The Effects of Condom Availability on College Women’s Sexual Discounting

College students commonly engage in risky sexual behaviors, such as casual sexual encounters and inconsistent condom use. Discounting paradigms that examine how individuals devalue rewards due to their delay or uncertainty have been used to improve our understanding of behavioral problems, including sexual risk. The current study assessed relations between college women’s sexual partners discounting and risky sexual behavior. In this study, college women (N = 42) completed two sexual partners delay discounting tasks that assessed how choices among hypothetical sexual partners changed across a parametric range of delays in two conditions: condom availability and condom unavailability. Participants also completed two sexual partners probability discounting tasks that assessed partner choices across a parametric range of probabilities in condom availability and unavailability conditions. Additionally, participants reported risky sexual behavior on the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS). Participants discounted delayed partners more steeply in the condom availability condition, but those differences were significant only for those women with three or fewer lifetime sexual partners. There were no consistent differences in discounting rate across condom availability conditions for probability discounting. Sexual partners discounting measures correlated with risky sexual behaviors as measured by the SRS, but a greater number of significant relations were observed with the condoms-unavailable delay discounting task. These findings suggest the importance of examining the interaction of inconsistent condom use and multiple partners in examinations of sexual decision-making.     

Social Identities as Predictors of Women’s Sexual Satisfaction and Sexual Activity

While much research has examined sexual problems and dysfunction, far less research has examined intersections between sexual satisfaction and sexual activity, particularly as it relates to social identities. This study utilized secondary analysis of 1,473 women from the National Health and Social Life Survey to examine the way sexual satisfaction and sexual activity are at times misaligned. Using factor and cluster analyses, four groups of women defined by being high or low on satisfaction and activity were predicted by nine demographic variables, including socioeconomic class, racial/ethnic identity, age, marital status, education, sexual identity, geographical “coming of age” location, employment status, and number of children. Results showed that lower status women (women of color, working-class women, younger women, less educated women, women who worked full-time) reported low satisfaction and high activity. Women who reported high satisfaction and low activity represented the largest cluster of women, indicating that more women reported a disjuncture between satisfaction and activity than did those reporting a match between satisfaction and activity. Implications for clinical, sexuality, and social identity literatures are discussed.     

Mediators of the Relation Between Childhood Sexual Abuse and Women’s Sexual Risk Behavior: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Frameworks

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with sexual risk behavior in adulthood, but little research has investigated processes that might mediate this relation. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether constructs suggested by the traumagenic dynamics (TD) model (a theory of the effects of CSA) or constructs suggested by the information–motivation–behavioral skills (IMB) model (a theory of the antecedents of sexual risk behavior) better mediated the relation between CSA and sexual risk behavior in adulthood. Participants were 481 women attending a sexually transmitted infection clinic (66% African American) who completed a computerized survey as well as behavioral simulations assessing condom application and sexual assertiveness skills. Forty-five percent of the sample met criteria for CSA and CSA was associated with sexual risk behavior in adulthood. In multiple mediator models, the TD constructs mediated the relation between CSA and the number of sexual partners whereas the IMB constructs mediated the relation between CSA and unprotected sex. In addition, the TD constructs better mediated the relation between CSA and the number of sexual partners; the TD and IMB constructs did not differ in their ability to mediate the relation between CSA and unprotected sex. Sexual risk reduction interventions for women who were sexually abused should target not only the constructs from health behavior models (e.g., motivation and skills to reduce sexual risk), but also constructs that are specific to sexual abuse (e.g., traumatic sexualization and guilt).     

The Effects of Impulsivity,Sexual Arousability,and Abstract Intellectual Ability on Men’s and Women’s Go/No-Go Task Performance

While a number of studies have assessed the role of personality traits, situational variables, and drug use on sexual risk behaviors, fewer studies have employed experimental methods to examine cognitive processes that may underlie risky sexual decision making. This study used a go/no-go paradigm to examine how individual difference variables and sexual arousal influence discrimination learning and sexual and nonsexual decision making. A total of 28 men (M age = 20 years) and 25 women (M age = 19 years) completed self-report measures of impulsivity, abstract intellectual ability, and sexual excitation and inhibition and participated in a laboratory experiment. The experiment consisted of two go/no-go tasks with sexual stimuli and two tasks with neutral stimuli, preceded by either sexually arousing or sexually neutral stimulus presentations. Task performance was measured by totals of false alarms and misses. Individuals high in impulsivity and low in abstract intellectual ability committed more false alarms in conditions involving sexually arousing stimuli. Furthermore, higher sexual excitation scores were linked to more misses. These findings indicate that cognitive processes associated with decision making that occurs in the “heat of the moment” are influenced by a combination of situational and sexual and nonsexual individual difference variables.     

