Religion, religiosity and sexual initiation during adolescence: lessons from a systematic literature review of a half-century of research

Abstract

The influence of religion on sexuality has been under investigation by international researchers for nearly half a century. Religion as a variable with effects on sexual behavior has emerged in Brazilian literature as this society goes through two related sets of changes, to wit, the religious landscape and norms and values associated with sexuality. Given the growing interest in this latter demographic variable, studies are needed on which to base future research in Brazil. The present paper seeks to review the Brazilian and international literature on links among religion, religiosity and adolescent sexual initiation and to identify manners of classifying religion and religiosity. Methodological issues that should be taken into account in studies on adolescent sexuality and religion are also discussed briefly. The literature review tracks and analyzes articles published between 1950 and 2010 in Portuguese and English using the SciELO, Atla and JSTOR databases as well as master´s theses and PhD dissertations from Cedeplar and theses and dissertations from UFMG (online database).