Who Believes Sexuality Myths? Sociodemographic, Motivational, and Sociocultural Predictors of Sexuality Myth Endorsement and Its Connection to Sexual Well-Being

Abstract

Sexuality myths, that is, incorrect beliefs about sexuality, are argued to have individual and societal consequences. Yet we do not know who is particularly susceptible to these beliefs. Existing frameworks have centred on information deficits (e.g., due to missing sex education) that may be especially pronounced in certain demographic groups. However, people sometimes harbour irrational beliefs even when they have access to good information. We sought to provide a more comprehensive view of the psychology of sexuality myth endorsement and the ability to distinguish myths from facts. We recruited 280 participants via Prolific. They completed a sexuality myth battery, provided sociodemographic information, and answered psychometric measures of several motivational dispositions, sociocultural attitudes, and aspects of sexual well-being. Our results confirm that certain demographic groups—especially those high in political conservatism, low in education, and identifying as heterosexual—endorse more sexuality myths and struggle more to discern them from facts. Importantly, the comprehensiveness of sex education did not significantly correlate with more irrational sexuality beliefs. However, motivational dispositions—particularly moral foundations connected to purity—and conservative gender and sexual norms (e.g., the sexual double standard) explained variance in myth endorsement and discernment beyond sociodemographic characteristics. In contrast, sexual satisfaction, distress, and functioning were only negligibly connected to myth endorsement and discernment. Taken together, we found that missing information may not be the only contributor to sexuality myths and that the connection of these myths to sexual well-being may be complex.