Does Menstrual Cycle Phase Influence the Gender Specificity of Heterosexual Women’s Genital and Subjective Sexual Arousal?

Unlike men, heterosexual women’s genital arousal is gender nonspecific, such that heterosexual women show relatively similar genital arousal to sexual stimuli depicting men and women but typically report greater subjective arousal to male stimuli. Based on the ovulatory-shift hypothesis—that women show a mid-cycle shift in preferences towards more masculine features during peak fertility—we predicted that heterosexual women’s genital and subjective arousal would be gender specific (more arousal towards male stimuli) during peak fertility. Twenty-two naturally-cycling heterosexual women were assessed during the follicular and luteal phases of their menstrual cycle to examine the role of menstrual cycle phase in gender specificity of genital and subjective sexual arousal. Menstrual cycle phase was confirmed with salivary hormone assays; phase at the time of first testing was counterbalanced. Women’s genital and subjective sexual arousal patterns were gender nonspecific, irrespective of cycle phase. Cycle phase at first testing session did not influence genital or subjective arousal in the second testing session. Similar to previous research, women’s genital and subjective sexual arousal varied with cues of sexual activity, but neither genital nor subjective sexual arousal varied by gender cues, with the exception of masturbation stimuli, where women showed higher genital arousal to the stimuli depicting male compared to female actors. These data suggest that menstrual cycle phase does not influence the gender specificity of heterosexual women’s genital and subjective sexual arousal.     

Sexual Coercion in Intimate Relationships: A Comparative Analysis of the Effects of Women’s Infidelity and Men’s Dominance and Control

Researchers studying the proximate (or immediate) causes of sexual coercion have proposed that partner rape is motivated by a man’s attempt to dominate and control his partner and that this expression of power is the product of men’s social roles. Researchers studying the ultimate (or evolutionary) causes, in contrast, have proposed that partner rape may function as an anti-cuckoldry tactic, with its occurrence related to a man’s suspicions of his partner’s sexual infidelity. In two studies, we collected data relevant to both perspectives to explore how these variables interact with men’s sexual coercion in an intimate relationship. Regression analyses from Study 1 (self-reports from 256 men) and Study 2 (partner-reports from 290 women) indicated that men’s sexual coercion of their partners was consistently predicted by female infidelity and men’s controlling behavior, suggesting that both variables are necessary to explain men’s sexual coercion. Discussion addressed limitations of the current research and highlighted the importance of integrating multiple levels of analysis when studying men’s sexual coercion of their intimate partners.     

Women’s Sexual Responses to Heterosexual and Lesbian Erotica: The Role of Stimulus Intensity,Affective Reaction,and Sexual History

Past research has demonstrated that women do not show a “category-specific” genital response to erotic stimuli. That is, on average, heterosexual and lesbian women are indistinguishable in terms of their physiological genital responses to heterosexual versus lesbian erotica. In two studies with heterosexual women (n = 28 for Study 1; n = 30 for Study 2) and lesbians (n = 24 for Study 1; n = 25 for Study 2), results confirmed that, on average, women did not show category-specific genital responses or category-specific subjective sexual arousal. However, there was evidence of notable within-group variability; many women did respond to the stimuli in a category-specific manner. Heterosexual women were more likely than lesbian women to demonstrate category-specificity. Findings also revealed that category-specificity was associated with multiple factors, including affective responses to the erotic stimuli and sexual history. Results of this study highlight the complexity of women’s sexual identities and sexual responses.     

