Religiosity delays initiation of sexual behavior but the association may be bidirectional and individuals may become less religious after first intercourse. These findings suggest that sexual behavior can influence religious development in emerging adulthood and underscore the importance of studying the impact of sexuality beyond Parecoxib the health outcomes typically studied and of examining how life events influence religious development in adolescence and emerging adulthood. =434) from a large public Northeastern university in the United States recruited as part of a larger study of sexual behaviors and experiences during college (see Lam & Lefkowitz 2013 Lefkowitz & Espinosa-Hernandez 2007 From a list of all first year students at the University participants were chosen using random sampling stratified by race/ethnicity and gender (i.e. African American and Latino American students were oversampled to achieve a diverse sample). The response rate was 52%. To examine changes after first sexual intercourse we include the participants (= 100 45 female 49 European American 26 Latino American 25 African American 97 heterosexual 3 bisexual Time 1 = 0.3) who reported transitioning to first intercourse during the study. The participants included in this sample were not significantly different from those in the larger study with respect to gender race/ethnicity and parents’ education. Self-reported religion was 38% Catholic 36 Protestant 16 Agnostic and 10% other. Procedures Participants completed a paper and pencil questionnaire in groups of up to 25 in university classrooms at four measurement occasions (Time 1: fall first year Time 2: spring first year Time 3: fall second year Time 4: fall fourth year) and received $25 (Time 1) $30 (Time 2) or $35 (Times 3 and 4) per occasion. Parecoxib Measures Attendance at religious services At each measurement occasion participants replied to the question “How many times have you attended religious services during the past 12 months (52 weeks)?” Participants filled in the blank with any number they chose. On average participants reported attending 21.0 services per year at Time 1 (= 20.3). Importance of religion Importance of religion was assessed using an established measure (see Rohrbaugh & Jessor 1975 which has high reliability in college student samples (e.g. Buchko 2004 Vasilenko Duntzee Zhang & Lefkowitz 2013 Participants completed a 7-item measure which examines importance of personal religious beliefs (i.e. prayer help with personal problems influence on daily life certainty in existence of God belief in life after death feelings of devotion religion giving comfort and security). Four items had five response options (sample item “During the past 12 months (52 weeks) how often have you experienced a feeling of religious reverence or devotion?” with response options ranging from: “1 = never to 5 = daily) and three items had four response options (sample item “When you have a serious problem how often do you take religious advice or teaching into account?” with response options ranging from 1 = to 4 = = 15.5 = 6.4). Reliability exceeded .90 at all measurement occasions (α = .91-.92). Timing of first intercourse At each measurement occasion participants were asked “Have you ever engaged in penetrative sex (sex in which the penis penetrates the vagina or anus)?” When they first reported penetrative sex participants reported the month and year in which it occurred. Parecoxib We used this information to calculate several timing variables. The first was a time index measuring (TTFI) which “person-centered” time around each individual’s month of first intercourse. The month in which they engaged in first intercourse was set at 0; if an Parecoxib individual completed a survey four months before first intercourse that occasion was coded as ?4. To test whether individuals’ religiosity at points after first intercourse differed from what would be predicted by the developmental trajectory we created one (BFI) and three (AFI) variables. The BFI variable (0-6 BFI) indicated that a given measurement occasion was between six and zero months prior to the Rabbit polyclonal to AIF1. month of first intercourse. AFI variables indicated whether a measurement occasion was within six months after first intercourse (0-6 AFI) between 6 and 12 months after first intercourse (6-12 AFI) or more than 12 months after (12+ AFI); 1 indicated a dimension time was within the proper time frame and 0 indicated a dimension time had not been. Demographics We.