Plan of Analysis

1
Spirituality in the Sexual Lives of Same-Sex
Couples
Pamela B. Payne and Carl A. Ridley
Introduction For some time relationship
researchers have been conducting research on the
formation and health of close relationships, as
well as what factors most influence relationship
functioning. One line of research has focused on
cognitive strategies and scripts that people in
relationships have that guide their relationship
beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. The question
arises about which scripts are most salient. In
following the literature, it is suggested that
spirituality and religion are developed as early
scripts that are modified throughout development
allowing for their salience to vary (Silberman,
2003 2005). For some individuals, a spiritual
script may be part of a religious identification
or be separate from religion completely (MacKnee,
2002 Reed, 1992). Little research has focused on
how spirituality and informs couples daily
relational and sexual lives. We intend to
distinguish different levels of spirituality by
religious affiliation, examine the measurement of
the spirituality scale using factor analysis, and
examine how spirituality influences a variety of
sexual behaviors, relational closeness in
same-sex relationships over 14-days. Research
Questions Following from the reviewed literature
the following research questions are posed Does
level of spirituality vary by religious
affiliation? (See handout) Should the
Spirituality Scale be considered as a single
scale or multiple factors? (See handout) Does
spirituality predict relationship outcomes such
as sexual and relationship satisfaction,
closeness, moral evaluation of lust, passion,
sexual desire? (RQ1). Does spirituality moderate
the link between what couples do sexually and the
way they feel about it (i.e. sexual satisfaction)
and the way they feel about each other (i.e.
closeness)? (RQ2). Participants 214 same-sex
couples (approximately 43 gay 63
lesbian) Together for approximately 5 years (M
4.57) Most Caucasian (84) and highly educated
(94 completed at least some college) Procedure
Couples recruited via email from various
organizations nationwide that represent gay
and lesbian individuals Data collected via
Internet with unique ID numbers assigned to each
participant to ensure anonymity Upon first
logging onto website, participants filled out an
initial questionnaire. Each day for 14 days
after that, they logged on and filled out daily
measures. Measures Spirituality 21 items
factored into 3 factors. Factor 1 (F1) is 8-items
assessing Belief in a Higher Power/God Factor 2
(F2) is 7-items assessing Daily Experience and
Connection Factor 3 (F3) is 1-item assessing how
participants feel religion and sex mix. Daily
sexual satisfaction assessed via 5-point
Likert-type global item Daily relationship
satisfaction assessed via 5-point Likert-type
global item Sexual Behavior desire for and
engagement in sexual behaviors were measured
daily.
Plan of Analysis First, factor analyses were
conducted to examine the Spirituality Scale
properties. Items loading .5 or greater were
included (See Handout for all items). Analyses
for distinguishing religion and spirituality were
done using SPSS to conduct ANOVAs (See Handout
for ANOVA table). For all additional analyses,
multi-level modeling using SAS Proc Mixed was
used. A three level model was used where days
were nested within individuals, which were nested
within couples. Spirituality predicting
Relationship Outcomes (Relationship Satisfaction,
Sexual Satisfaction, Closeness, Sexual Behavior,
Moral Judgments of Lust, Passion, Sexual
Desire) The first step of the analysis examined
the effects of daily relationship satisfaction on
sexual satisfaction (RQ1). The equations for the
first model can be expressed as follows Level
1 Relationship Outcomestij p0ij
p1ij(Spiritualitytij) etij Level 2 p0ij
ß00j
p1ij ß10j Level
3 ß00j ?000 ß10j ?100 Spirituality as a
Moderator The final step of the analysis examined
the moderating effects of spirituality (RQ2) on
the link between sexual affection and
relationship/sexual satisfaction. Results for
additional significant moderation can be found in
the handout. The equations for this model can be
expressed as follows Level 1 Relationship or
Sexual Satisfactiontij p0ij p1ij(Sexual
Affection) etij Level 2 p0ij ß00j
ß01j(Spirituality) p1ij ß10j
ß11j(Spirituality) Level 3 ß00j
?000 ß01j ?010 ß10j
?100 ß11j ?110
Example Graph of Moderation Effect
Discussion The results of this study suggest the
need for and importance of spirituality in the
sexual lives of same-sex couples. There is little
research that addresses the influence of
spirituality on sexual satisfaction depending on
sexual behaviors engaged in, specifically the
results suggesting such significant differences
between couple type. Results suggest that
individuals vary in their level of spirituality
by religious affiliation. Spirituality directly
predicted moral assessments of lust, passion and
sexual desire, indicating that higher
spirituality resulted in more negative moral
assessments. This may have implications for the
moderation results, since men seemed to have
negative assessments of their sexual satisfaction
when they engage in sexual affection and are
highly spiritual. For additional results see
handout. Surprisingly, the various aspects of
spirituality have unique influences on the
relationship between sexual behavior (such as
sexual affection) and sexual and relationship
satisfaction, and these results significantly
differ for gay men and lesbian women.
Specifically, the results examining the
moderation effect of Spirituality Factor 1
(Belief in a Higher Power) show vastly different
results for highly spiritual gay men and lesbian
women, such that there seems to be a beneficial
effect of spirituality for lesbian women, while
there is a significant decrease in sexual
satisfaction for gay men.
Results Daily relationship satisfaction and daily
sexual satisfaction were significantly and
positively related. Spirituality moderated the
association between sexual behaviors (such as
affection) and sexual and relationship
satisfaction. Couple type was significantly
different for some outcomes. The following is an
example of results from these analyses. Multileve
l Model of the Moderational Effects of
Spirituality (F1) on the Association Between
Sexual Affection Daily Sexual Satisfaction by
Couple Type (N 166) ___________________ Fi
xed Effect Coefficient SE t Ratio Sexual
Satisfaction Initial level, p0i
-1.33 1.30 -1.02 Sexual Affection (SxAff)
slope,p1i 1.81 0.67 2.69 Couple
Type (if male) 2.78 1.47 1.9
(t) Spirituality Factor 1, ß10
1.51 0.59 2.56 SxAff X Spirituality F1, ß11
-2.04 0.30 -2.38 SxAff X Couple (if
male) -2.56 0.76 -1.61 Spiritual
ity (F1) X Couple -3.04 0.62 -2.74 Sx
Aff X Spirituality (F1) X
- 0.52 0.32 2.54 Couple (if
male)_____________________________________________
_____________ Note p trend (.06 -.08) _