Hardy, Sam A, and Marcela Raffaelli.  (2003)  “Adolescent Religiosity and Sexuality:  An Investigation of Reciprocal Influences.”  Journal of Adolescence.  (26) 731-739.

 

 

OVERVIEW

 

Adolescent sexuality is an area of concern to health practicioners, leaders, and parents.  There is much programming on sexual education and consequences of premarital sex.   Because of the potential for negative consequences, researched have looked for factors that cause teenagers to delay sexual initiation.  Religious attitudes, religiosity, is a factor associated with the delay of intercourse.  The observation of researchers is that higher religiosity tends to delay sexual involvement longer than lower levels of religiosity.  Researchers looked at whether religiosity can predict sexual initiation or if sexual experience can predict religiosity.

 

 

DESIGN

 

This paper describes a study conducted over two years where a subset of the teenagers aged 15-16 were followed in 1996.  Teens were Teenagers were interviewed at two time instances and asked if they had participated in sexual intercourse.  The teens were also questioned on the importance of religion in their lives on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being very important.  Lastly, they were asked about their frequency of religious attendance, ranging from never to once a week or more. 

 

 

FINDINGS

 

Teens who reported a higher religiosity at Time 1 were less likely to have had sex by Time 2 than those with lower religiosity.  There were no significant differences in gender or ethnicity.  If teenagers did have sex between Time 1 and Time 2, that did not predict later religiosity. 

 

 

CONCLUSIONS

 

Religiosity may delay first sexual intercourse, and this effect does not differ according to gender or ethnicity.  Teens who began having sex did not experience a significant reduction in religiosity unlike researchers expected. 

 

 

CRITIQUE AND EVALUATION

This study uses long-term research to look at teenage sexuality, differing from other snapshot studies.  The length of the study might still be too short and the age of the kids could be earlier than the age range where teens get more freedom and access to mobility.

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

 

Why does religiosity not decrease after teens begin having sex?

 

Are religious teenagers suffering from similar pregnancy, abortion, and STD rates as non-religious teens?

 

What are the various ways that churches address teenage sex?

 

 

IMPLICATIONS

 

Teenage sex affects the whole society because of its consequences for teenagers, families, schools, and governmental institutions.  The fact that religiosity has a positive impact on delaying sexual intercourse encourages parents and leaders to use the pathways open to them to impact good decision-making for teenagers.  Youth leaders should continue to engage youth on this topic and support organizations that promote healthy outcomes for youth.  They need to partner with parents or maintain programming so that youth have adults that can be seen as advisors and will be willing to ask questions or seek help when they need it.

 

Tamecia Jones, cCYS