Victor Garcia

Alfredo Lopez
Daniel Ma
Selene Zamarripa
Group #7
HESC 475, Section 1
February 25, 2016
Purpose of Researching Sexual Intercourse and Religion
The purpose of this research is to determine if there is an association between religion
and sexual intercourse among undergraduate college students. The research participants will
consist of college students within the United States. Participants will be recruited by asking
classmates to partake in the survey and also by asking students on campus to contribute to our
research. Participants will need to be physically and mentally healthy to partake in the research
because the survey will consist of questions regarding sexual activities the individual may/may
not partake in. The research participants will be asked to fill out a questionnaire that will contain
questions about their religion, sexual activities, and how strong these beliefs affect their sexual
actions. Deception will not be used within this study because straightforward answers will be
desired. The harm that may come to participants from the study would be psychological harm
because it could potentially cause an altered self-concept, lower self-esteem, increased anxiety,
or in some cases cause depression. These risks would be justified because the risk of causing
harm is low while the information gained could potentially benefit many people. The harm will

be minimized by making the participants anonymous and by asking questions that are not
excessively invasive.
The procedures taken to ensure confidentiality are that the questionnaire given will only
be handled by the researchers. Once data has been recorded the researchers will safely store all
documents until the end of the research project. The researchers will not disclose any information
about specific participants. The names of the institutions where the information was collected
will not be stated. All information collected will be properly discarded at the conclusion of the
research.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, plagiarism is, [t]he action or practice of
taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own. In order to avoid
plagiarism, it is essential to cite everything that is not considered to be the researchers original
thought. Often, information that is not considered to be common knowledge will be cited. The
citation should not only include a reference page but also internal citations in the proper APA
format. Direct quotations should also be avoided, and any information gathered from an outside
source should be paraphrased instead of used in verbatim.

Nearly 10 million new people between the ages of 15 and 24 are diagnosed with STDs
(CDC, 2015). The relationship between sexual intercourse and religion among college students
needs to be studied more. Sexual intercourse can potentially lead to many different health
complications including: STDs (sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, and unplanned pregnancy)
(Luquis, Brelsford, & Rojas-Guyler, 2011). According to Penhollow, Young, & Denny (2012)
this relationship needs to be studied because it is valuable in developing programs to reduce
risky sexual behaviors. Penhallow et. Al (2012) suggests that males are more likely to be
influenced by religiosity while females are less likely to be influenced by religiosity in sexual
intercourse. Helm, McBride, Knox, & Zusman (2009) states that religiosity heavily influences
the chance of sexual intercourse regardless of gender. These different results show that not
enough studies have been conducted to see the whether or not sexual intercourse varies by
religiosity among college students.
1. Research Question: What is the relationship between religion and sexual intercourse
among college students?
2. Hypothesis: Religious students will report less chance of sexual intercourse than
college students who identify as non-religious.

References
College Health and Safety. (2015, August 18). Retrieved from http://cdc.gov/family/college/
Denny, G. , Penhollow, T. , & Young, M. (2012). Impact of personal and organizational
religiosity on college student sexual behavior. American Journal of Health Studies,
27(1), 13.
Helm, H. , McBride, D. , Knox, D. , & Zusman, M. (2009). The influence of a conservative
religion on premarital sexual behavior of university students. North American Journal
of Psychology, 11(2), 231.
Luquis, R. , Brelsford, G. , & Rojas-Guyler, L. (2012). Religiosity, spirituality, sexual attitudes,
and sexual behaviors among college students. Journal of Religion and Health, 51(3),
601-614.
Plagiarism. In Oxford English Dictionary online. Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.libproxy.fullerton.edu/view/Entry/144939?redirectedFrom=plagiarism#ei