How sexuality and religion intersect in highly religious families: implications for clinicians

Abstract

Using data from interviews with 198 highly religious Muslim, Christian, or Jewish families in the U.S., we investigated how religion informs sexual relationships, sexual practices, and sexual beliefs in family life. Guided by Marks’ method (2015), a team-based coding approach, participants’ comments about sexuality and sexual relationships were coded and organized into four themes that illuminated how religion and sexuality intersect among highly religious couples and families. Themes included (a) boundaries and rules around sex, (b) purpose of sex, (c) navigating culture and media, and (d) concerns regarding children. Implications for practitioners are discussed including understanding the most common ways sex and religion intersect in highly religious families, and the importance of asking clients to what degree their faith influences their sexual relationships, practices, and beliefs.

Lay Summary

Highly religious families spoke about sexuality in five main ways: managing boundaries and rules around sex, purpose of sex, navigating culture and media, and concerns regarding children. When working with religious clients, clinicians can ask and understand, recognize religious dualities, and harness religious strengths.

Keywords:

• religion
• sexuality
• religious dualities
• sex therapy
• couples therapy
• family therapy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Details about the sample are publicly accessible on the American Families of Faith national research project website (https://americanfamiliesoffaith.byu.edu/) and are used here with permission.

2 The “Black Christian” category includes Black families who self-identified as Protestant, as a specific Protestant denomination (e.g., Baptist, Methodist, AME), as “Christian,” or non-denominational Christian. Black Catholic and Latter-day Saint families are grouped under the Catholic and Latter-day Saint headings for specificity.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rebecca W. Clarke

Rebecca W. Clarke is a doctoral student in the Marriage, Family, and Human Development program at Brigham Young University, with Dr. Chelom Leavitt as her advisor. Her research focuses on the intersection between religion and sexuality, and healthy sexuality in committed relationships. She received my master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Brigham Young University in 2000.

Chelom E. Leavitt

Chelom E. Leavitt attended Law School at BYU. During her legal career, Chelom taught law in Eastern Europe. It was there that she became interested in family relationships and how to create stronger bonds within these relationships. She finished a master’s degree in Marriage, Family and Human Development at BYU in 2010 and returned to Ukraine as a 2010-2011 Fulbright Fellow to research and teach on family relationships. She then attended Penn State where she earned her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies. She researches issues surrounding healthy sex within committed relationships. She also examines how being mindful in daily experiences and sexual experiences may be associated with increased sexual satisfaction.

David B. Allsop

David B. Allsop is a doctoral student in psychology and neuroscience at Dalhousie University under the supervision of Natalie Rosen. His research focuses on healthy sexual relationships in long-term committed relationships over the life course, primarily in terms of how couples have healthy and satisfying sexual relationships during times of heightened stress. He received his master’s degree in marriage, family, and human development from Brigham Young University in 2020 under the supervision of Chelom Leavitt.

Loren D. Marks

Loren Marks received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from BYU, and his PhD from the University of Delaware. He is Co-Director (with Dr. David Dollahite) of the American Families of Faith Project that includes 200 Christian, Jewish, and Muslim families from all eight regions of the United States.

David C. Dollahite

David C. Dollahite obtained a bachelor’s degree in family life and a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from BYU (1985) and a doctorate in family studies from the University of Minnesota (1989). Professor of Family Life at Brigham Young University where he teaches classes and conducts research on the links between religion and family life. He is Co-Director (with Dr. Loren Marks) of the American Families of Faith Project. He has been a visiting scholar at the Stanford University Center on Adolescence, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Dominican University of California, and was the Jawaharlal Nehru Visiting Scholar at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. He has more than 200 publications for scholarly and public audiences including eight edited or authored books.