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Religiosity, Self‐Control, and Virginity Status in College Students from the “Bible Belt”: A Research Note
Author(s) -
Vazsonyi Alexander T.,
Jenkins Dusty D.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal for the scientific study of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1468-5906
pISSN - 0021-8294
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01529.x
Subject(s) - religiosity , virginity test , odds , odds ratio , psychology , mediation , logistic regression , demography , sexual intercourse , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , medicine , sociology , population , social science , psychoanalysis
Using a sample of college students (N = 904) from the “Bible Belt,” this study examines the effect of religiosity and self‐control on late adolescents’ delay in initiating sexual intercourse or oral sex. Findings from logistic regressions provide evidence that for each one unit increase in self‐control, the odds of a male remaining a virgin or of delaying oral sex increased by a factor of 1.82 and 2.84, respectively, while for females, the odds of not engaging in oral sex increased by a factor of 1.67. In addition to the effect of self‐control, a one unit increase in religiosity results in the odds of a male remaining a virgin by a factor of 3.86 and 3.30, respectively. For females the odds are increased by a factor of 4.13 and 2.60, respectively. Mediation tests also provided evidence that self‐control mediated the effects by religiosity on both dependent measures. Thus, both religiosity and self‐control independently and additively function as key social control mechanisms that promote late adolescent health.