LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX GUILT: THE IMPACT OF RELIGION ON SEXUAL GUILT, RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION, SEXUAL SATISFACTION, AND SEXUAL ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS IN CHRISTIAN WOMEN

Sexual guilt can occur when one's beliefs or attitudes about sex do not match with their sexual behaviors. Sexual guilt has been studied in the context of religious individuals, but research has produced inconsistent results (Hackathorn et al., 2016; Higgins et al., 2010; Leonhardt et al., 2019; Murray et al., 2007). Through a survey placed on Mturk, this study used 156 participants for data analysis. Data analysis consisted of five regressions. This study found that religiosity and relationship satisfaction are positively associated, sexual guilt and relationship satisfaction are negatively associated, sexual guilt moderated the relationship of religiosity and relationship satisfaction, conflict between sexual attitudes and behaviors was associated with lower relationship satisfaction, religiosity and sexual satisfaction had a positive association, sexual guilt and sexual satisfaction had a negative association, sexual guilt had a moderating effect on religiosity and sexual satisfaction, conflict between attitudes and behaviors was associated with more sexual guilt, and religiosity was found to be positively associated with sexual guilt. This study relates these findings to past research and posits future directions for this field of study.