Scientists Discover a Surprising Link Between Religious Beliefs and Sexual Satisfaction



Researchers found that persons who consider religion to be important in their lives have less sex overall, driven by abstinence among those who do not live with a partner.

According to the study, poorer levels of sexual pleasure are associated with having many or no lifetime sexual partners. It has been demonstrated that greater approval of casual sex or sex without love is inversely correlated with both men's and women's sexual pleasure.

The study, which was released in The Journal of Sex Research, was conducted by Dr. Nitzan Peri-Rotem from the University of Exeter and Dr. Vegard Skirbekk from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and Columbia University.

"The relationship between sex frequency and sexual satisfaction is neither simple nor straightforward," said Dr. Peri-Rotem. "Across all relationship types, too little or too much sex is associated with lower sexual satisfaction, suggesting that an optimal level of frequency exists that is related to higher satisfaction levels."

Researchers used information on men and women aged 18 to 59 from the third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles.

However, this link does not hold true for married men. Married women who reported higher levels of sexual satisfaction than their less religious counterparts did. Furthermore, devout single men reported higher levels of sex life satisfaction. This link, however, disappeared when the sample was restricted to sexually active respondents or when attitudes about casual sex and sex without love were adjusted.

According to the study's respondents, 16% of women and 11% of men, religion and religious beliefs are very important to them. More over two-thirds of those polled indicated they attended religious services little or never. 17% of respondents lived with a partner, 17% were married, and 5% had no stable relationship.

In comparison to women, men generally reported having more sex in the previous four weeks (4.4 compared to 4.0 respectively). The statement "I am content with my sex life" was strongly agreed with by around a quarter of both women and men, whereas 14% of women and 17% of men said they were unsatisfied with their sex lives.

Compared to a quarter of women, nearly 40% of men said they had ten or more sexual partners in their lifetime.

Dr. Skirbekk stated: "Religious people are less likely to have casual sex and are more likely to restrict their sexual relationships to those founded on love, which can result in lower expectations of sexual activity outside of a formal union as well as more contentment with sex life generally. However, it's probable that religious beliefs regarding the sanctity of marital sex and condemnation of extramarital sex are more important for women's sexual happiness than for men's. This is further supported by the substantially greater levels of sexual pleasure observed in more religious cohabiting men while all other factors remained constant, but not in cohabiting women.

According to the study, there is a strong link between educational level and both frequency and enjoyment of sexual activity. Comparing highly educated people to those with lower degrees, highly educated people reported having less sex on average and feeling less satisfied with their sexual life.

According to Dr. Peri-research, Rotem's changes in sexual behavior need to be understood in the context of shifting religious beliefs and conventions as well as other societal-level trends. Delaying union formation is associated with less frequent sex and raises casual sex exposure among people with weaker religious orientation.

It has been discovered that for women, having no sexual partners as well as 10 or more lifetime partners is connected with worse sex life satisfaction. On the other hand, there is no correlation between sexual satisfaction and the number of lifetime partners among men.

However, condemnation of unintentional and casual sex is associated with greater sex life satisfaction in both men and women. While the number of sex occasions first increases with sex frequency, sexual satisfaction thereafter starts to decline. As a result, having "too much" sex may result in less sex life satisfaction.

By UNIVERSITY OF EXETER 

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