Pavlovian Conditioning of Sexual Interests in Human Males

Pavlovian conditioning of the human male sexual response may be involved in the ontogenetic development of sexual interests and may be responsible for individual differences. We attempted to demonstrate Pavlovian conditioning of sexual interests in a nonclinical sample of adult males. Ten participants were exposed to 11 pairings of a slide of a moderately attractive, partially nude female adult (TARGET) and a highly arousing videotape depiction of heterosexual sexual interactions (US). Ten other participants were exposed to 11 presentations of the TARGET alone. Participants exposed to the TARGET-US contingency showed a 10% relative increase in sexual arousal to the TARGET; participants exposed to the TARGET-ALONE contingency showed an 11% relative decrease in sexual arousal to the TARGET. This group difference is interpreted as resulting from both conditioning and habituation.     

Neuroanatomical Correlates of Visually Evoked Sexual Arousal in Human Males

Brain areas activated in human male sexualbehavior have not been characterized precisely. For thefirst time, positron emission tomography (PET) was usedto identify the brain areas activated in healthy males experiencing visually evoked sexualarousal. Eight male subjects underwent six measurementsof regional brain activity following the administrationof [¹⁵O]H₂O as they viewedthree categories of film clips: sexually explicit clips,emotionally neutral control clips, and humorous controlclips inducing positive but nonsexual emotions.Statistical Parametric Mapping was used to identifybrain regions demonstrating an increased activity associatedwith the sexual response to the visual stimulus.Visually evoked sexual arousal was characterized by athreefold pattern of activation: the bilateralactivation of the inferior temporal cortex, a visualassociation area; the activation of the right insula andright inferior frontal cortex, which are two paralimbicareas relating highly processed sensory information with motivational states; and the activation ofthe left anterior cingulate cortex, another paralimbicarea known to control autonomic and neuroendocrinefunctions. Activation of some of these areas was positively correlated with plasma testosteronelevels. Although this study should be consideredpreliminary, it identified brain regions whoseactivation was correlated with visually evoked sexualarousal in males.     

Allocation of Attentional Resources During Habituation and Dishabituation of Male Sexual Arousal

A secondary-task probe (tone) was presentedintermittently while men viewed erotic film segmentsacross a session involving 18 trials with the same filmsegment (habituation), then 2 trials with different film segments (novelty) and 2 trials withreinstatement of the original segment (dishabituation).Reaction time to the tone (an index of the extentprocessing resources were being committed to the erotic stimulus) shifted during the session inparallel with changes that occurred in penile tumescenceand subjective sexual arousal. The decrease in sexualarousal over the first 18 trials in the session was accompanied by a progressively faster reactionto the tone, novel stimulation led to recovery of sexualarousal and a slower reaction to the tone, and on trials21 and 22 sexual arousal and reaction time levels were above the values that prevailedimmediately prior to novel stimulation. Results arediscussed with reference to the relationship betweenhabituation and attention.     

The Effects of False Positive and False Negative Physiological Feedback on Sexual Arousal: A Comparison of Women with or without Sexual Arousal Disorder

The effects of false positive and false negative physiological feedback (vaginal photoplethymograph response print-out) on women's sexual arousal were examined. Participants included women without sexual dysfunction (n=16) and women with Sexual Arousal Disorder (SAD; n=15). Measures of subjective sexual arousal, physiological sexual arousal (vaginal pulse amplitude), expectancies, affect, and anxiety were obtained in response to viewing an erotic film. Results indicated that false positive feedback significantly increased subjective levels of sexual arousal, whereas false negative feedback significantly decreased subjective levels of sexual arousal in both groups. Sexually functional women had overall higher expectancies for sexual arousal than women with SAD. Unexpectedly, false positive feedback did not significantly impact physiological sexual arousal in sexually functional women; however, it resulted in significantly decreased responses in physiological sexual arousal in women with SAD. False negative feedback had no significant effect on physiological sexual response in sexually functional women or women with SAD.     

