The Relation Between Religiousness and Masturbatory Guilt: The Role of the Sexual Double Standard

Abstract

Multiple studies showed that experiencing masturbatory guilt can result in negative mental and physical consequences. The present study examined how Christian religiousness is related to experiencing masturbatory guilt, and to what extent restrictive attitudes towards sexual behaviour of one's own gender and adherence to the sexual double standard are underlying mechanism of this relation. For this research, data were used from 'Seks under the age of 25', a representative cross-sectional study conducted in 2012 among Dutch youth. The sample consisted of 4750 heterosexual participants (52.9% girls), aged between 12 and 24 years (M = 19.43, SD = 3.00), from which the majority had a high education level (55.4%). Results showed that religiousness is related to more masturbatory guilt. There are indications that this relationship is the result of increased restrictive attitudes towards sexual behaviour of one's own gender among religious youngsters. It was also shown that religiousness is associated with a higher sexual double standard. Finally, it was found that girls experience more masturbatory guilt than boys, and this relation was even stronger for girls who adhere to a high sexual double standard. Implications for education and suggestions for future research are discussed.