1993; McKelvey et al. 1999; Meston et al. 1998; Patel and Johns 2009; Petersen and Hyde 2010). On the contrary, some studies suggest that males and females did not differ in their attitudes toward masturbation, homosexuality, and abortion (Carlton et al. 2000; Oliver and Hyde 1993). With regard to attitudes toward sexual coercion, male adolescents and young adults were more likely than females to support sexually coercive behaviors (Feltey et al. 1991), report the use of sexually coercive behaviors (insisting, threats, force) more often (Dutton-Greene and Straus 2005), endorse rape myths, and assign more responsibility to the accuser (Hammond et al. 2011). Research also highlighted the role of sexual knowledge in forming attitudes and behaviors of adolescents and young adults. Previous studies pointed out that less accurate sexual knowledge associated with more conservative sexual attitudes (e.g., Meston et al. 1998), and female college students who received comprehensive school-based sex education reported more positive attitudes toward safer sex behaviors, which has been linked to safer sex behaviors (Walcott et al. 2011). Several other studies have also reported that sexual behaviors and attitudes are correlated. For instance, McKelvey et al. (1999) found that whether one had experienced sexual intercourse was related to attitudes toward premarital sex and contraception, with those who had not experienced sexual intercourse expressing more negative attitudes. In a recent study, Luquis et al. (2012) found that sexual attitudes of female college students mostly affected their sexual behaviors though male students’ sexual behaviors influenced by the combination of their attitudes, religiosity, and spirituality. Studies have also shown a profound impact of religious belief system, particularly selfreport and subjective measures of a person’s religiousness, on various aspects of sexual attitudes among university student population. Church attendance and/or a feeling that religion is important to them was found to negatively correlate with sexual experience and positively correlate with greater conservative attitudes about sex (Beckwith and Morrow 2005; Beitz 1995; Brelsford et al. 2011; Fehring et al. 1998; Fisher et al. 1994; Haglund and Fehring 2010; Hardy and Raffaelli 2003; Lefkowitz et al. 2004; McKelvey et al. 1999; Pluhar et al. 1998; Swank and Raiz 2010). Despite the strong evidence for link between religiosity and sexual behaviors and attitudes, one must note that the conclusions were drawn from studies mostly conducted with Christian populations. All monotheistic religions (i.e., Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) may share similar ideologies regarding sexual activities such as prohibitions against premarital sex, homosexual sex, and abortion (de Visser et al. 2007); still, attitudinal differences may exist in the sample of individuals from diverse faith traditions. Turkey, as a secular country with predominantly Muslim population, the traces of Islam in sexual life and in the attitudes of young people are noticeable. In a highly patriarchal Turkish society with clear-cut gender-role differences, premarital sex is mostly perceived as a taboo (Sakalli 2002). Even among highly educated young people, virginity is still a ‘‘much-treasured value for women’’ (Aydin and Gulcat 2001, p. 19). Indeed, in one of the studies, the need to protect virginity was found to be the most important factor influencing sexual attitudes and

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behaviors of female university students (Aras et al. 2006). The double standards for male and female sexuality and virginity are still prevalent (Cok and Gray 2007). For instance, majority of male students accept premarital sexual intercourse of males, while they oppose to it for females (Gelbal et al. 2008). Nevertheless, particularly in urban regions, some recent studies suggest that premarital sex exists among both male and female university students (e.g., Gokengin et al. 2003; Gelbal et al. 2008; Sumer et al. 2009). To date, Turkish literature on attitudes toward controversial aspects of sexuality has been limited. With regard to attitudes toward homosexuality, earlier studies demonstrated that Turkish college students had negative attitudes toward homosexuality (Sakalli and Ugurlu 2001); males were more sexist and held more negative attitudes toward homosexuality (Sakalli 2002). Likewise, university students who held more traditional genderrole attitudes also held more negative attitudes toward homosexuality (Duyan and Duyan 2005), but attitudes toward lesbians seemed to be more positive than attitudes toward gay men (Gelbal and Duyan 2006). Male university students’ conservative and normative attitudes toward sexuality seem persistent even after attending a sexual education course (Gursimsek 2010). In relation to attitudes toward premarital sex, religiosity and mother’s education were found to be the strongest predictors, and female college students with liberal sexual attitudes tended to have permissive attitudes toward women’s premarital sexuality (Ergun 2007). In another study, women and students from rural areas were found to be more traditional and conservative in their attitudes and behaviors regarding sexuality; men held more permissive attitudes toward sexuality and reported following pornographic material more frequently than women (Askun and Ataca 2007). Aforementioned most research on sexual attitudes of Turkish university students has been limited to exploring attitudes toward homosexuality and premarital sex. There is also scarce information about other factors that may play role in forming attitudes toward controversial aspects of sexuality. Information about the attitudes of the students is valuable to design tangible sexuality education programs. Thus, the present study aims to advance prior literature by examining concomitantly the links of gender, religiosity, sexual knowledge, and behavior in various aspects of sexual attitudes. More specifically, the following research question was investigated: How well do gender, religiosity (attending religious services and importance of religion), sexual activity, and sexual knowledge predict attitudes toward masturbation, abortion, homosexuality, pornography, sexual coercion, and teenage sexuality among university students?

