God, I Can’t Stop Thinking About Sex! The Rebound Effect in Unsuccessful Suppression of Sexual Thoughts Among Religious Adolescents

God, I Can’t Stop Thinking About Sex! The Rebound Effect in Unsuccessful Suppression of Sexual Thoughts Among Religious Adolescents. Yaniv Efrati. The Journal of Sex Research, https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2018.1461796

Abstract: The rebound effect of thought suppression refers to attempts to suppress thoughts that result in an increase of those thoughts. The aim of this three-study research was to investigate the suppression of thoughts and its possible importance in the cognitive model of predicted compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) among Israeli Jewish religious and secular adolescents. Study 1 (N = 661): Do religious and secular adolescents differ in CSB and related psychopathology? Study 2 (N = 522): Does CSB mediate the link between religiosity and well-being? Study 3 (N = 317): Does religiosity relate to suppression of sexual thoughts, which relates to higher CSB and lower well-being? The analyses indicated that religious adolescents are higher in CSB than secular ones, and that sexual suppression and CSB mediate the link between religiosity and well-being. Results are discussed and address the need for a broader understanding of CSB and the function of thought suppression.

---
Some limitations of the research should be acknowledged. First, the research population was very homogeneous and local: Jewish Israeli adolescents. Future studies should examine other age groups and diverse religious and cultural populations to ascertain the replicability and generalizability of the findings.

Future research might also address the relationship between sexually related problems and a broader spectrum of variables that examine social support available to adolescents: parents, family, peers, and additional significant others. It would also be interesting to distinguish between elements of spirituality and religion, dividing behavior into positive and negative coping. Thus, religious coping that relies on spiritual connections, forgiveness, and benevolence could be positive. However, it could also be negative if based on spiritual discontent, a “punishing” God, or interpersonal friction on religious grounds (Pargament, Smith, Koenig, & Perez, 1998). In addition, Studies 1 to 3 are correlational and so do not allow us to conclude that religious beliefs are the cause of sexual suppression or individual CSB. Longitudinal studies could help in deciphering the directionality of these links.

Despite these shortcomings, we view the current research as an important step in understanding adolescents’ suppression of sexual thoughts, taking into account the culturalreligious context as a major component in adolescents’sexual development.