Sexual Activity Prior to Coital Initiation: A Comparison Between Males and Females

The sexual activities college students reportedengaging in prior to their first coital experience wereinvestigated. A volunteer sample of 311 students (120male and 191 female) completed a self-report anonymous questionnaire. Both males and femalesreported considerable precoital sexual experience.Although males reported more frequent activity thanfemales on all items of assessment, the difference between groups, with the exception ofmasturbation, was not significant. The majority of bothmales and females reported at least one experience, anda sizable minority reported considerably moreexperience, with cunnilingus and fellatio, risk behaviorsfor the transmission of STDs, prior to their firstcoitus. Attention is drawn to the dearth of informationon sexual activity prior to coital initiation. Given the potential risks of some of theseactivities, recommendations to further explore andaddress the precoital sexual behavior of adolescents aresuggested.     

Monthly Measures of Salivary Testosterone Predict Sexual Activity in Adolescent Males

Strong relationships between one-time serum testosterone (T) measures and sexual activityhave been demonstrated in cross-sectional analyses of adolescent males. However, a subsequent longitudinal study of a separate adolescent sample, using semiannual plasma measures, failed to replicate cross-sectional findings. The present study reexamined the relationship between T and sexual activity using more frequently collected measures of salivary T and behavior. Saliva samples and weekly behavior checklists were collected over a 2-year period from the same panel sample of males on which semiannual analyses were based. Saliva samples representing measures approximately every fourth week of study participation were selected for T assay. The association between these monthly salivary T measures and weekly reports of incidents of sexual activity was assessed with repeated measures analyses. Higher levels of salivary T were significantly associated with an increasing hazard of coital initiation, and with more frequent coital and noncoital activity. Within-individual change analyses demonstrated that increases in salivary T were associated with increased sexual activity. Comparisons of models that varied specimen type, schedule of T measurement, and type of behavioral report indicated that all three factors contribute to the varying magnitude of hormone/behavior relationships that are demonstrated. These findings are consistent with a biosocial model of adolescent sexual development that pubertal changes in T are a causal factor in the timing of sexual initiation and the frequency of activity during adolescence.     

Effects of Experimentally Adopted Sexual Schemas on Vaginal Response and Subjective Sexual Arousal: A Comparison Between Women with Sexual Arousal Disorder and Sexually Healthy Women

The present study evaluated and compared the effects of experimentally adopted sexual schemas on vaginal response, subjective sexual arousal, and affect in 17 women with Female Sexual Arousal Disorder (FSAD) and 17 sexually healthy women. Positive and negative cognitive schemas were presented to participants before viewing sexually explicit video segments. They were asked to temporarily adopt both schemas, and vaginal response, subjective sexual arousal, and affect were measured in each schema condition. Participants in both groups had significantly greater vaginal response and reported more subjective sexual arousal in the positive schema condition than in the negative schema condition. Sexually healthy women demonstrated significantly higher subjective sexual arousal than women with FSAD, but there were no significant group differences in vaginal response. Moreover, participants in both groups reported higher levels of Positive Affect and Vigor in the positive schema condition than in the negative schema condition but higher levels of Negative Affect, Tension-Anxiety, and Anger-Hostility in the negative schema condition than in the positive schema condition. These findings demonstrate the impact of cognitions on sexual arousal, which has important implications for addressing cognitions in the treatment of FSAD. Moreover, these findings have implications for the conceptualization of FSAD, which may be best characterized as a complex, heterogeneous cluster of symptoms.

Effects of Depressive Symptoms and Experimentally Adopted Schemas on Sexual Arousal and Affect in Sexually Healthy Women

The present study examined the effects of depressive mood symptoms and experimentally adopted sexual schemas on women's sexual arousal and affect. Women's vaginal response, subjective sexual arousal, and affect were measured in response to sexually explicit visual material in a laboratory setting. At baseline on a self-report measure, women with depressive mood symptoms (n = 28) reported significantly lower sexual desire than women with normal mood (n=28), but no significant differences in arousal, orgasm, satisfaction, or pain. Participants were asked to adopt both a positive and negative sexual self-schema prior to viewing erotic stimuli. Women in both mood groups demonstrated significantly greater subjective sexual arousal, vaginal response, and positive affect in the positive schema condition than in the negative schema condition when controlling for anxiety. There were no main effects for mood symptoms. These findings support an information processing conceptualization of sexual arousal and suggest that an acute dose of cognitive sexual schemas can significantly impact subsequent sexual and affective responses. Implications of findings for the assessment and treatment of sexual dysfunction are noted.     

