scholarly journals The Perceived Need To Be Hot: An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Belief In Sexual Stereotypes And Erectile Dysfunction In Gay Men Using Thermal Imaging

Author(s):  
Marie Faaborg-Andersen

Erectile dysfunction (ED) has been associated with considerable mental health and interpersonal problems, an increase in risky sex, and is particularly prevalent among gay and bisexual men. Psychological treatment protocols for sexual dysfunctions often aim at challenging beliefs and cognitions about the importance of a “perfect sexual performance,” known as sexual stereotypes. However, to date, little empirical evidence exists for the relationship between ED and belief in sexual stereotypes (BSS). To address this gap, 70 gay men were recruited; 30 with ED and 40 healthy controls. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including a measure of BSS, followed by having their genital temperature measured using a thermal imaging camera, while viewing a sexually explicit film. The study had four main objectives: (1) to evaluate between group differences in subjective sexual arousal and physiological arousal; (2) to examine within group differences in the effects of BSS on physiological and self-reported sexual arousal; (3) to evaluate the relationship between BSS, negative automatic thoughts during sex, and ED; and (4) to evaluate the relationship between ED and risky sex among gay men. Results revealed significant between-group differences in physiological arousal, but not in subjective sexual arousal. While between-group differences were found in BSS, no within-group differences were found in the relation of BSS on physiological and self-reported sexual arousal. No significant relationships were found between BSS, negative automatic thoughts, and ED. Participants with ED were found to be significantly more likely to use erectile enhancing drugs, but no significant differences in condom removal were found between groups; however, substantially more individuals with ED (23.3%) reported removing condoms prior to the completion of sexual activity, as compared to healthy controls (5%). Findings of this study contribute to improving psychological treatments for gay men with ED, as well as better understanding pathways leading to risky sex in gay men.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Faaborg-Andersen

Erectile dysfunction (ED) has been associated with considerable mental health and interpersonal problems, an increase in risky sex, and is particularly prevalent among gay and bisexual men. Psychological treatment protocols for sexual dysfunctions often aim at challenging beliefs and cognitions about the importance of a “perfect sexual performance,” known as sexual stereotypes. However, to date, little empirical evidence exists for the relationship between ED and belief in sexual stereotypes (BSS). To address this gap, 70 gay men were recruited; 30 with ED and 40 healthy controls. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including a measure of BSS, followed by having their genital temperature measured using a thermal imaging camera, while viewing a sexually explicit film. The study had four main objectives: (1) to evaluate between group differences in subjective sexual arousal and physiological arousal; (2) to examine within group differences in the effects of BSS on physiological and self-reported sexual arousal; (3) to evaluate the relationship between BSS, negative automatic thoughts during sex, and ED; and (4) to evaluate the relationship between ED and risky sex among gay men. Results revealed significant between-group differences in physiological arousal, but not in subjective sexual arousal. While between-group differences were found in BSS, no within-group differences were found in the relation of BSS on physiological and self-reported sexual arousal. No significant relationships were found between BSS, negative automatic thoughts, and ED. Participants with ED were found to be significantly more likely to use erectile enhancing drugs, but no significant differences in condom removal were found between groups; however, substantially more individuals with ED (23.3%) reported removing condoms prior to the completion of sexual activity, as compared to healthy controls (5%). Findings of this study contribute to improving psychological treatments for gay men with ED, as well as better understanding pathways leading to risky sex in gay men.


