title: Religious Influence on Older Americans' Sexual Lives: A Nationally-Representative Profile.
abstract: This study investigated the relationship between religious influence and sexual expression in older Americans, with specific attention to gender. Using the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, a nationally-representative survey of older adults, we created a composite measure of religious influence on sexual expression using Latent Class Analysis. We found more variability within denominations than between in terms of membership in the high-influence class; this indicated that religious influence on sexual expression was diverse within faiths. We show that religious influence was associated with higher self-reported satisfaction with frequency of sex, as well as higher physical and emotional satisfaction with sex, but only for men. Men were also significantly more likely than women to report that they would only have sex with a person they love. These results persisted in the presence of controls for demographic characteristics, religious affiliation, church attendance, intrinsic religiosity, political ideology, and functional health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. iveniukj@gmail.com.|, 254 Castlefield Ave., Toronto, ON, M4R 1G7, Canada. iveniukj@gmail.com.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Iveniuk
authors.affiliation: Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Colm
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: O'Muircheartaigh
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Kathleen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Cagney
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012067:Religion; D012071:Religion and Sex; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States
keywords: Latent class analysis; Older adulthood; Religion; Sexuality