Increasing Neutral Distraction Inhibits Genital but not Subjective Sexual Arousal of Sexually Functional and Dysfunctional Men

To assess the effects of distraction and level of erotic stimulation on physiological and subjective sexual arousal, sexually dysfunctional (n = 23) and functional (n = 26) men were studied. It was hypothesized from previous investigations that men with erectile dysfunction would show a different genital response pattern to distraction during sexual stimulation when compared with sexually functional men. Distraction load was manipulated through different verbal instructions about how to deal with pairs of random digits. Erotic stimulation level was manipulated through the selection of erotic video content. In both groups, increasing distraction was found to increasingly inhibit genital responding, but not to affect subjective arousal. Both physiological and subjective arousal were higher when erotic stimulation level was high. An interaction effect of distraction and erotic stimulation level was observed: the linear dose-response association that was found during high erotic stimulation was not found under low stimulation conditions, which may reflect a floor effect. The implications of the findings for the cognitive theory of sexual arousal disorder are discussed.     

Sexual Desire Discrepancies: Effects on Sexual and Relationship Satisfaction in Heterosexual Dating Couples

Sexual desire discrepancies and the associationsbetween desire discrepancies and relationship adjustment(i.e., sexual and relationship satisfaction) inheterosexual dating couples (N = 72) were examined. Desire discrepancies were assessed via twomethods: (1) a couple-based index created using bothindividuals' reports of sexual desire and (2) anindividual-based index using each person's ownsubjective perception of a desire discrepancy within thecouple. Both indices were associated with women'sadjustment, whereas only individual perceptions ofdiscrepancies were associated with men's adjustment. The association between desire discrepancies andgeneral relationship satisfaction was fully mediated bylevel of sexual satisfaction for both men and women.Women whose sexual desire level was lower than their partners' endorsed lower levels of relationshipadjustment relative to women whose desire was eithergreater than or similar to their partners'. Implicationsfor the assessment of sexual desire differences in couples are discussed.     

The Effects of Autobiographic Sexual Memory Recall on the Sexual Response of Sexually Functional Men

In this experimental study, we investigated how recalling positive, negative, and affectively neutral autobiographic sexual experiences in their personal history affected the current sexual response of sexually functional male volunteers. Based on an attentional-capacity account of sexual arousal, we predicted that affectively charged autobiographic sexual memory recall, both with negative and positive valence, would negatively impact genital arousal, compared to recalling affectively neutral sexual experiences. We expected that subjective sexual arousal would not be differentially affected by emotional memory valence. We measured subjective and genital response to erotic video fragments in sexually functional volunteers (N = 24) in a within-subjects, repeated-measures design. For the memory manipulation, participants received instructions to visualize and mentally re-experience positive, negative, and neutral sexual episodes from autobiographic memory. Memory instructions were found to result in the expected affective states. As predicted, compared to recalling neutral memory, mean genital response was significantly lower during recalling positive and negative memory. However, contrary to prediction, subjective sexual arousal was affected, when multilevel analysis was performed, including a time effect. The implications of the findings were discussed with respect to the advancement of theory and therapeutic intervention.     

Ethnic Differences in Sexual Decisions and Sexual Behavior

Previous investigators have reported ethnic differences in the expression of sexual decision making and sexual behaviors in women. In a sample of women of low socioeconomic status between ages 18 and 45, we examined the influence of ethnicity and other variables (age, education, marital status, and comfort in discussing sex) on (i) who makes decisions on the timing and type of sex, (ii) whether a woman engages in vaginal, oral, and anal sex, (iii) the frequencies of each type of sex, and (iv) whether or not a woman has multiple partners. Multivariate analyses showed that, independent of other independent variables, ethnicity had little direct effect on most variables. The notable exception was that ethnicity influenced joint decision making regarding the timing and type of sexual activities for Hispanic but not for African American women. We conclude that ethnicity contributes to differences in sexual behaviors but that other variables are equally important.     

