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Article: Religious influences on sensitive self-reported behaviors: the product of social desirability, deceit, or embarrassment?
- Article from:
- Sociology of Religion
- Article date:
- June 22, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Association for the Sociology of Religion. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Religion, measured in a variety of ways, appears to exert significant direct and indirect influence on a range of personal attitudes and behaviors among American teenagers (Regnerus 2003). The same can be said for religious influences on the emotional and physical health and behaviors of American adults (Sherkat and Ellison 1999). However, some scholars are skeptical about claims of religious influence, and instead attribute them to selection effects, social desirability bias or lack of candidness in survey responses, spurious artifacts, or a combination of these (e.g., Cochran, et al. 1994; Sloan, et al. 1999). Some of the skepticism is more subtle, appearing--as it has ...