Methods Participants A sample of 297 (162 female and 135 male) volunteer Turkish undergraduates from one of the state universities in Ankara was recruited. Their age ranged between 18 and 24 with a mean of 20.8 years (SD = 1.68). All participants identified themselves as Muslim (100 %). Measures Background Information Form It was designed to obtain demographic and background information about participants. Participants were asked to indicate their gender, age, university classification, religious

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background, and religiosity. Religiosity was measured by the extent of the participants’ religious attendance and the importance of religion to them. The six categories of attendance statuses ranged from (1) never to (6) several times a week. Importance of religion was categorized as (1) not very important, (2) somewhat important, and (3) very important. SKAT-A Attitude Scale Attitudes toward sexuality were measured by the SKAT-A Attitude Scale (Fullard et al. 1998). The original scale consists of 40 items, using 5-point, Likert-type response categories (1 = strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree). Based on a subset of items (26 items), Fullard et al. (1998) reported five content subscales assessing masturbation, homosexuality, pornography, premarital sex, and abortion. The reliabilities reported for a sample of middle-class undergraduate students exceeded .70 for the individual scales and .89 for the total scale. High scores on the scale indicate a more liberal attitude. For the purpose of adopting the SKAT-A Attitude scale, the scale translated from English to Turkish. For the construct validity, factor structures of SKAT-A Attitude Scale were first examined by using exploratory analysis. Principle component analysis with varimax rotation revealed eleven factors with initial eigenvalues grater than 1. All the items with less than .30 loading on one of the factors and cross-loaded items were eliminated. For the remaining 23 items, based on the scree test, a 6-factor orthogonal solution was chosen. The results for the Turkish sample roughly approximated those reported in the original study (i.e., Fullard et al. 1998). Specifically, most of the items for the factors masturbation (6 items; e.g., masturbation is unhealthy), abortion (4 items; e.g., abortion is murder), homosexuality (4 items; e.g., homosexuals should be allowed to marry each other), and pornography (3 items; e.g., pornography should not be censored) loaded on single scales. However, items for the premarital sex did not load on its respective factor. Items related to rape and coercion (3 items; e.g., ‘‘it is a woman’s fault if she gets raped,’’ ‘‘it is OK to force a woman to have sex when she doesn’t want to have sex’’) loaded on the fifth factor and named as sexual coercion. The sixth factor that includes items such as ‘‘teenagers should have their parent’s permission before buying birth control’’ and ‘‘a pregnant teenage girl should follow the decision of her parents regarding abortion’’ named as teenage sexuality (3 items). The eigenvalues were 6.03, 2.13, 1.74, 1.44, 1.24, and 1.06, with 59.3 % explained variance. The reliability coefficients as estimated by Cronbach’s alpha for each factor ranged from .50 to .87, and .85 for total scale. Since the results of the exploratory factor analysis revealed two different attitudinal factors, this new six-factor model was also tested by using confirmatory factor analysis. The six-factor model yielded the following fit indices: .048 for RMSEA, .050 for S-RMR, .90 for GFI, and .87 for AGFI. These results indicated that six-factor model provided a reasonably good fit to the data. Sexual Activity Scale It contains 9 items designed to assess recent sexual behaviors and experiences of the participants such as masturbation, French kissing, petting, and sexual intercourse. Four items were modified and used from Bennett and Dickinson (1998) Sex Education Inventory. Participants were asked to indicate the frequency of each sexual activity on a fourpoint scale (1 = never, 4 = frequently). The total sexual activity score was obtained by summing the responses to each individual item. Scores ranged from 9 to 36.