The Influence of Attraction to Partner on Heterosexual Women’s Sexual and Relationship Satisfaction in Long-Term Relationships

Previous research has consistently found that attraction is important in the formation of relationships though research on attraction in long-term relationships is less well understood. This article examined the predictive value of self-reported attraction to partner and change in attraction to partner on sexual and relationship satisfaction in 176 women in committed heterosexual relationships using online survey methodology. Participants’ age ranged from 21 to 56 (M = 34.5) years and their relationship length ranged from 5 to 35 (M = 11.75) years. Hierarchical multiple regression results indicated that change in attraction to partner was the most salient predictor of sexual satisfaction, with current attraction to partner also related to women’s sexual satisfaction, accounting for 20 % of the variance. Current attraction to partner was the only significant predictor of women’s relationship satisfaction, accounting for 22 % of the variance. Additionally, attraction variables accounted for variance above and beyond the impact of relationship and sexual satisfaction. These findings suggest that self-reported attraction to partner is an important contributor to women’s satisfaction outcomes in long-term relationships. Further studies in the area of attraction to partner that include couple dynamics and longitudinal data are encouraged and implications for therapists, clinicians, and educators are discussed.     

Women’s Views of their Sexual Difficulties: Agreement and Disagreement with Clinical Diagnoses

There is controversy about how to conceptualize sexual problems in women. Our purpose in this study was to compare ICD-10 diagnoses of sexual dysfunction in women with whether or not the woman perceived she had a sexual problem, her views on its origins, and its impact on her life. Participants (N = 401, M age, 37.8 years) were consecutive attendees to general practices in London, England. Our main measures were an ICD-10 diagnosis of sexual dysfunction and the woman’s own perception of a sexual problem. Based on reported symptoms and behavior, 38% of women had at least one ICD-10 diagnosis of sexual dysfunction. Prevalence fell to 18% in women who also perceived they had a problem and to 6% in women who regarded the problem as moderate or severe. A total of 73 (18%) women were assigned an ICD-10 diagnosis and agreed that they had a problem, 80 (20%) were assigned a diagnosis but reported no problem, 78 (19%) had no diagnosis but reported a sexual problem, and 170 (42%) had no diagnosis and reported no problem. For women with sexual partners, reported sexual satisfaction was lowest in those assigned an ICD-10 diagnosis who also perceived they had a problem and highest in those with no diagnosis and no perceived problem. Relationship and emotional difficulties were the most common perceived causes of sexual difficulties, whether or not an ICD-10 diagnosis was assigned. There were three aspects to sexual difficulties in women. The first concerned symptoms and behavior that clinicians used to make a diagnosis, the second was the woman’s own perception that she had a sexual difficulty, and the third was her level of sexual satisfaction. All three appear to be important and may explain why published prevalence rates of sexual dysfunction and associated factors are so conflicting.     

Effects of a Tattoo on Men’s Behavior and Attitudes Towards Women: An Experimental Field Study

Previous studies have indicated negative evaluations of women with tattoos. However, a study by Swami and Furnham (2007) showed that tattooed women were rated as less physically attractive but more sexually promiscuous. Given that men interpret women’s sexual intent according to their physical appearance, we predicted that women with tattoos would be more favorably approached by men. A temporary tattoo was placed on confederates’ lower back, or not, and all confederates were instructed to read a book while lying flat on their stomach on a well-known beach. Two experiments were conducted. The first experiment showed that more men (N = 220) approached the tattooed confederates and that the mean latency of their approach was quicker. A second experiment showed that men (N = 440) estimated to have more chances to have a date and to have sex on the first date with tattooed confederates. However, the level of physical attractiveness attributed to the confederate was not influenced by the tattoo condition. These results were discussed with respect to men’s possible misinterpretation of women wearing tattoos and the risks associated with this misinterpretation.     