Author(s):  
Gabriella Boccone

Background: The connection between mental imagery and feelings of presence within a film has not yet been investigated in sex research in relation to observational stance (imagining oneself as either a spectator or participant while viewing a film). Several studies have shown that people who take a participant stance when viewing a sexual film are more likely to report greater subjective sexual arousal (SSA). Research on observational stance has also found that viewing a preferred stimulus is predictive of taking a participant stance. Despite this, very few studies have allowed participants to select their own stimuli. Methodology: Sexual films that were researcher-selected or participant-selected will be presented to women and men, while continuously measuring their SSA. Information will be collected about observational stance and vividness of mental imagery via questionnaires. Expected Results: 1. Greater mental imagery ability will be associated with adopting a participant stance. 2. The relationship between mental imagery ability and taking a participant stance will be stronger for participant-selected sexual stimuli than for researcher-selected sexual stimuli. 3. Taking a participant stance will be associated with greater SSA. 4. The relationship between taking a participant stance and SSA will be stronger for participant-selected sexual stimuli than for researcher-selected stimuli. Conclusions: This project is the first to examine the relationship between mental imagery and observational stance for sexual stimuli, and is among the first to allow participants to self-select stimuli. Results of this project will encourage the development of standardized procedures for providing participants with optimal sexual stimulation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-49
Author(s):  
Ana I. Arcos-Romero ◽  
Cristóbal Calvillo ◽  
Reina Granados ◽  
Ana Álvarez-Muelas ◽  
Juan Carlos Sierra

The aim of this work was to provide validity evidences of the short Spanish version of the Sexual Opinion Survey (SOS-6). First, a psychometric study was performed to examine the factorial invariance of the scale across different groups. A sample of 1,500 heterosexual adults (50% men, 50% women) from the general Spanish population, aged 18 to 80, was examined. Results showed that the unidimensional model of the SOS-6 is invariant across sex, age range, relationship status, and educational level. Secondly, a laboratory study was performed to determine the relationship between erotophilia and objective and subjective sexual arousal in response to sexual stimuli. The sample consisted of 130 young Spanish university students (46.92% men, 53.08% women) with heterosexual orientation. In men, erotophilia was related to subjective sexual arousal; in women, erotophilia was related to subjective sexual arousal and estimation of genital sensations. In conclusion, this work provides validity evidences of the short version of the SOS-6 and describes the factorial equivalence of the scale across groups and its concurrent validity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 2281-2292
Author(s):  
Ying Zhao ◽  
Xinchun Wu ◽  
Hongjun Chen ◽  
Peng Sun ◽  
Ruibo Xie ◽  
...  

Purpose This exploratory study aimed to investigate the potential impact of sentence-level comprehension and sentence-level fluency on passage comprehension of deaf students in elementary school. Method A total of 159 deaf students, 65 students ( M age = 13.46 years) in Grades 3 and 4 and 94 students ( M age = 14.95 years) in Grades 5 and 6, were assessed for nonverbal intelligence, vocabulary knowledge, sentence-level comprehension, sentence-level fluency, and passage comprehension. Group differences were examined using t tests, whereas the predictive and mediating mechanisms were examined using regression modeling. Results The regression analyses showed that the effect of sentence-level comprehension on passage comprehension was not significant, whereas sentence-level fluency was an independent predictor in Grades 3–4. Sentence-level comprehension and fluency contributed significant variance to passage comprehension in Grades 5–6. Sentence-level fluency fully mediated the influence of sentence-level comprehension on passage comprehension in Grades 3–4, playing a partial mediating role in Grades 5–6. Conclusions The relative contributions of sentence-level comprehension and fluency to deaf students' passage comprehension varied, and sentence-level fluency mediated the relationship between sentence-level comprehension and passage comprehension.


Author(s):  
Ruha Benjamin

In this response to Terence Keel and John Hartigan’s debate over the social construction of race, I aim to push the discussion beyond the terrain of epistemology and ideology to examine the contested value of racial science in a broader political economy. I build upon Keel’s concern that even science motivated by progressive aims may reproduce racist thinking and Hartigan’s proposition that a critique of racial science cannot rest on the beliefs and intentions of scientists. In examining the value of racial-ethnic classifications in pharmacogenomics and precision medicine, I propose that analysts should attend to the relationship between prophets of racial science (those who produce forecasts about inherent group differences) and profits of racial science (the material-semiotic benefits of such forecasts). Throughout, I draw upon the idiom of speculation—as a narrative, predictive, and financial practice—to explain how the fiction of race is made factual, again and again. 


BJPsych Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin F. Brückmann ◽  
Jürgen Hennig ◽  
Matthias J. Müller ◽  
Stanislava Fockenberg ◽  
Anne-Marthe Schmidt ◽  
...  