人际自立与积极情绪状态和消极情绪状态的相关研究

目的探讨人际自立与积极情绪状态和消极情绪状态的关系。方法采用青少年学生人际自立量表（ISSS-AS）和积极情绪消极情绪量表（PANAS）对180名在校大学生进行调查。结果相关分析表明,人际独立（r=0．27）、人际主动（r=0．32）、人际灵活（r=0．30）、人际开放（r=0．20）与积极情绪状态呈正相关（P〈0．05）;人际责任（r=-0．18）、人际开放（r=-0．17）与消极情绪状态呈负相关（P〈0．05）。逐步回归结果显示,人际主动、人际灵活显著预测积极情绪状态（P〈0．0i）;人际责任显著负向预测消极情绪状态（P〈0．05）。结论人际自立可通过增强积极情绪、降低消极情绪维护情绪健康。     

The Frequency of Sexual Dysfunctions in Patients Attending a Sex Therapy Clinic in North India

Analyzed data on 1000 consecutive patients with sexual disorders attending the psychosexual clinic at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The majority of patients were educated males between 21 and 30 years of age, belonging to the middle class. There was a slight preponderance of married patients. Fifty-two percent of patients had premarital or extramarital sexual contact; less than 5% had had homosexual contact; 10% had no sexual contact. Most patients had more than one complaint. Premature ejaculation (77.6%) and nocturnal emission (71.3%) were the most frequent problems followed by a feeling of guilt about masturbation (33.4%) and small size of the penis (30%). Erectile dysfunction was a complaint of 23.6%. Excessive worry about nocturnal emission, abnormal sensations in the genitals, and venereophobia was reported in 19.5, 13.6, and 13% of patients, respectively. Only 36 female patients attended the clinic with their spouses.     

Positive and Negative Cognitions of Sexual Submission: Relationship to Sexual Violence

This study investigated gender differences in cognitions of sexual submission as well as their association with sexual violence. Participants were 292 heterosexual undergraduate students who completed a 56-item checklist assessing positive and negative sexual cognitions; they also completed measures assessing experiences of sexual abuse in childhood, experiences of sexual coercion in adulthood, and use of sexual coercion. Two 10-item sexual submission subscales were developed from the checklist. One reflected how often respondents had experienced the sexual submission items as positive. The other reflected how often these items were experienced as negative. When overall frequency of sexual cognitions was controlled, compared to the men, the women reported a significantly greater frequency of both positive and negative cognitions of sexual submission. Submission cognitions were more often negative for women and were more often positive for men. Men and women who had experienced sexual abuse in childhood reported more frequent positive sexual submission cognitions but not more negative sexual submission cognitions. Conversely, men and women who had experienced sexual coercion in adulthood reported more frequent negative sexual submission cognitions but not more positive sexual submission cognitions. Having used sexual coercion was associated with more frequent positive cognitions of sexual submission for both men and women. Implications for the proposed links between sexual violence and preferences for cognitions of sexual submission are discussed.     

Effects of Appraisal of Sexual Stimuli on Sexual Arousal in Women with and Without Superficial Dyspareunia

