One group of married Americans is having more sex — and happier marriages

who regularly attend church report having more frequent sex and greater sexual satisfaction than those who attend less often or not at all, according to a new report from the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Researchers analyzed findings from multiple datasets, including the 2026 IFS Religion and Family Survey of 3,125 married adults ages 18–54, the long-running nationally representative General Social Survey, and a separate survey of 1,219 alumni of FOCUS, a Catholic campus ministry.

Regular churchgoers reported having more frequent sex than less religious or non-religious married adults, with regularly attending Catholics reporting some of the highest levels of . The association remained even after accounting for demographic differences.

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Among married adults ages 20 to 54, 62% of regular churchgoers reported having sex at least once a week, compared with 48% of nonreligious spouses, according to the report.

In addition to frequency, sexual satisfaction was also higher among . Catholics and Protestants who regularly attended religious services were more likely to rate their sex lives positively than those who attended less often or had no religious affiliation.

Daily prayer was linked to greater sexual satisfaction among married Catholics and Protestants, though it was not associated with more frequent sex.

Among churchgoers, 55% of Catholics and 45% of Protestants rated their sex lives as "excellent" or "very good," compared with 45% of nominal Catholics, 35% of nominal Protestants and 40% of religiously unaffiliated respondents.

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Those who viewed marriage as a permanent commitment were more likely to report both frequent and satisfying sex. That belief, along with shared values, was also strongly associated with overall marital quality.

Because the analysis was observational, it cannot determine whether religious practice directly causes better marital or sexual outcomes, the authors acknowledged.

Additionally, the marital outcomes were self-reported, and other unmeasured differences between religious and non-religious respondents could have influenced the results.

Differences in factors such as age and length of marriage could also make it challenging to strike comparisons with the broader population.

The study was funded by FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students.

Jessica Steinman, a licensed marriage and family therapist and certified therapist in Los Angeles, spoke with Fox News Digital about the potential relationship between religious activity and the quality of a couples sex life.

"When we think of people who are really involved in religion … we might think they're not having a lot of sex or that they're having very constricted views on their sex lives," she said. "And this article and research show that's changing."

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People who actively participate in a

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