Religious Preference, Practice, and Personal Sexual Attitudes and Behavior

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of religious affiliation and religiosity upon reported sexual attitudes and behavior in the South. A Sexual Attitude Survey (SAS) was administered to 509 undergraduate students, divided into Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and nonbelievers and further classified by frequency of monthly church attendance. Results indicated that college men are more sexually liberal than college women regardless of religious preference or religiosity, that sexual liberality decreases with increased frequency of church attendance, and that in general nonbelievers report more liberal sexual attitudes and behavior than Catholics, Protestants, and Jews.