Decriminalization of Abortion in Mexico City: The Effects on Women’s Reproductive Rights

In April 2007, the Mexico City, Mexico, legislature passed landmark legislation decriminalizing elective abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.In Mexico City, safe abortion services are now available to women through the Mexico City Ministry of Health’s free public sector legal abortion program and in the private sector, and more than 89 000 legal abortions have been performed. By contrast, abortion has continued to be restricted across the Mexican states (each state makes its own abortion laws), and there has been an antichoice backlash against the legislation in 16 states.Mexico City’s abortion legislation is an important first step in improving reproductive rights, but unsafe abortions will only be eliminated if similar abortion legislation is adopted across the entire country.In April 2007, the Mexico City, Mexico, legislature passed landmark legislation decriminalizing elective abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The law included a provision that abortion services be available to women at Mexico City (Distrito Federal) Ministry of Health (MOH-DF) facilities in the city, free of charge for Mexico City residents and on a sliding fee scale for those outside Mexico City. In addition, the law strengthened sexual education curricula in schools and called for widespread access to contraceptive methods. Shortly after being passed, the law was challenged in the Mexican Supreme Court by groups opposed to the legislation, but in August 2008, the Supreme Court voted to uphold the law.1,2In Mexico, abortion laws are made at the state level, and before this reform, across all of Mexico’s states and in the Federal District (or Mexico City, the capital), abortion was permitted under very limited circumstances such as in cases of rape, fetal malformation, or when the survival or health of a woman was in danger. Even when abortions were legally permitted, however, numerous barriers made accessing a legal abortion extremely difficult.3,4 Despite these barriers, abortion was commonly practiced. One study estimated the induced abortion rate in Mexico in 2006 to be 33 abortions per 1000 women aged 15 to 44 years, a comparatively high rate by global standards.5 However, because of the legal restrictions, the vast majority of abortions in Mexico took place clandestinely, often in unsafe circumstances, sometimes causing severe health consequences for women. From 1990 to 2008, 7.2% of all maternal deaths in Mexico were abortion-related.6 Another study estimated that in 2006, 149 700 women were hospitalized from complications following induced abortions nationally.5Inequity was an important dimension of unsafe abortion in Mexico. A study that used data from the 2006 Mexican National Demographic Survey found the risk of having an unsafe abortion was highest for poor women, those with low levels of education, and those who belonged to indigenous groups.7 The abortion reform in Mexico City responded to the gravity of this public health problem, delivering a major victory for women’s reproductive rights by departing from the restrictive abortion laws in the rest of the country.The Mexico City abortion law reform is significant not only for Mexico, but also for the entire Latin American and Caribbean region, which continues to have some of the most restrictive abortion laws globally. Virtually all abortions (95%) in the Latin American and Caribbean region are unsafe, and unsafe abortions cause an estimated 12% of all maternal deaths.8,9 Only a few countries and territories in this region have progressive abortion legislation, including Cuba, Guyana, Puerto Rico, and Uruguay, where first-trimester abortion was decriminalized in 2012.10,11We describe developments since this landmark reform was passed, both in Mexico City and in the states of Mexico. We highlight the development of the public sector legal abortion program by the MOH-DF, including important trends in this program. We also discuss the backlash that has occurred since abortion decriminalization.     

The Role of Sex Guilt in the Relationship Between Culture and Women’s Sexual Desire

A large body of literature demonstrates that East Asian women report lower sexual desire than Caucasian women. Although most studies have explained these differences by referring to general culture-linked differences in sexual conservatism, none have examined the potential role of specific constructs such as sex guilt. The goals of the current study were to examine the supposition that sexual conservatism mediates the relationship between culture and sexual desire, and to explore the potential mediating role of sex guilt in the link between culture and sexual desire. Caucasian (n = 105) and East Asian (n = 137) female university students completed questionnaires online. Caucasian women reported significantly higher levels of sexual desire, significantly lower levels of sexual conservatism, and significantly less sex guilt. In the entire sample, sexual conservatism and sex guilt separately mediated the relationship between ethnicity and sexual desire such that women with more sex guilt and those who were more sexually conservative reported lower sexual desire. Among the East Asian women, sex guilt, but not sexual conservatism, mediated the relationship between mainstream acculturation (degree of westernization) and sexual desire such that women with more sex guilt reported lower sexual desire. These findings suggest that sex guilt may be one mechanism by which ethnic groups differ in sexual desire.     