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Sexual Knowledge Test It consists of 19 multiple-choice and 7 true–false questions to assess university students’ knowledge of male–female anatomy, physiology, infertility, pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease and prevention from STD, AIDS, sexual orientation, and sexual harassment. Items to be included in the questionnaire were derived in part from a previously employed survey (Sumer et al. 2008). All items and questions were translated to Turkish. In particular, a group of experts assessed the knowledge test in terms of its content and language and also determined that it was culturally appropriate. Total sexual knowledge score for each respondent was obtained according to the number of correct answers. The possible minimum and maximum score that could be obtained from the knowledge test ranged from 0 to 26. Procedure After the permissions granted from the university and course instructors, data were collected from March through May of 2009. A packet of questionnaire that included the measures was administered by the researcher to the students in classes in two ways. Some students completed them in class and put them into envelops. It took the participant students approximately 30 min to complete the measures. Some students completed the measures at a time and place convenient to them and put them into a box at researcher’s office. Participation was completely anonymous and voluntary. A covering letter that explains the purpose of the study was enclosed with the questionnaire. In that letter, participants were assured that their responses were only for research purposes, they did not need to write their names, and had possibility to leave the questionnaire without answering. At the onset of data collection, 321 students agreed to participate in this study. Of these, 297 students (92.5 %) completed the measures and included in the analyses. Only 24 questionnaire packets (7.5 %) left without answered.

Results The predictors used in this study were gender, importance of religion, frequency of attending religious service, sexual activity, and sexual knowledge. Attitude subscale scores were obtained by summing the responses to each of the individual items comprising the factor. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine how well each variables predicted attitudes toward masturbation, abortion, homosexuality, pornography, sexual coercion, and teenage sexuality. Prior to multiple regression analyses, data screening procedures and assumption checks were performed. The original six categories of religious attendance statuses were reduced to three categories in order to maintain an appropriate sample size. The three categories used were (1) never attend, (2) monthly attend, and (3) weekly attend. As is customary, categorical predictors, such as gender, importance of religion, and attendance to religious services, were dummy coded prior to their inclusion in the model. The inter-correlations among study variables were also computed. It was found that correlations ranged from ±.01 to -.75. Except correlation between never attending and monthly attending religious services (r = -.75), results revealed low to moderate correlations among criterion and predictor variables. Percentages, means, and standard deviations of criterion and predictor variables are shown in Table 1.

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J Relig Health Table 1 Percentages, means, and standard deviations of criterion and predictor variables Variables

N

(%)

Range

M

SD

Attitudes toward masturbation

290



6–30

23.66

4.89

Attitudes toward abortion

292



4–20

14.15

3.82

Attitudes toward homosexuality

291



4–20

11.65

3.35

Attitudes toward pornography

295



3–15

10.07

2.82

Attitudes toward sexual coercion

296



3–15

14.00

1.68

Attitudes toward teenage sexuality

293



3–15

10.96

2.46

Sexual knowledge test score

291



0–26

15.45

2.82

9–36

Sexual activity scale score

263



12.76

5.10

Gender (Male = 1)

135

45.5





Not important (not important = 1, 0 = otherwise; very important is reference)

74

25.3





Some important (some important = 1, 0 = otherwise; very important is reference)

89

30.5





Importance of Religion

Attendance to religious services Never (never = 1, 0 = otherwise (weekly attendance is reference) Monthly (monthly = 1, 0 = otherwise (weekly attendance is reference)

172

58.9





83

28.4





N varies due to missing cases Higher scores indicated liberal sexual attitudes, more sexual knowledge, and more sexual activity

As shown in Table 1, male and female students were almost equally represented in the sample. In general, more than half of the participants reported that religion was to some extent important or very important, but in terms of attendance to religious services, majority of them either not attended or rarely attended. The table also indicates that participants had more liberal attitudes toward controversial aspects of sexuality, had almost average sexual knowledge, and were sexually less active. The summary of six simultaneous multiple regression analyses results is presented in Tables 2 and 3. As shown in the tables, the linear combination of seven predictor variables was significantly related to attitudes toward masturbation, abortion, homosexuality, pornography, sexual coercion, and teenage sexuality. Attitudes toward Masturbation As seen in Table 2, gender, importance of religion, frequency of attending religious service, sexual activity, and sexual knowledge were significant predictors of attitudes toward masturbation. Sexually active and knowledgeable male participants, who viewed that religion was not important, never or monthly attended religious services, had more liberal attitudes toward masturbation. Attitudes toward Abortion Variables related to religiosity, particularly importance of religion and frequency of attending religious services, were significant predictors of attitudes toward abortion. However, gender, sexual activity, and sexual knowledge were not found to be related to

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J Relig Health Table 2 Results of multiple regression analysis of attitudes toward masturbation, abortion, and homosexuality Predictors

