Quantitative Research Proposal: Religion, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex

Sarah Colegrove SOC 318: Research Methodology December 9, 2011

Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex Introduction Sex has been and continues to be a widely studied subject in many different fields of

study. There have been many different topics of study about that involve the subject of sex. This study looks at the effects that religion (in particular level of fundamentalism), gender, and political orientation have on the attitudes towards in premarital sex among Eastern Universitys undergraduate student body. Eastern University was chosen as the location of the study because even though it is a Christian university, there appear to be a variety of religious denominations and political views represented in the student body. J. Timothy Woodruff (2011) wrote in a study that he conducted about premarital sex and religion among young adults, Very often, samples chosen for study are skewed toward the irreligious end of the scale. (Pp. 360) By selecting a Christian university that has a variety of views, the hope was that the sample might not be as skewed as it is in other studies. The purpose of this research is to see if there are any significant correlations between the three variables religion, gender, and political orientation with attitudes towards premarital sex. This study also looks at whether different forms of sexual interaction outside of the traditional vaginal sex are permissible before marriage. Does religion (as in how fundamental you are or what is your level of belief) affect your attitude towards premarital sex? Does political orientation have any effect on your attitude towards premarital sex? Are men more likely than women to not be affected by premarital sex? Are you more or less likely to engage to engage in premarital sex based on religion, gender, and political orientation? Do any of these variables have any effect on each other when looking at premarital sex? Can one general description, such

Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex

a single male with liberal religious and political views be most likely to look at premarital sex in a permissible light, be found? Literature Review All of the previous research that examined the topic of premarital sex has studied only one or two of the variables gender, religion and political orientation in terms of premarital sex. However, there is yet to be found a study that has examined all three variables at the same time in terms of premarital sex. A study conducted by J. Timothy Woodroff (1985) in the eighties examined the relationship of premarital sex among religious teenagers. He found that there was a significant inverse relationship between religious teens and premarital sex. The more the teen went to church, the less often he/she was likely to be engaged in premarital sex (Woodruff 1985). Remi Opayemis (2011) study on Gender, Self Esteem, Religiosity and Premarital Sex Among Young Adults (pp. 3495) focused on African culture. While some of her hypotheses did not prove to be significant, she did find that young women, specifically those from an African culture, face the negative reactions to their engagement in premarital sex more than the young men. That is woman were much more likely to be scorned or looked down upon because they had premarital sex than men experience. Similar to Woodruff, she found there to be an inverse correlation between religiosity and premarital sex. The more religious one is the less likely there are to engage in premarital sex (Opayemi 2011). Jeremy Uecker (2008) conducted a study on Religion, Pledging, and the Premarital Sexual Behavior of Married Young Adults. He looked at married young adults who had decided to remain abstinent until marriage. He wanted to see how well and many actually followed

Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex through with their pledge. He found that only 11% of those he surveyed actually waited until

marriage to have sex. He also found that those who considered religion very important during adolescence are nearly eight times as likely to abstain from sex until marriage as those who reported religion not important. (Uecker 2008:737) Larry Petersen and Gregory Donnenwerth (1997) conducted a study on Secularization and the Influence of Religion on Beliefs about Premarital Sex. They looked at how religion affects views on premarital sex. They used work by Thornton to theorize: In recent years individuals increasingly have interpreted their religious commitments and beliefs in individualistic terms and less in terms of institutional loyalty and obligation. They are now looking to religion more for its personal meaning and less for its moral rules and are feeling more confident to define standards of conduct independently of the doctrines and teachings of church hierarchies. This theory was used to hypothesize that views on premarital sex being not acceptable are declining within churches. Petersen and Donnenwerth found this theory to be true with all Christian denominations that they looked at with the notable exception of mainline Protestants who did not experience any significant decline (Petersen and Donnenwerth 1997). Hypotheses There are several different hypotheses that I have made about the expected results of the study. Hypothesis A indicates that there will be a significant inverse relationship between religiosity and attitude towards premarital sex. The more fundamental one is in their religiosity, the more likely they are to have a negative attitude towards premarital sex. This is drawing off of

Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex the theory that Petersen and Donnenwerth (2011) presented in their study about premarital sex and religion. Hypothesis B states that there will be a significant correlation between gender and attitude towards or tendency to engage in premarital sex. Males will have a much more open attitude or tendency towards premarital sex than females. Hypothesis C is that there will be a significant positive correlation between political orientation and attitude towards in premarital sex. The more liberal one is, the more likely they are to engage in premarital sex. Finally, hypothesis D states that across the board, there will be no difference on attitudes towards premarital sex when looking at sexual acts outside of vaginal sex and the participants will be more likely to engage in premarital sex that is not vaginal sex. Methodology

A survey (see Appendix A) along with a cover letter (see Appendix B) has been prepared to send out to 500 undergraduate students at Eastern University. The students will have been randomly selected from all undergraduate students at Eastern University by attaining a list of all students that fit into the above mentioned category. The students will each be assigned a number with A being 1, B equaling 2, etc. Using the random number chart in the back of The Practice of Social Research by Earl Babbie (2010), number 604 was randomly selected. There are 2,816 undergraduate currently at Eastern University so starting with student number 604, every 6th student will be selected until there are 500 students.

Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex Data Collection and Analysis The survey and a cover letter will be sent to the 500 participants. There will be an incentive to respond to the survey each person that responds will be entered to win a Visa gift card. The goal with the 1st letter is receive at least a 30% initial response rate. Three weeks after the 1st letter, a 2nd letter will be sent out offering the same incentive as the first. The hope is to receive at least an additional 15% response. Follow up emails and letters will be sent as necessary from this point on to obtain at least a 50% response rate. Religiosity, gender, political orientation, and sexual orientation are operationalized through the survey questions. Gender is operationalized through question one. Questions 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, and 15 represent the operationalization of religiosity. Political orientation is operationalized through question s 4, 16, 18, 20, and 22 while sexual orientation is operationalized by questions 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, and 25. A Likert Scale is used to analyze the data received from the questionnaires (Babbie

2010). With the exception of questions one through three, which are not weighted, questions four through twenty-five are weighted. Each question is worth up to five points with five representing the most liberal answer and one representing the most conservative answer. Answering a on all questions that are weighted will yield five points per a while an answer of e will yield one point per e. Religion can be worth as high as 30 and as low as 6 30 being the most liberal answers and 6 being the most conservative answers. Political orientation ranges between 5 and 25 while sexual orientation ranges between 55 and 11. This scale will help to determine if people who are politically liberal also hold to liberal religiosity and liberal premarital sex views. A moderate

Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex position would yield a score of 18 for religion, 15 for political orientation, and 33 for sexual orientation. Conclusion At this point, all of the preliminaries are finished and the study is ready to be completed. The prepared surveys can be sent to the selected recipients. Upon return of the surveys, the data will be analyzed and the report written.

Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex Works Cited Babbie, Earl. 2010. The Practice of Social Research. 12th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Press. Opayemi, R. 2011. Gender, Self Esteem, Religiosity and Premarital Sex Among Young Adults. Gender & Behaviour, 9(1), 3495-3512. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/871969285?accountid=45483

Petersen, Larry R. and Gregory V. Donnenwerth. 1997. "Secularization and the Influence of Religion on Beliefs about Premarital Sex." Social Forces 75(3):1071-1088 (http://search.proquest.com/docview/229902863?accountid=45483).

Uecker, Jeremy E. 2008. "Religion, Pledging, and the Premarital Sexual Behavior of Married Young Adults." Journal of Marriage and Family 70(3):728-744 http://search.proquest.com/docview/219770880?accountid=45483.

Woodroof, J.T. 1985. "Premarital Sexual Behavior and Religious Adolescents." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 24(4):343-366 http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=4894475&site=ehostlive&scope=site.

Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex Appendix A: Letter to Participants Dear Sir or Madam:

First, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I am sociology student at Eastern University and am conducting a study on students at Eastern University for my senior thesis. The purpose of the research is look at how students view premarital sex. Your response is greatly needed and appreciated so that there can be an accurate representation of students. Second, your individual response along with your information will not be shared. Finally, every person that responds will be given an opportunity to win one of four Visa gift cards. There are only 500 people selected to survey and only those who respond will be entered to win.

Thank you for your time! Respectfully, Sarah Colegrove

Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex Appendix B: Survey Questions Please circle the answer that best reflects you: 1. What is your gender? Male Female 2. Are you religious? Yes No 3. What is your marital status? Single Dating Engaged Widowed Divorced Married Separated 4. How would you define your political orientation? a. Far-Liberal-Left b. Liberal c. Moderate d. Conservative e. Far-Conservative Right 5. How would you align religiously? a. Very liberal b. Somewhat liberal c. Moderate d. Somewhat fundamental e. Very fundamental 6. How do you view premarital sex among heterosexual couples? a. Always Permissible b. Sometimes Permissible c. Indifferent d. Not really permissible e. Never Permissible 7. How often do you attend religious services? a. Dont attend church b. Between 1 and 11 times a year c. Once a month d. Weekly e. More than once a week

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Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex

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8. My religion does not look fondly at premarital sex. a. Strongly Disagree b. Disagree c. Indifferent d. Agree e. Strongly Agree 9. If you were the parent/guardian of a teenager and found out that they were having protected sex (i.e. using birth control pills and/or condom) how would you react? a. Its fine b. Its fine as long as they are practicing safe-sex c. Indifferent d. Get upset e. Get very upset 10. Using the scenario in question 9, would you administer a punishment (such as grounding) for the teenager having premarital sex? a. No b. Probably Not c. Not sure d. Probably e. Yes 11. _____ from society to have premarital sex a. There is no pressure b. There is not a lot of pressure c. Dont Know d. There is some pressure e. There is a lot of pressure 12. The holy scriptures of your faith are a. Completely errant b. Mainly errant c. Somewhat inerrant but does have errant parts d. Mainly inerrant e. Completely inerrant 13. A virgin is someone who has not had any form of sexual interaction a. Strongly Disagree b. Disagree c. Indifferent d. Agree e. Strongly Agree 14. ___________ read literature that regards your faith in your spare time. a. Less than 10 times a year b. Once or twice a month c. Once a week d. More than once a week e. Daily 15. How often do you pray? a. Less than 10 times a year

Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex b. Once or twice a month c. Once a week d. More than once a week e. Daily 16. Homosexuality is permissible. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Indifferent d. Disagree e. Strongly Disagree 17. It is better to remain a virgin until marriage a. Strongly Disagree b. Disagree c. Indifferent d. Agree e. Strongly Agree 18. Immigration should be limited. a. Strongly Disagree b. Disagree c. Indifferent d. Agree e. Strongly Agree 19. Sexual interaction, outside of traditional vaginal sex, is permissible before marriage. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Indifferent d. Disagree e. Strongly Disagree 20. Universal health is a good thing. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Indifferent d. Disagree e. Strongly Disagree f. 10 times a year

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Religiosity, Gender, Political Orientation, and Premarital Sex 21. A virgin is someone who has only refrained from vaginal sex in terms of sexual interaction. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Indifferent d. Disagree e. Strongly Disagree 22. There is too much welfare. a. Strongly Disagree b. Disagree c. Indifferent d. Agree e. Strongly Agree 23. It is morally wrong to engage in premarital sex. a. Strongly Disagree b. Disagree c. Indifferent d. Agree e. Strongly Agree 24. Assuming that you have never experienced premarital sex, would being engaged effect your tendency to engage in premarital sex a. Strongly Disagree b. Disagree c. Indifferent d. Agree e. Strongly Agree 25. Premarital sex is acceptable as along as it is safe sex. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Indifferent d. Disagree e. Strongly Disagree

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