Summary Depression risk is associated with a late chronotype pattern often described as an ‘evening chronotype’. Fluctuations in mood over consecutive days have not yet been measured according to chronotype in in-patients with depression. A total of 30 in-patients with depression and 32 healthy controls matched for gender and age completed a chronotype questionnaire and twice-daily ratings on mood for 10 consecutive days (registered in the German Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00010215). The in-patients had Saturdays and Sundays as hospital-leave days. The relationship between chronotype and daily mood was mediated by the weekday–weekend schedule with higher levels of negative affect in the evening-chronotype patient subgroup at weekends. Results are discussed with respect to a probably advantageous standardised clinical setting with early morning routines, especially for patients with evening chronotypes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. McCutcheon ◽  
Toby Pillinger ◽  
Maria Rogdaki ◽  
Juan Bustillo ◽  
Oliver D. Howes

AbstractAlterations in cortical inter-areal functional connectivity, and aberrant glutamatergic signalling are implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia but the relationship between the two is unclear. We used multimodal imaging to identify areas of convergence between the two systems. Two separate cohorts were examined, comprising 195 participants in total. All participants received resting state functional MRI to characterise functional brain networks and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) to measure glutamate concentrations in the frontal cortex. Study A investigated the relationship between frontal cortex glutamate concentrations and network connectivity in individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Study B also used 1H-MRS, and scanned individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls before and after a challenge with the glutamatergic modulator riluzole, to investigate the relationship between changes in glutamate concentrations and changes in network connectivity. In both studies the network based statistic was used to probe associations between glutamate and connectivity, and glutamate associated networks were then characterised in terms of their overlap with canonical functional networks. Study A involved 76 individuals with schizophrenia and 82 controls, and identified a functional network negatively associated with glutamate concentrations that was concentrated within the salience network (p < 0.05) and did not differ significantly between patients and controls (p > 0.85). Study B involved 19 individuals with schizophrenia and 17 controls and found that increases in glutamate concentrations induced by riluzole were linked to increases in connectivity localised to the salience network (p < 0.05), and the relationship did not differ between patients and controls (p > 0.4). Frontal cortex glutamate concentrations are associated with inter-areal functional connectivity of a network that localises to the salience network. Changes in network connectivity in response to glutamate modulation show an opposite effect compared to the relationship observed at baseline, which may complicate pharmacological attempts to simultaneously correct glutamatergic and connectivity aberrations.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 974
Author(s):  
Hayfa Sharif ◽  
Caroline L. Hoad ◽  
Nichola Abrehart ◽  
Penny A. Gowland ◽  
Robin C. Spiller ◽  
...  

Background: Functional constipation in children is common. Management of this condition can be challenging and is often based on symptom reports. Increased, objective knowledge of colonic volume changes in constipation compared to health could provide additional information. However, very little data on paediatric colonic volume is available except from methods that are invasive or require unphysiological colonic preparations. Objectives: (1) To measure volumes of the undisturbed colon in children with functional constipation (FC) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and provide initial normal range values for healthy controls, and (2) to investigate possible correlation of colonic volume with whole gut transit time (WGTT). Methods: Total and regional (ascending, transverse, descending, sigmoid, and rectum) colon volumes were measured from MRI images of 35 participants aged 7–18 years (16 with FC and 19 healthy controls), and corrected for body surface area. Linear regression was used to explore the relationship between total colon volume and WGTT. Results: Total colonic volume was significantly higher, with a median (interquartile range) of 309 mL (243–384 mL) for the FC group than for the healthy controls of 227 mL (180–263 mL). The largest increase between patients and controls was in the sigmoid colon–rectum region. In a linear regression model, there was a positive significant correlation between total colonic volume and WGTT (R = 0.56, p = 0.0005). Conclusions: This initial study shows increased volumes of the colon in children with FC, in a physiological state, without use of any bowel preparation. Increased knowledge of colonic morphology may improve understanding of FC in this age group and help to direct treatment.


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