Moral reasoning, parental sex attitudes, and sex guilt in female college students.

Forty-eight female college students completed the Mosher Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory, the Rest Defining Issues Test, and the Family Attitude and Communication Scale in order to study the relationship between sex guilt, moral reasoning, and perceived parental sex attitudes. Analysis of variance indicated that Stage 4 moral reasoners had significantly higher sex guilt scores than Stage 5 reasoners. There was also a significant interaction effect between moral reasoning and perceived parental sex attitudes with respect to sex guilt, with Stage 5 reasoners from permissive family backgrounds having very low levels of guilt. The findings suggested that there is an overall negative relationship between sex guilt and moral reasoning, supporting prior studies. However, the relationship between sex guilt and permissive/restrictive family background is more complicated. Paradoxically, more advanced Stage 5 reasoners seemed more influenced by family sexual attitudes than Stage 4 reasoners. The authors offer an explanation for this finding and stress the importance of moral reasoning as a variable in understanding sexual attitudes and behavior.