Implications of Sex Guilt: A Meta-Analysis

A meta-analysis of the literature examining the outcomes related to feelings of sex guilt was conducted. The analysis demonstrates gendered differences in the experience of sex guilt and myriad attitudinal and behavioral impacts. Specifically, men report lower levels of sex guilt, r = −.227 than do women and implications of sex guilt experience are vast, including its association with engagement in less sexual activity, r = −.337, less favorable attitudes toward sex and lessened use of contraceptives, r = −.276, reduced reports of sexual arousal in response to an explicitly sexual media content, r = −.308, less positive emotional response to sexually explicit media content, r = −.367, reduced level of sexual information accuracy, r = −.324, and less positive attitudes toward sexual behavior, r = −404. Sex guilt is positively related to level of religiosity/religious behavior, r =.439. The findings suggest that sex guilt provides a consistent set of responses to sexual information and media content as well as a motivational basis for behavior. These outcomes are further explicated and discussed.