Sexuality and Spirituality as Predictors of Distress Over a Romantic Breakup: Mediated and Moderated Pathways

This quantitative study examined the intersecting roles of sexual activity and religion/spirituality in college students' adjustment to nonmarital romantic breakups. Four hundred forty-five undergraduate students (72% female) who had experienced the dissolution of an exclusive romantic relationship (M = 11.96 months in duration, SD = 12.61; M = 15.56 months since breakup, SD = 14.74) participated. As predicted, greater pre-breakup sexual activity with their former partner and sacred loss/desecration appraisals of the breakup were each directly related to greater current anger and subjective distress over the breakup. Moreover, sacred loss/desecration appraisals of the breakup fully mediated links between greater pre-breakup sexual activity and greater anger and subjective distress. This mediation model was particularly strong among participants who reported moderate to high religious involvement and biblical conservatism. These results may have important implications for improving the quality of clinical and pastoral care for individuals who have experienced a nonmarital breakup, particularly those arising from biblically conservative faith traditions.