This study examined the effects of appraisal of sexual stimuli on sexual arousal in women with superficial dyspareunia (n = 50) and sexually functional women (n = 25). To elicit different appraisals of an erotic film fragment, participants received an instruction prior to viewing it, with a focus on genital pain or on sexual enjoyment. A neutral instruction served as a control condition. Assignment to instruction condition was randomized. Genital arousal (vaginal pulse amplitude) and self-report ratings of affect and genital sensations were obtained in response to the erotic stimulus. As predicted, appraisal of the erotic stimulus affected genital responding, albeit marginally significant. Follow-up tests indicated that women who received the genital pain instruction responded with marginally significant lower genital arousal levels than women who received the sexual enjoyment instruction (d = 0.67). A significant instruction effect for negative affect was found, signifying that negative affect ratings were highest after the genital pain instruction and lowest after the sexual enjoyment instruction (d = 0.80). A marginally significant group by instruction interaction effect was observed for positive affect, indicating that women with dyspareunia reported significantly less positive affect than controls after the sexual enjoyment instruction (d = 1.48). Whereas women with dyspareunia reported overall marginally significant more negative affect than controls (d = 0.48), there were no differences in genital responsiveness between groups. These results provided preliminary evidence for the modulatory effects of appraisal of sexual stimuli on subsequent genital responding and affect in women with and without sexual complaints.     

The Role of Sexually Explicit Material in the Sexual Development of Same-Sex-Attracted Black Adolescent Males

Archives of Sexual Behavior - Sexually explicit material (SEM) (including Internet, video, and print) may play a key role in the lives of Black same-sex sexually active youth by providing the only...     

Effects of Sexual Arousal and Alcohol Cues on Acute Motivation for Alcohol

Reward-related stimuli can induce motivation to obtain rewards both within and across domains. We tested within- and cross-domain effects of environmental context (mock bar vs. laboratory) and sexually arousing stimuli (pornography vs. nature film) on acute motivation for alcohol as measured by a state-based alcohol purchase task in 109 male and female college students. Our results showed significant effects of both sexual arousal and environmental context on acute motivation for alcohol. A limited subsample analysis (N?=?84) revealed significant effects of both sexual arousal and environmental context conditions on elasticity. Consistent with hypotheses, the presence of either sex- or alcohol-related cues increased acute motivation for alcohol and decreased sensitivity to costs of drinking. Furthermore, there was a significant video?×?laboratory condition interaction in the elasticity analysis. Our findings suggest that both sexually arousing stimuli and incidental environmental alcohol cues may significantly increase the effort one will expend to consume alcohol and thus the potential for risky drinking behavior. We believe this is the first experiment to use demand curves to present evidence of cross-domain effects of sexually arousing stimuli on acute motivation for alcohol.     

Effects of Subjective Sexual Arousal on Sexual,Pathogen, and Moral Disgust Sensitivity in Women and Men

The present experiment tested a novel method of manipulating subjective sexual arousal to examine the effects of sexual arousal on disgust sensitivity. Participants were instructed to employ their own preferred methods of achieving sexual or physiological arousal in the privacy of their own home to reach a target state of arousal. Participants then completed the Three-Domain Disgust Scale (Tybur, Lieberman, & Griskevicius, 2009), which measures sensitivity to sexual, pathogen, and moral disgust. The sexual arousal manipulation caused large, homogenous increases in sexual arousal in women and men. In women, sexual arousal (but not physiological arousal) significantly reduced sensitivity to sexual disgust and marginally increased sensitivity to pathogen disgust. In men, sexual arousal did not decrease disgust sensitivity in any domain. Findings support the evolutionary hypothesis that sexual arousal inhibits sexual disgust, which facilitates an organism’s willingness to engage in high-risk, but evolutionarily necessary, reproductive behaviors, an effect that could be particularly important for women.     

Sexual Orientation Disparities in Sexually Transmitted Infection Risk Behaviors and Risk Determinants Among Sexually Active Adolescent Males: Results From a School-Based Sample

