A Guilty Pleasure: The impact of peer communication on the interaction of orthodoxy, sexual desire, and sex guilt among heterosexual Christian college women

The relationship between higher levels of religiosity, reduced sexual behavior, and more conservative sexual attitudes has been well documented; however, fewer researchers have addressed the experience of sexual desire for the highly religious female Christian. This study extends research that has found relationships between religiousness, sex guilt, sexual desire, and the social context in which Christian college women navigate their sexual experiences. Multiple regression analysis (n = 580) was used to explore the relationship between high sexual desire, high orthodoxy, and sex guilt and to analyze the moderating role of comfort in peer conversations about sex-related topics. Themes extracted from qualitative responses (n = 628) were explored with regard to positive and negative contributors to comfort with peer communication around sexual desire, masturbation, sexual activity, etc., and how participants have been impacted as a result. Results demonstrated that among highly orthodox students, high levels of sexual desire predicted lower levels of sex guilt and that participant comfort in conversations with peers was a significant moderator in the relationship between sexual desire and orthodoxy, and sex guilt. Thematic analysis highlighted a number of important themes related to connection with peers, to include, among others, the importance of relationships, fear of judgment from others, and the positive impact of having one's experiences "normalized."...