Masturbation (N = 248) B

SE B

Abortion (N = 249) b

B

SE B

b

-.09

Homosexuality (N = 248) B

SE B

b

-.82

.42

-.13

2.53

.55

.35***

.94

.47

.13*

Gender

2.02

.57

.21**

-.70

.48

Religion is not important versus very important

1.85

.76

.17*

1.91

.62

.22**

Religion is some important versus very important

.51

.64

.05

.77

.54

.09

Never versus weekly religious attendance

4.76

.94

.48***

3.69

.78

.48***

1.81

.67

.28**

Monthly versus weekly religious attendance

3.85

.89

.35***

2.48

.73

.29**

1.51

.64

.21*

Sexual activity

.25

.05

.26***

.07

.05

.10

.03

.04

.04

Sexual knowledge

.31

.10

.17**

.10

.08

.07

.09

.07

.07

R2 = .36; F(7, 240) = 18.99, p \ .000

R2 = .27; F(7, 241) = 12.82, p \ .000

R2 = .23; F(7, 240) = 10.06, p \ .000

* p \ .05; ** p \ .01; *** p \ .001

attitudes toward abortion (see Table 2). Regardless of gender, participants who viewed that religion was not important and never or monthly attended religious services endorsed more liberal attitudes toward abortion. Attitudes toward Homosexuality As Table 2 demonstrates, variables related to religiosity were significantly predicting the attitudes toward homosexuality. Gender of the participants, sexual activity, and sexual knowledge scores did not significantly predict the criterion. In other words, participants who viewed religion was not important or some important and never or monthly attended religious services had more liberal sexual attitudes toward homosexuality. Attitudes Toward Pornography As seen in Table 3, gender, attendance to religious services (never and monthly), and sexual activity were the significant predictors of attitudes toward pornography. Importance of religion (not important and some important) and sexual knowledge did not significantly predict the attitudes toward pornography. Hence, sexually active male participants, who never or monthly attended religious services, had more liberal attitudes toward pornography. Attitudes Toward Sexual Coercion Table 3 demonstrates that gender and frequency of attending to religious services (never and monthly) significantly predicted the attitudes toward sexual coercion. Importance of religion, sexual activity, and sexual knowledge did not significantly predict the attitudes

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J Relig Health Table 3 Results of multiple regression analysis of attitudes toward pornography, sexual coercion, and teenage sexuality Predictors

Pornography (N = 252) B

Gender

SE B

Sexual Coercion (N = 253) b

B

SE B

b

Teenage Sexuality (N = 250) B

SE B

b

1.49

.36

.27***

-.74

.22

-.22**

-.97

.34

-.20**

Religion is not important versus very important

.81

.47

.13

.28

.29

.08

.84

.45

.15

Religion is some important versus very important

.73

.40

.12

.29

.25

.08

.36

.38

.07

Never versus weekly religious attendance

2.50

.58

.44***

.93

.36

.28*

.30

.55

.06

Monthly versus weekly religious attendance

2.32

.55

.37***

.88

.34

.24*

.32

.52

.06

Sexual activity Sexual knowledge

.08

.03

-.05

.06

.15* -.05

R2 = .21; F(7, 244) = 9.43, p \ .000

.03

.02

.09

.09

.03

.17**

.04

.04

.07

.08

.06

.08

R2 = .15; F(7, 245) = 5.97, p \ .000

R2 = .11; F(7, 242) = 4.25, p \ .000

* p \ .05; ** p \ .01; *** p \ .001

toward sexual coercion. In general, female participants, who never or monthly attended religious services, endorsed more liberal attitudes toward sexual coercion. Attitudes Toward Teenage Sexuality As seen in Table 3, gender and sexual activity were the significant predictors of attitudes toward teenage sexuality. Variables related to religiosity (i.e., importance of religion and attendance to religious services) and sexual knowledge did not significantly predict the attitudes toward teenage sexuality. This result indicated that sexually active female participants had more liberal attitudes toward teenage sexuality.

