Religious faith and sexual risk taking among adolescents and emerging adults: A meta-analytic review

Rationale: Although there is some evidence that religious faith may offer protection against sexual risk taking in adolescence and emerging adulthood, no attempts have been made to systematically quantify the association. Objective: Using data from studies conducted in the 2000-2020 period, this meta-analysis aimed to estimate the link between religious faith and four sexual risk-taking behaviors in samples of adolescents and emerging adults. Methods: Five different search systems were used to conduct a systematic literature search in April 2020. Studies that contained quantitative data on religious faith and at least one indicator of sexual risk taking (age at sexual debut, number of sexual partners, condom use at most recent sexual intercourse, and consistent condom use) were searched for. In total, 35 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, in English, were identified. Random effects meta-analytic approach was used to assess target associations among 41,758 adolescents and emerging adults (M-age = 18.9 years, 37% male). To estimate the effect across the four risk indicators, we employed robust variance estimation (RVE) method. Results: We found small associations between religious faith on the one hand and age at sexual debut (r = 0.08, 95% CI = 0.03, 0.12) and the number of sexual partners on the other hand (r = -0.15, 95% CI = -0.21,-0.09). No association with condom use was observed. With all studies included, the overall effect size was 0.11 (95% CI = 0.06, 0.16), indicating a small (protective) role of religious faith in young people's sexual risk taking. Conclusions: Considering the limited role of religious faith in young people's sexual and reproductive health, comprehensive sexuality education remains essential for risk-reduction, even among more religious young people.