Adultery and homosexual relationship are less condemned than a quarter of a century ago; on the contrary only 26% condemn abortions.
MOSCOW, February 13, 2018. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the results of a study devoted to marital relationship, same-sex relationship and reproductive behavior.
Two-thirds of Russians (64%) always or almost always condemn adultery (more often women (69%) than men (57%)). Every tenth respondent (12%) is loyal. In 1991, the total share was 67%; however the share of those who expressed criticism was considerably lower (35% vs 52% of those who consider adultery “undeniably reprehensible” today).
Most of respondents hold bias against homosexual relations: 79% strongly condemn them (71% in 1991); 15% are more likely not to condemn them (including 9% of those who do not consider such behavior reprehensible).
A majority of Russians are loyal towards those women who consider having an abortion because of financial difficulties: 38% consider it reprehensible only in certain cases, 28% do not condemn it at all.
The VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on January 13-14, 2018. The survey involved 2,000 Russians aged 18 and over, and was carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.2%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
The 2016 results are base on household survey.
In your opinion, is it undeniably reprehensible for a married person to have extramarital sexual relations?* (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||
| 1991 ** | 2016 | 2018 |
Undeniably reprehensible | 35 | 48 | 52 |
Almost always reprehensible | 32 | 23 | 12 |
Reprehensible in certain cases | 16 | 10 | 14 |
There is nothing reprehensible about it | 9 | 10 | 12 |
Other | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Don’t know | 7 | 6 | 10 |
* In 1991, 2016 the question wording was as follows: “Sometimes a married person can enter into a sexual relationship with someone other than husband or wife. Should it be condemned, or is there nothing reprehensible about it?” The answer options were “Always worthy of condemnation”, “Often worthy of condemnation”, “Often unworthy of condemnation”, “Absolutely unworthy of condemnation”.
**In 1991, the survey involved representative all-Union sample of urban and rural populations aged 16 and over; the sample size was 2,964
In your opinion, is it undeniably reprehensible for homosexual adults to have sexual relationship? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||
| 1991 ** | 2016 | 2018 |
Undeniably reprehensible | 57 | 74 | 75 |
Almost always reprehensible | 14 | 7 | 4 |
Reprehensible in certain cases | 8 | 5 | 6 |
There is nothing reprehensible about it | 7 | 7 | 9 |
Other | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Don’t know | 12 | 4 | 6 |
* In 1991, 2016 the question wording was as follows: “In our opinion, should a sexual relationship between two homosexual adults (man and man or woman and woman) be condemned, or is there nothing reprehensible about it?” The answer options were “Always worthy of condemnation”, “Often worthy of condemnation”, “Often unworthy of condemnation”, “Absolutely unworthy of condemnation”.
** In 1991, the survey involved representative all-Union sample of urban and rural populations aged 16 and over; the sample size was 2,964
In your opinion, is it undeniably reprehensible for a woman to have an abortion because her family is extremely low-income and cannot afford to have more children? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||||||||||
| Total respon- dents | Male | Female | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and more | Orthodox Christians | Followers of other religions | Non-believers, fluctuating between belief and unbelief |
Undeniably repre- hensible | 17 | 24 | 12 | 15 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 31 | 10 |
Almost always repre- hensible | 9 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
Repre- hensible in certain cases | 38 | 34 | 41 | 38 | 43 | 36 | 35 | 37 | 40 | 37 | 31 |
There is nothing repre- hensible about it | 28 | 23 | 31 | 27 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 | 26 | 17 | 44 |
Don’t know | 8 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!