Ellard, John HowardGusarova, Inga2016-09-192016-09-1920162016Gusarova, I. (2016). The Role of Personality Correlates and Threat Perception in Attitudes Toward Sex Education (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28342http://hdl.handle.net/11023/3308This study investigated the role of moral foundations, regulatory focus, and threat perception in attitudes toward sex education using a crowd-sourced sample of 473 participants (48% women, 52% men; ages 18-80, median age 33.5). Two dimensions of attitudes were identified (58.2% of total variance): Pragmatism, reflecting importance of sex education and its focus on tangible outcomes; and Moral Threat, reflecting perceptions that sex education could be threatening to moral values about sexuality or have harmful moral consequences. Regression analysis showed that combining social conservatism, religious attendance, moral foundations, and regulatory focus accounts for 37% of variance explained in Pragmatism and 44% in Moral Threat (p<.001). Mediation analyses indicated that most effects were direct rather than conveyed through threat perception. Findings showed that regulatory fit is unlikely to improve communication effectiveness of sex education materials, yet individualizing moral foundations and promotion focus represent promising targets for future research.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Educational PsychologyEducation--Social SciencesPsychology--Socialsex educationattitudesmoral foundationsregulatory focusthreatinterventionregressionmediationmaster thesis10.11575/PRISM/28342