The moderating role of religiosity: Understanding sexual sensation seeking and risky sexual behavior among Filipino adolescent gay men

• Main Author: Villarin, Kenneth Dale C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2024
• Subjects: Sex; Religiousness; Gay men > Philippines; Sexual minorities; Clinical Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_psych/69; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etdm_psych/article/1069/viewcontent/2024_Villarin_The_Moderating_Role_of_Religiosity_Full_text.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

The growing body of knowledge among the LGBTQIA+ population has been of interest to most researchers who seek to better understand them. One of the notable topics and focuses of research regarding LGBTQIA+ individuals is their engagement in Risky Sexual Behavior (RSB). RSB is defined as the engagement in sexual activities that can cause physical, emotional, and mental health problems to people. Previous studies have shown that sexual sensation seeking (SSS) has been one of the main reasons why gay adolescents engage in RSB. Given this, the current study aims to look at religiosity, which was found as an effective protective factor for such risky behaviors among Western cultures and in some Southeast Asian countries. The participants of the present study were between 18 to 24 years old, were currently residing in the Philippines, and have identified themselves as gay. The current study was able to gather a total of 92 respondents through purposive sampling. Using simple moderation analysis, results show that religiosity does not have an inhibiting effect on the relationship between SSS and RSB among Filipino gay adolescents, however, SSS yielded similar results with previous studies. The findings of the study show that although adolescent gay men (AGM) are in some way religious, this does not inhibit them from engaging in risky sexual behavior and that the intensified need to satisfy one’s sexual cravings remains stronger during this stage. Further studies are recommended to focus on other protective factors such as religious and sexual acceptance.