Research and clinical data have shown that couples with sexual problems report a lack of sexual communication. However, no published meta-analyses have evaluated the relationship between sexual ...communication and sexual function. This meta-analysis examines the correlation between couples' sexual communication and dimension of sexual function across 48 studies. Sexual communication was positively associated with sexual desire (r = .16), sexual arousal (r = .21), lubrication (r = .17), orgasm (r = .23), erectile function (r = .19), less pain (r = .12), and overall sexual function (r = .35). The effect sizes for sexual desire (r = .21; r = .12) and orgasm (r = .26; r = .16) were higher for women than for men. For overall sexual function, studies with married participants (r = .47) had a larger effect size than studies with participants with multiple relationship types (r = .31) or than studies with dating participants (r = .11). Effect sizes were larger for studies conducted outside of the United States (r = .39) compared to studies conducted in the United States (r = .12). We discuss the importance of addressing the relationship between sexual communication and sexual function, as well as future directions for research in this area.
Despite the aging of the population, little is known about the sexual behaviors and sexual function of older people.
We report the prevalence of sexual activity, behaviors, and problems in a national ...probability sample of 3005 U.S. adults (1550 women and 1455 men) 57 to 85 years of age, and we describe the association of these variables with age and health status.
The unweighted survey response rate for this probability sample was 74.8%, and the weighted response rate was 75.5%. The prevalence of sexual activity declined with age (73% among respondents who were 57 to 64 years of age, 53% among respondents who were 65 to 74 years of age, and 26% among respondents who were 75 to 85 years of age); women were significantly less likely than men at all ages to report sexual activity. Among respondents who were sexually active, about half of both men and women reported at least one bothersome sexual problem. The most prevalent sexual problems among women were low desire (43%), difficulty with vaginal lubrication (39%), and inability to climax (34%). Among men, the most prevalent sexual problems were erectile difficulties (37%). Fourteen percent of all men reported using medication or supplements to improve sexual function. Men and women who rated their health as being poor were less likely to be sexually active and, among respondents who were sexually active, were more likely to report sexual problems. A total of 38% of men and 22% of women reported having discussed sex with a physician since the age of 50 years.
Many older adults are sexually active. Women are less likely than men to have a spousal or other intimate relationship and to be sexually active. Sexual problems are frequent among older adults, but these problems are infrequently discussed with physicians.
The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of polydrug use, use of drugs associated with chemsex, specific drug use, and HIV-related behaviours, between two time periods, using two ...groups of HIV-negative men who have sex with men (MSM) attending the same sexual health clinics in London and Brighton, in two consecutive periods of time from 2013 to 2016.
Data from MSM in the cross-sectional Attitudes to and Understanding Risk of Acquisition of HIV (AURAH) study (June 2013 to September 2014) were compared with baseline data from different MSM in the prospective cohort study Attitudes to and Understanding Risk of Acquisition of HIV over Time (AURAH2) (November 2014 to April 2016). Prevalence of polydrug use, drug use associated with chemsex and specific drug use, and 10 measures of HIV-related behaviours including condomless sex, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) use, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use, and HIV testing, were compared. Prevalence ratios (PRs) for the association of the study (time period) with drug use and HIV-related behaviour measures were estimated using modified Poisson regression analysis, unadjusted and adjusted for sociodemographic factors.
In total, 991 MSM were included from AURAH and 1031 MSM from AURAH2. After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, use of drugs associated with chemsex had increased (adjusted PR (aPR) 1.30, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.53) and there were prominent increases in specific drug use; in particular, mephedrone (aPR 1.32, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.57), γ-hydroxybutyric/γ-butryolactone (aPR 1.47, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.87) and methamphetamine (aPR 1.42, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.01). Use of ketamine had decreased (aPR 0.54, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.78). Certain measures of HIV-related behaviours had also increased, most notably PEP use (aPR 1.50, 95% CI 1.21 to 1.88) and number of self-reported bacterial STI diagnoses (aPR 1.24, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.43).
There have been significant increases in drug use associated with chemsex and some measures of HIV-related behaviours among HIV-negative MSM in the last few years. Changing patterns of drug use and associated behaviours should be monitored to enable sexual health services to plan for the increasingly complex needs of some clients.