Discussion In general, the two determinants of religiosity—importance of religion and frequency of religious attendance—used in the present study emerged as significant predictors together in three separate equations: masturbation, abortion, and homosexuality. Of the religiosity variables, attendance to religious services was significant and stronger than the importance of religion in explaining attitudes toward various controversial aspects of sexuality. Hence, in line with the results of former studies (e.g., Beckwith and Morrow 2005; Brelsford et al. 2011; Fehring et al. 1998; Haglund and Fehring 2010; Lefkowitz et al. 2004; Pluhar et al. 1998; Swank and Raiz 2010), participants who were less affected by religious rules tended to have more liberal attitudes toward controversial aspects of sexuality or vice versa. Considering Turkey as a predominantly Muslim country, this is not a surprising result. Islam condemns same-sex sexual activity and teaches that homosexuality is unnatural and sinful (McAnulty and Burnette 2001). Likewise, based on Qur’an, abortion is considered as

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unlawfully taking human life. Except a few cases, such as rape, incest, and threat to mother’s life, no denomination of Islam religion permits abortion that terminates potential life (Stephens et al. 2010). It seems possible to state that religiously oriented men and women participants may perceive abortion and homosexuality as opposed to their value system. Though we cannot infer causality from the findings, it may be exposure to religious teachings at mosque influences sexual attitudes or people whose world views are similar come together and strengthen their views and attitudes are influenced (Kennedy 1993). In line with some earlier findings in Western culture (Carlton et al. 2000; Oliver and Hyde 1993) but contrary to findings in Turkish literature (e.g., Sakalli 2002; Gelbal and Duyan 2006), gender was not associated with attitudes toward abortion and homosexuality. Nonetheless, along with other variables, gender significantly predicted the attitudes toward masturbation, pornography, sexual coercion, and teenage sexuality. In particular, sexually active and knowledgeable men who reported that religion was not important for them, never or rarely attended religious services, endorsed more liberal attitudes toward masturbation. Results of the current study also demonstrated that sexually active male participants, who never or rarely attended religious services, had more liberal attitudes toward pornography. These findings are consistent with others demonstrating that women are more conservative than men with respect to pornography and masturbation (e.g., Fisher et al. 1994; Meston et al. 1998; Patel and Johns 2009; Petersen and Hyde 2010), and men reported following pornographic material more frequently than women (Askun and Ataca 2007). This finding might reflect the gender-specific norms that masturbating and pornography enjoyment are more acceptable activities for men than women. Consistent with findings from previous research (e.g., Feltey et al. 1991; Hammond et al. 2011), women who never or rarely attended religious services reported more liberal attitudes toward sexual coercion than men. This is not a surprising result because items in the sexual coercion subscale reflect male dominance over women on sexual relations and include the traditional notion of rape myth that women are to be the gatekeepers of sex. Violence against women in Turkey has received the attention of government, media, and researchers in recent years (Violence against 2003). Domestic violence, forced marriages, virginity testing, honor murder, and dating rape are the main social issues that tend to be united mostly with women. Thus, college women might be more sensitive and more conscious about sexual coercion than men. Results of the current study also demonstrated a link between sexual behaviors of women and attitudes toward teenage sexuality. As Luguis et al. (2012) found that sexual attitudes of female college students mostly affected by their sexual behaviors, sexually active female students in this study reported more liberal attitudes toward teenage sexuality. Apparently, the university experience is an important change agent in attitudes. Although the participants are all university students, findings related to gender difference may indicate different socialization and exposure to different experiences of men and women within our culture. In conclusion, the results of the study have important implications for planning of sexuality education programs and interventions among college population. Knowing more about the sexual attitudes and behaviors of a college population helps educators plan courses that will equip students with accurate information and encourage them think about their own values and beliefs. Based on the findings of the present study, professionals should become familiar with and acknowledge the role of religiosity in understanding attitudes toward different aspects of sexuality. The religious aspects of sexuality can be incorporated in the sexuality education programs along with informing young people adequately.

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There are several limitations to this study. First, the sample used was university students. Hence, when we consider the small proportion of Turkish population is university educated, the ability to generalize the results of this study to other populations is limited. Secondly, participants’ religiosity was assessed with two-item measure (religious participation—behavior, and importance of religion—attitude). This type of measure of religiosity may not capture the potentially unique qualities of religiously based sexual attitudes (Cotton et al. 2010). Hence, development of a multidimensional measure of religiosity scale for Turkish culture would be merit for further exploration. Thirdly, although the construct validity of SKAT-A Attitude scale has been proven in the current study, further studies should explore its structure in a more representative Turkish sample. Finally, participation in the study was entirely voluntary; producing selection bias as the sample completed the questionnaire may be significantly different from the non-respondents who chose not to complete it. This bias might have been reflected in demonstrating more liberal sexual attitudes.

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Gender, Religiosity, Sexual Activity, Sexual Knowledge, and Attitudes Toward Controversial Aspects of Sexuality.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of gender, religiosity, sexual activity, and sexual knowledge in predicting attitudes toward controve...
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