Title |
Do American States with More Religious or Conservative Populations Search More for Sexual Content on Google?
|
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Published in |
Archives of Sexual Behavior, October 2014
|
DOI | 10.1007/s10508-014-0361-8 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Cara C. MacInnis, Gordon Hodson |
Abstract |
In America, religiosity and conservatism are generally associated with opposition to non-traditional sexual behavior, but prominent political scandals and recent research suggest a paradoxical private attraction to sexual content on the political and religious right. We examined associations between state-level religiosity/conservatism and anonymized interest in searching for sexual content online using Google Trends (which calculates within-state search volumes for search terms). Across two separate years, and controlling for demographic variables, we observed moderate-to-large positive associations between: (1) greater proportions of state-level religiosity and general web searching for sexual content and (2) greater proportions of state-level conservatism and image-specific searching for sex. These findings were interpreted in terms of the paradoxical hypothesis that a greater preponderance of right-leaning ideologies is associated with greater preoccupation with sexual content in private internet activity. Alternative explanations (e.g., that opposition to non-traditional sex in right-leaning states leads liberals to rely on private internet sexual activity) are discussed, as are limitations to inference posed by aggregate data more generally. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 33 | 39% |
Spain | 3 | 4% |
Australia | 3 | 4% |
Netherlands | 3 | 4% |
Canada | 2 | 2% |
India | 2 | 2% |
United Kingdom | 2 | 2% |
Kazakhstan | 1 | 1% |
Mexico | 1 | 1% |
Other | 10 | 12% |
Unknown | 24 | 29% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 63 | 75% |
Scientists | 11 | 13% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 7 | 8% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 3 | 4% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 69 | 99% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Bachelor | 11 | 16% |
Researcher | 10 | 14% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 7 | 10% |
Professor | 6 | 9% |
Student > Master | 5 | 7% |
Other | 14 | 20% |
Unknown | 17 | 24% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 21 | 30% |
Social Sciences | 9 | 13% |
Business, Management and Accounting | 3 | 4% |
Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 3 | 4% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 3 | 4% |
Other | 12 | 17% |
Unknown | 19 | 27% |