Increasingly, health care providers are using approaches targeting parents in an effort to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Research is needed to elucidate areas in which providers ...can target adolescents and parents effectively. Parental monitoring offers one such opportunity, given consistent protective associations with adolescent sexual risk behavior. However, less is known about which components of monitoring are most effective and most suitable for provider-initiated family-based interventions.
We performed a meta-analysis to assess the magnitude of association between parental monitoring and adolescent sexual intercourse, condom use, and contraceptive use.
We conducted searches of Medline, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsycInfo, Cochrane, the Education Resources Information Center, Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Proquest, and Google Scholar.
We selected studies published from 1984 to 2014 that were written in English, included adolescents, and examined relationships between parental monitoring and sexual behavior.
We extracted effect size data to calculate pooled odds ratios (ORs) by using a mixed-effects model.
Higher overall monitoring (pooled OR, 0.74; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.69-0.80), monitoring knowledge (pooled OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.73-0.90), and rule enforcement (pooled OR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.59-0.75) were associated with delayed sexual intercourse. Higher overall monitoring (pooled OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.01-1.24) and monitoring knowledge (pooled OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.01-1.31) were associated with greater condom use. Finally, higher overall monitoring was associated with increased contraceptive use (pooled OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.09-1.86), as was monitoring knowledge (pooled OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.42-3.63).
Effect sizes were not uniform across studies, and most studies were cross-sectional.
Provider-initiated family-based interventions focused on parental monitoring represent a novel mechanism for enhancing adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
Compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) is a prevalent disorder among adolescents. To date, most studies focused on the self-report assessment of individuals without assessing possible parental practices ...that might alleviate or exacerbate adolescents’ CSB. In the present research, I adopted the family systematic approach, which considers the effects of family context on children’s and adolescents’ development and examined whether and how parental (fathers’ and mothers’) support giving, communication, and restrictive mediation relate to children’s current and future severity of CSB. The sample comprised 300 Israeli families triad of mothers, fathers, and one adolescent (39% boys, 61% girls; age 14–18). Results indicate that maternal support and paternal quality of communication with children significantly predicted lower severity of current and future CSB, respectively. These findings highlight an important and understudied topic in the hope of motivating additional researchers and practitioners to adopt a familial, microsystem perspective on healthy sexual development—a perspective that holds great promise in promoting normal sexual development and in decreasing risky sexual behaviors.
Puberty is a crucial phase for the development of female sexual behavior. Growing evidence suggests that stress during this period may interfere with the development of sexual behavior. However, the ...neural circuits involved in this alteration remain elusive. Here, we demonstrated in mice that pubertal stress permanently disrupted sexual performance without affecting sexual preference. This was associated with a reduced expression and activation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl). Fiber photometry revealed that VMHvl nNOS neurons are strongly responsive to male olfactory cues with this activation being substantially reduced in pubertally stressed females. Finally, treatment with a NO donor partially restored sexual performance in pubertally stressed females. This study provides insights into the involvement of VMHvl nNOS in the processing of olfactory cues important for the expression of female sexual behavior. In addition, exposure to stress during puberty disrupts the integration of male olfactory cues leading to reduced sexual behavior.
