With more and more people in the West waning from religion, and even from getting married, it is no surprise that some may view those that follow the rules of religion surrounding sex, such as not having sex before marriage, as having worse sex lives. The greater openness of non-secular, non-marital relationships should lead to a more fulfilling sex life, right? Well, researchers have found that research surrounding sexual satisfaction, religion, and marriage are lacking and inconsistent.  They wanted to delve deeper into the links between sexual satisfaction and religiousness.

One main aspect of this study was to look deeper into relationships in different contexts, such as being unmarried but still living together. The researchers took data on 15,162 participants between the ages of 18 and 60 from the British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. The survey contained questions about sexual satisfaction, frequency, experiences, and attitudes, along with demographic data and questions about religiosity.

For the majority of people, religion was seen as not important, with only 33% of men and 43% of women saying that religion is either very or fairly important to them. Unsurprisingly, single people and those in committed relationships, who reported religion being very or fairly important, showed lower sexual frequency compared to those that religion was not important. However, the surprising finding is those who reported religion being very or fairly important had higher levels of sexual satisfaction. Married religious women also higher satisfaction that non-religious married women, however this link was not seen in married men. Another surprising finding, was that men and women who were more accepting of casual sex, had lower sexual satisfaction.

Researchers believe that the correlation between religion and a satisfying sex life may be due to the stronger investment in a long-term relationship, and that limiting sexual partners makes sex more fulfilling.

Original Article: https://www.psypost.org/2022/10/greater-religiosity-is-tied-to-a-more-satisfying-sex-life-according-to-a-british-national-survey-63991

Study: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224499.2022.2108745