This might dovetail with the reason why most satanists (of the LaVeyan variety) are catholics. Very few of my satanist friends were not raised catholic, and indeed the rituals are basically just pastiches of catholic ones. Not being raised with any religion, satanism has no draw for me, since there is nothing to directly rebel from. All in all, though, the catholic church benefits from having its constituents ignore its doctrine, and this may be one of the reasons for imposing an at-face-value impossible and draconian doctrine itself -- to encourage the opposite behavior.
I'm guessing it's because Catholic girls (and let's not forget the Catholic guys) traditional come out from a culture which (despite the stereotype to the contrary) is not sexually repressive. America, lest we forget, was founded by puritans (the ancestors of the modern day lberal) -- the Catholics came over later.
Anyway, Frank Zappa's song "Catholic Girls" would probably have had been a better choice of a lead-in for this story.
Perhaps a catholic girl is much less likely to be taking birth-control. There's good reason to believe that the pill has an effect on libido. A quick Google search brought me this: http://www.salon.com/mwt/br... . I'm honestly not sure (or don't want to take the time to find out) where to to get more reliable info.
Well, I was raised Catholic, and I think most commenters have the wrong idea about how conservative Catholics really are. Catholics are now only slightly more culturally conservative than old mainline Protestant denominations, which are quite liberal.
In contrast, many protestants are evangelicals, charismatics, Adventists, etc. These are very sexually conservative groups (and sex is very important to them). So I suspect the study's finding would be the same if they looked at one specific mainline Protestant sect, compared to protestants as a whole.
Right awayThats the way they goEvery dayWhenever their mamas take them to a showMatineePass the popcorn pleaseTheres nothing like a catholic girlWith her hand in the boxWhen shes on her knees
Not conforming to a stereotype could constitute defection in an environment where agents must model one another, which is costly, in order to be confident of their safety etc.
Or, of course, maybe catholic identity encourages boys to behave in ways that girls like while non-catholic culture largely discourages this.
It seems relatively easy to develop hypotheses that explain this sort of thing - the main problem is testing them.Oops...forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.
You also don't understand the selection bias. In some areas, Catholic schools are where kids are sent to get better academic education. In other areas -- especially with good suburban schools -- some Catholic schools are where BAD boys and girls get sent to keep them out of mischief. [I believe in your own Fairfax NOVA area, there are 2 boys Catholic schools which fit each stereotypical case. I don't know the situation for girls]. So the wild Catholic girls may be heavily mixed in with those non-mass attending girls.
This would be like looking at the bottom rung of military school students, many of whom end up there because they already have a propensity for getting into fights, etc.
This is exactly what I thought. Reading all the psychoanalytic speculation in the comments was surprising. I guess I have peculiar knowledge on this matter though, since I was raised in a catholic environment(family and k-12). Most of my peers figured by around 14 that even if you don't buy the doctrine, it's generally easier to just bs your way through the motions than raise it as an issue.
The data disambiguates being religious and self-identifying with a denomination, and an explanation has to account for that. Trying to explain the promiscuity in terms of a catholic culture's psychology doesn't make sense since the promiscuity is inversely correlated with church-going, which is the core behavioural norm within catholic culture. The promiscuity is predominant among lay Catholics, people who would probably self-identify as atheist/unreligious if they had been born into a culture where the social cost of doing so were lower.
This might dovetail with the reason why most satanists (of the LaVeyan variety) are catholics. Very few of my satanist friends were not raised catholic, and indeed the rituals are basically just pastiches of catholic ones. Not being raised with any religion, satanism has no draw for me, since there is nothing to directly rebel from. All in all, though, the catholic church benefits from having its constituents ignore its doctrine, and this may be one of the reasons for imposing an at-face-value impossible and draconian doctrine itself -- to encourage the opposite behavior.
I'm guessing it's because Catholic girls (and let's not forget the Catholic guys) traditional come out from a culture which (despite the stereotype to the contrary) is not sexually repressive. America, lest we forget, was founded by puritans (the ancestors of the modern day lberal) -- the Catholics came over later.
Anyway, Frank Zappa's song "Catholic Girls" would probably have had been a better choice of a lead-in for this story.
Perhaps a catholic girl is much less likely to be taking birth-control. There's good reason to believe that the pill has an effect on libido. A quick Google search brought me this: http://www.salon.com/mwt/br... . I'm honestly not sure (or don't want to take the time to find out) where to to get more reliable info.
Perhaps the Red Hot Chili Peppers song 'Catholic School Girls Rule' is more appropriate in describing this study. ;-)
The Inductivist already noted this.
Are Catholics more likely to live in urban areas?
Joel, being then a dreamer with a guitar but no money, could not have satisfied the stability desired by a young girl wanting a family.
that's what the lyrics say: "You said your mother told you / All I could give you was a reputation"
Mormons aren't Protestants.
Well, I was raised Catholic, and I think most commenters have the wrong idea about how conservative Catholics really are. Catholics are now only slightly more culturally conservative than old mainline Protestant denominations, which are quite liberal.
In contrast, many protestants are evangelicals, charismatics, Adventists, etc. These are very sexually conservative groups (and sex is very important to them). So I suspect the study's finding would be the same if they looked at one specific mainline Protestant sect, compared to protestants as a whole.
These are college students, not high school.
For folks who are scared of listening to Frank:
Right awayThats the way they goEvery dayWhenever their mamas take them to a showMatineePass the popcorn pleaseTheres nothing like a catholic girlWith her hand in the boxWhen shes on her knees
Not conforming to a stereotype could constitute defection in an environment where agents must model one another, which is costly, in order to be confident of their safety etc.
Or, of course, maybe catholic identity encourages boys to behave in ways that girls like while non-catholic culture largely discourages this.
Playing to a stereotype can always be understood as identity signaling, just not status signaling. Most signaling is not status signaling.
It seems relatively easy to develop hypotheses that explain this sort of thing - the main problem is testing them.Oops...forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.
It seems relatively easy to develop hypotheses that explain this sort of thing - the main problem is testing them.
You also don't understand the selection bias. In some areas, Catholic schools are where kids are sent to get better academic education. In other areas -- especially with good suburban schools -- some Catholic schools are where BAD boys and girls get sent to keep them out of mischief. [I believe in your own Fairfax NOVA area, there are 2 boys Catholic schools which fit each stereotypical case. I don't know the situation for girls]. So the wild Catholic girls may be heavily mixed in with those non-mass attending girls.
This would be like looking at the bottom rung of military school students, many of whom end up there because they already have a propensity for getting into fights, etc.
Instrumental variables anyone?
This is exactly what I thought. Reading all the psychoanalytic speculation in the comments was surprising. I guess I have peculiar knowledge on this matter though, since I was raised in a catholic environment(family and k-12). Most of my peers figured by around 14 that even if you don't buy the doctrine, it's generally easier to just bs your way through the motions than raise it as an issue.
The data disambiguates being religious and self-identifying with a denomination, and an explanation has to account for that. Trying to explain the promiscuity in terms of a catholic culture's psychology doesn't make sense since the promiscuity is inversely correlated with church-going, which is the core behavioural norm within catholic culture. The promiscuity is predominant among lay Catholics, people who would probably self-identify as atheist/unreligious if they had been born into a culture where the social cost of doing so were lower.