Objectives. We examined disparities in risk determinants and risk behaviors for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) between gay-identified, bisexual-identified, and heterosexual-identified young men who have sex with men (YMSM) and heterosexual-identified young men who have sex with women (YMSW) using a school-based sample of US sexually active adolescent males.Methods. We analyzed a pooled data set of Youth Risk Behavior Surveys from 2005 and 2007 that included information on sexual orientation identity, sexual behaviors, and multiple STI risk factors.Results. Bisexual-identified adolescents were more likely to report multiple STI risk behaviors (number of sex partners, concurrent sex partners, and age of sexual debut) compared with heterosexual YMSW as well as heterosexual YMSM and gay-identified respondents. Gay, bisexual, and heterosexual YMSM were significantly more likely to report forced sex compared with heterosexual YMSW.Conclusions. Our results provide evidence that sexual health disparities emerge early in the life course and vary by both sexual orientation identity and sexual behaviors. In particular, they show that bisexual-identified adolescent males exhibit a unique risk profile that warrants targeted sexual health interventions.Several studies have documented an elevated risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS, among young men who have sex with men (YMSM).1 In recent years, HIV/AIDS infection rates have actually increased among this population.2,3 To develop more effective and targeted STI prevention programs, researchers have suggested using multiple measures of sexual minority status when examining disparities in STI risk by sexual orientation.4–8 Existing research on sexual health disparities among adolescents often uses community-based samples that rarely yield large enough sample sizes to examine multiple sexual minority statuses in any given study.6,9 This gap in the literature is particularly problematic given the documented incongruence between sexual orientation identity and sexual behaviors among sexual minority adolescents.10–12 Thus, although studies have demonstrated that both YMSM1,13–15 and bisexual- and gay-identified male adolescent16,17 are more likely to report a variety of STI risk factors, to our knowledge, no studies to date have used both indicators of sexual orientation identity and sexual behaviors to examine disparities in STI risk factors among adolescents.Elevated rates of STI among sexual minority adolescent males are due to a variety of factors, including social conditions, sexual networks, and, in particular, the excess biological risk associated with anal sex.1,18 Elevated STI risk, however, has also been attributed to sexual orientation disparities in a variety of risk behaviors, including earlier age of sexual debut, more sex partners,14,17,19 higher rates of substance use during sex,15 and lower rates of condom use.13,20 These disparities have been documented through use of sexual behaviors1,13–15 or sexual orientation identity16,17 to capture sexual minority status. As a result, STI risk interventions based on studies that use sexual orientation identity alone may not reach adolescents who engage in same-sex behavior but identify as heterosexual.1 Alternatively, focusing exclusively on sexual behavior obscures potentially important differences across social identities, which are critical for understanding and eliminating disparities in STIs.5 Studies that use either sexual orientation identity or behavior are therefore likely to capture different populations and provide an incomplete portrait of STI risk among sexual minority adolescents.21To develop appropriate STI intervention strategies, it is also critical to understand what factors might lead to risk-taking behaviors among sexual minority populations. Studies have shown that sexual minority adolescent males are more likely to report multiple sources of victimization, including forced sex16,22 and intimate partner violence (IPV),23–25 compared with their sexual nonminority peers. Forced sex may directly expose young men to STIs, but it also may have long-lasting implications for the development of sexual self-efficacy, safe sex communication skills, and normative attitudes surrounding sexual risk behaviors.26,27 IPV has been identified as a significant barrier to effective communication about safer sex behaviors and is linked to elevated STI risk among adolescents.28 Similar to the literature on STI risk behaviors, existing studies on forced sex and IPV among sexual minorities rely on single indicators of sexual orientation—either sexual orientation identity16,23 or the sex of sex partners.25 Given the stigma associated with gay or bisexual identity, sexual minority–identified respondents may be more likely to be targeted for victimization than YMSM who identify as heterosexual.Understanding which aspects of sexual minority status (e.g., sexual orientation identity, sex of sex partners) are related to STI risk factors during adolescence is critical for developing targeted prevention efforts to curb rising STI infection rates. New evidence suggests that STI risk varies by both sexual orientation identity and behaviors among young adult men.4 It is unclear whether similar patterns in STI risk behaviors and risk behavior determinants emerge during adolescence. Using a school-based sample of adolescent males, we aimed to determine whether sexual risk behaviors, including age of sexual debut, number of sex partners, concurrent sex partners, condom use, and drug and alcohol during sex, as well 2 indicators of risk behavior determinants (forced sex and IPV) vary at the intersection of sexual orientation identity and sexual behaviors.