The Relationship between Sex Guilt and Sexual Desire in a Community Sample of Chinese and Euro-Canadian Women

Abstract

Many studies have documented significant differences in sexual desire between individuals of European and Chinese descent, but few have examined the mechanisms that underlie these differences. A recent study of university students found that sex guilt is one mechanism by which culture influences sexual desire among Chinese and Euro-Canadian women. The goal of this study was to examine whether sex guilt also mediates the relationship between ethnicity and sexual desire in a sample that is more representative of women in the general population. Euro-Canadian (n = 78; mean age = 42.1 years) and Chinese (n = 87; mean age = 42.8 years) women were recruited from the community. Euro-Canadian women reported greater sexual desire and less sex guilt. In the entire sample, sex guilt mediated the relationship between ethnicity and sexual desire such that the Chinese women reported greater sex guilt, which, in turn, was associated with lower sexual desire. Among the Chinese women, sex guilt mediated the relationship between mainstream acculturation (degree of Westernization) and sexual desire such that more Westernized Chinese women reported less sex guilt, which, in turn, was associated with greater sexual desire. These results support recent findings and further suggest that sex guilt may be one mechanism by which ethnicity affects sexual desire.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Hampton Fund Research Grant from the University of British Columbia awarded to Lori A. Brotto. Jane S. T. Woo was funded by a Predoctoral Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and a Predoctoral Research Trainee Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. We acknowledge Dr. Del Paulhus for his help with the statistical analyses.

Notes

^a Figures reported are for the 142 participants who responded to this question.

^b Scale ranges from 20–180.

*p < .001.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Note. Higher scores denote greater sexual desire (FSFI) and higher sex guilt (RMGI).

^a Based on n = 75 Euro-Canadians and n = 82 Chinese.

^b Based on n = 65 Euro-Canadians and n = 76 Chinese.

^c Effect size (Cohen's d) was calculated as d = (M ₁ − M ₂)/s, where s = √[(n ₁ − 1) + (n ₂ − 1)]/(n ₁ + n ₂).