Hypersexuality with compulsive sexual behaviour is a significant source of morbidity for patients with Parkinson's disease receiving dopamine replacement therapies. We know relatively little about ...the pathophysiology of hypersexuality in Parkinson's disease, and it is unknown how visual sexual stimuli, similar to the portrayals of sexuality in the mainstream mass media may affect the brain and behaviour in such susceptible individuals. Here, we have studied a group of 12 patients with Parkinson's disease with hypersexuality using a functional magnetic resonance imaging block design exposing participants to both sexual, other reward-related and neutral visual cues. We hypothesized that exposure to visual sexual cues would trigger increased sexual desire in patients with Parkinson's disease with hypersexuality that would correspond to changes in brain activity in regions linked to dopaminergically stimulated sexual motivation. Patients with Parkinson's disease with hypersexuality were scanned ON and OFF dopamine drugs, and their results were compared with a group of 12 Parkinson's disease control patients without hypersexuality or other impulse control disorders. Exposure to sexual cues significantly increased sexual desire and hedonic responses in the Parkinson's disease hypersexuality group compared with the Parkinson's disease control patients. These behavioural changes corresponded to significant blood oxygen level-dependent signal changes in regions within limbic, paralimbic, temporal, occipital, somatosensory and prefrontal cortices that correspond to emotional, cognitive, autonomic, visual and motivational processes. The functional imaging data showed that the hypersexuality patients' increased sexual desire correlated with enhanced activations in the ventral striatum, and cingulate and orbitofrontal cortices. When the patients with Parkinson's disease with hypersexuality were OFF medication, the functional imaging data showed decreases in activation during the presentation of sexual cues relative to rest. These deactivations were not observed when the patients were ON medication, suggesting that dopamine drugs may release inhibition within local neuronal circuits in the cerebral cortex that may contribute to compulsive sexual behaviour. The findings of this study have implications with respect to the potential influence of cue exposure via exposure to mass media in enhancing libido, which in this group of vulnerable patients can lead to devastating social consequences and occasionally, custodial sentences. Stimulation through exposure to sexual visual cues in patients with Parkinson's disease with hypersexuality provides a motivational impetus for seeking this reward behaviour through activations and deactivations of cerebral cortex.
Changes in the Sexual Function During Pregnancy Gałązka, Iwona; Drosdzol‐Cop, Agnieszka; Naworska, Beata ...
Journal of sexual medicine,
February 2015, 2015-Feb, 2015-02-01, 20150201, Letnik:
12, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The physiological changes during each trimester of pregnancy have a significant impact on women's sexual behavior.
The aim of the work was to assess changes in the sexual function during pregnancy.
...The prospective study encompassed 520 pregnant women aged between 18 and 45, of whom 168 were qualified for the final analysis. The research tool was a purpose‐designed research questionnaire and the standardized Female Sexual Function Index.
To assess changes in the sexual function among pregnant women aged 18–45 in the three pregnancy trimesters.
All the studied parameters, i.e., desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain, decreased significantly with the progression of pregnancy. Analyzing the frequency of sexual intercourse in the studied group before and during pregnancy, a statistically significant decrease (P < 0.000001) was observed. Sexual desire changed statistically significantly (P = 0.0004). The direction of change concerned decreased sexual desire in the three trimesters compared with the situation before pregnancy. Statistical significance was demonstrated for: decreased sexual desire (P = 0.00007), partner's reluctance (P = 0.002), and pregnancy‐related changes in appearance (P = 0.03).
Sexual function was compromised and sexual activity decreased as the pregnancy progressed. Changes in the domains of arousal, lubrication, and orgasm were particularly notable in primaparae in the third trimester of pregnancy. Unsatisfying partner relationship was a significant factor affecting the quality of sexual life during pregnancy. Gałązka I, Drosdzol‐Cop A, Naworska B, Czajkowska M, and Skrzypulec‐Plinta V. Changes in the sexual function during pregnancy. J Sex Med 2015;12:445–454‥
Harmful preadolescent sexual behavior (HPSB) is an understudied phenomenon in the field of child sexual abuse (CSA).
The purpose of the present study was to analyze and describe the experiences and ...perceptions of adult survivors of HPSB.
16 survivors of HPSB were recruited as part of a purposeful sample. Their ages at the time of the study ranged from 21 to 50; they were Jewish-Israeli, secular, and Hebrew-speaking.
Semi-structured interviews and qualitative thematic analysis were conducted based on a descriptive phenomenological-psychological approach.
Participants described elements of complexity in their perceptions of the “truthiness” of their memories and the mutuality of the HPSB experiences, as well as their primacy, seriousness, and life impact. They also described elements of support during disclosure, but mostly exposed the challenges and hardship involved, particularly the lack of legitimacy in exposing harmful sexual behavior perpetrated by other children.
Both the HPSB experiences themselves and the subsequent disclosure contributed to the development of detached, mistrustful identities among the participants.
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