Relationship between sociosexuality and religiosity among people of different chronological age

Brojna dosadašnja istraživanja ističu kako upravo religioznost ima najsnažniji utjecaj na seksualno ponašanje pojedinca. Tako je utvrđeno kako se religiozne i nereligiozne osobe razlikuju ne samo u seksualnim ponašanjima već i u stavovima i moralnim standardima. Jedan od najpoznatijih konstrukata koji uključuje stavove o upuštanju u seksualne odnose bez osjećaja bliskosti i obaveze naziva se socioseksualnost. Dok većina autora socioseksualnost promatra kao stabilnu karakteristiku ličnosti, s druge strane smatra se kako se religioznost povećava s dobi. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati odnos socioseksualnosti i religioznosti kod osoba u predodrasloj i odrasloj dobi. Dodatni cilj je bio utvrditi razlikuju li se religioznost i socioseksualnost s obzirom na dob sudionika. Istraživanje je provedeno na prigodnom uzorku od 344 osobe, od čega su 264 bile žene i 80 muškaraca. Sudionici su bile osobe iz različitih područja Hrvatske u dobi od 18 do 55 godina. U istraživanju su primijenjena dva upitnika: Prošireni multidimenzionalni inventar socioseksualnosti i Upitnik religioznosti. Dobiveni podaci ukazaju kako postoji značajna razlika između sudionika u predodrasloj i odrasloj dobi u rezultatima na subskali stavova prema kratkoročnoj strategiji odabira partnera, ali ne i na subskali stavova prema dugoročnoj strategiji. Stavovi prema kratkoročnoj strategiji su bili pozitivniji kod sudionika u odrasloj dobi u odnosu na sudionike u predodrasloj dobi. Osim toga, sudionici u odrasloj dobi su u prosjeku imali više prijašnjeg seksualnog ponašanja u odnosu na sudionike predodrasle dobi što je bilo i očekivano. Razlika nije utvrđena između sudionika predodrasle i odrasle dobi u rezultatima na Upitniku religioznosti. Prilikom ispitivanja odnosa religioznosti i socioseksualnosti utvrđeno je da sudionici koji su postizali više rezultate na Upitniku religioznosti, tj. religiozniji pojedinci su imali negativnije stavove prema kratkoročnoj strategiji odabira partnera i niže rezultate na prijašnjem seksualnom ponašanju. Sudionici koji su postizali više rezultate na Upitniku religioznosti su imali pozitivnije stavove prema dugoročnim strategijama odabira partnera.Numerous recent researches point out that religion has the most powerful influence on an individual's sexual behavior. It is thus established that religious and non-religious people differ not only in sexual behaviors, but also in attitudes and moral standards. One of the most well known constructs that include attitudes towards engaging in sexual relationships with no feeling of closeness and commitment is called sociosexuality. While most authors regard sociosexuality as a stable feature of personality, on the other hand, it is considered that religion increases with age. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between sociosexuality and religiosity with age, more specifically in emerging adulthood and adulthood. An additional aim was to determine whether religiosity and sociosexuality change with the age of the participant. The survey was conducted on a random sample of 344 people, of which 264 were females and 80 males. Participants were people from different regions of Croatia aged 18 to 55. Two questionnaires were applied in the study: Expanded multidimensional sociosexual orientation inventory and the Questionnaire of Religiosity. The obtained data indicate that there is a significant difference between the emerging adult and the adult age on the subscale of the short-term mating strategy but not on the subscale of attitudes towards the long-term strategy. Attitudes towards short-term mating strategy were more positive in adult participants than in the emerging adults group. In addition, adults had on average more previous sexual behaviors compared to emerging adults. The difference was not determined between emerging adult and adult participants in the results on the Questionnaire of Religiosity. When investigating the relationship between religiosity and sociosexuality, it has been found that participants who had achieved higher results on the Questionnaire of Religiosity, ie, more religious people have had negative attitudes towards the short-term mating strategy and lower results on previous sexual behavior. Participants who achieved higher results on the Questionnaire of Religiosity have had more positive attitudes towards long-term strategies