Associations between negative sexual messaging in childhood and sex guilt in adulthood

Abstract Sex guilt refers to a feeling of shame or anxiety induced by sexual behavior due to the inconsistency between a person's value and their sexuality. Sex guilt often stems from traditional, gender stereotypical sexual views and attitudes. In this study, we inquired what factors could be predicting sex guilt. Negative sexual messaging (NSM) refers to the promotion of abstinence and the glorification of virginity, representing a set of sex‐negatives views. We evaluated the relationships between NSM in childhood and sex guilt in adulthood. We include childhood sexual abuse as an alternative predictor of sex guilt to anchor our results with NSM. Participants were recruited through undergraduate groups and online platforms (total N = 1322) and completed an online survey regarding about their sexual experience. We found that NSM was a strong, persistent predictor of sex guilt. Those who experienced more NSM reported higher sex guilt. Our findings could be particularly informative for educators and policy maker who creates sex education curricula. Further study is needed to clarify the mechanisms through which NSM are associated with sex guilt.