Em. Edmonds et Dd. Cahoon, EFFECTS OF RELIGIOUS ORIENTATION AND CLOTHING REVEALINGNESS ON WOMENSCHOICE OF CLOTHING, Journal of social behavior and personality, 8(2), 1993, pp. 349-353
Women college students classified as intrinsic, extrinsic, and indiscr
iminate proreligious, on the basis of their responses to Allport's Rel
igious Orientation Scale, indicated on a 7-point scale the extent that
they would wear either revealing or nonrevealing clothing. A signific
ant interaction between clothing style and religious sentiment occurre
d. The intrinsic women preferred to wear the nonrevealing clothing sig
nificantly more than did the extrinsic and indiscriminate proreligious
women. Similarly, the extrinsic and indiscriminate women preferred to
wear revealing clothing significantly more than did the intrinsic wom
en. Moreover, the women's attitudes toward wearing the clothing were h
ighly consistent with their actual clothing choices. These findings su
ggest that intrinsic women prefer nonrevealing clothing more than do e
xtrinsic women because the internalized beliefs of intrinsics conflict
with a revealing mode of dress. It is also suggested that extrinsics
may be more likely to be influenced by socially acceptable justificati
ons for the wearing of sexually provocative clothing.