Honors Theses and Projects

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A collection of theses and projects submitted to the Centennial Honors College in various disciplines.

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Browsing Honors Theses and Projects by Author "Kandlik, Stephanie"

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    The Effect of Number of Sexual Partners on the Sacredness of Sex, Sexual Anxiety, Endorsement of Promiscuity, and Time to Sex
    (Western Illinois University, 2007) Kandlik, Stephanie
    This study looked at number of sexual partners participants had had, the extent to which they believed that sex is sacred, their sexual anxiety, their endorsement of sexual promiscuity, and the time to sex in their most recent relationship. Two studies were carried out. The hypothesis tested in Study One was that a negative relationship would be found between the number of sexual partners participants had had and the time between first meeting their most recent partner romantically and engaging in sex and that this relationship would be mediated by the belief that sex is not sacred, low sexual anxiety, and the endorsement of sexual promiscuity. College students filled out measures of the extent to which they believed that sex is sacred, their sexual anxiety, their endorsement of sexual promiscuity, and the time to sex in their most recent relationship. Number of sexual partners was not correlated with time to sex; thus the hypothesis was not supported and mediational analyses were not carried out However, number of sexual partners was correlated with the belief that sex was not sacred, low sexual anxiety, and endorsement of sexual promiscuity. Study Two was carried out to test the hypotheses that number of sexual partners was causally related to the belief that sex is not sacred, low sexual anxiety, and the endorsement of sexual promiscuity. To do this, participants filled out measures of number of sexual partners, the belief that sex is not sacred, low sexual anxiety, and the endorsement of sexual promiscuity at the beginning and end of a semester. Number of sexual partners at the beginning of the semester was correlated with the belief that sex was not sacred at the end of the semester and vice versa. Since the first correlation was not larger than the second, causation could not be inferred. Similar analyses were carried out for low sexual anxiety and endorsement of sexual promiscuity. Although number of sexual partners was found to be correlated with the belief that sex was not sacred and endorsement of sexual promiscuity, no evidence of causation was found. Thus the hypotheses of Study Two were not supported.