Adolescents’ Sex-Related Alcohol Expectancies and Alcohol Advertisements in Magazines: The Role of Wishful Identification,Realism, and Beliefs about Women’s Enjoyment of Sexualization

In the United States, approximately one in five sexually active teens report alcohol or drug use before their last sexual encounter. The co-occurrence of alcohol with sex increases risky behaviors, such as having unprotected sex. Magazines that target adolescents often feature alcohol advertisements with sexual innuendo and female objectification. Such advertisements may inform adolescents’ expectancies that alcohol can facilitate sex. With an experimental design and path analysis, we examined 874 adolescents’ (ages 15–17, M = 16.05) exposure to objectifying alcohol ads, their perceptions of the ads, and their attitudes about women’s sexualization in relation to sex-related alcohol expectancies. For female adolescents we assessed their enjoyment of sexualization, and for male adolescents, we assessed their perceived enjoyment of sexualization among women. Teens’ perceptions that alcohol ads promote the co-occurrence of alcohol with sex mediated the effect of ad exposure and perceived realism of the ads on sex-related alcohol expectancies. The enjoyment of sexualization construct mediated the effect of wishful identification and perceived realism on sex-related alcohol expectancies. Wishful identification also directly related to sex-related alcohol expectancies. Results challenge the alcohol industry’s compliance with advertisement regulations and suggest media literacy as a strategy to promote healthy sex-related alcohol expectancies among adolescents.     

Fertility Status Does Not Facilitate Women’s Judgment of Male Sexual Orientation

Archives of Sexual Behavior - Previous research has demonstrated that women can correctly distinguish between gay and heterosexual men’s faces significantly better than chance. This ability...     

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Risk Assessment on Lead in Women’s and Children’s Vitamins Is Based on Outdated Assumptions

Background

Following a recent report of lead in certain commercial vitamin products, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a nationwide survey to determine the Pb content in 324 multivitamin/mineral products labeled for use by women and children. The FDA compared estimated Pb exposures from each product with safe/tolerable exposure levels, termed provisional total tolerable intake (PTTI) levels, previously developed for at-risk population groups in 1992.

Objective

We investigated the FDA’s conclusions that Pb concentrations in all vitamin products examined do not pose a hazard to health because they are below the PTTI levels for all groups considered.

Discussion

For their initial estimations of PTTI levels, the FDA used a blood lead level (BLL) of 10 μg/dL as the threshold for adverse effects in children and in pregnant or lactating women. Studies have repeatedly linked chronic exposure to BLLs < 10 μg/dL with impairments in cognitive function and behavior in young children despite the absence of overt signs of toxicity. The FDA analysis also omitted any consideration of nonfood sources of Pb exposure, which is inconsistent with our current understanding of how most children develop elevated BLLs.

Conclusion

We feel that based on these oversights, the FDA’s conclusions are unduly reassuring and that reconsideration of their current recommendations appears warranted.     

Effects of Prenatal Alcohol and Pair Feeding on Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Secretion of TNF-α and Corticosterone

Fetal alcohol exposure (FAE) produces profound alterations in immunological and neuroendocrine functions. The present study examined the effects of FAE on the secretion of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) and corticosterone following administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in normal (N) adult rats, in adult offspring of dams fed a liquid diet supplemented with ethanol (E), and in pair-fed control offspring (P). LPS-induced TNF-α secretion was not affected by either gender or prenatal treatment. In contrast, LPS-induced corticosterone secretion was significantly greater in female than in male rats, and at 60-min post-LPS was significantly higher in E and P, compared to N females. Ovariectomy significantly inhibited LPS-induced TNF-α secretion in E, but not in P and N, rats and chronic replacement with 17-β-estradiol markedly inhibited TNF-α secretion in ovariectomized E and N, but not in P, rats. In contrast, ovariectomy reduced the effects of LPS on corticosterone secretion in all groups, and chronic replacement with 17-β-estradiol reversed this effect. These findings indicate that LPS-induced secretion of corticosterone, but not TNF-α, is affected by prenatal manipulations and by gender. In addition, alterations in the hormonal environment in females modulate LPS-induced corticosterone secretion in all prenatal treatment groups, but differentially influence TNF-α secretion in rats exposed to alcohol, restricted feeding, or normal diets in utero.