Sexual Cognitions Research Articles

Sexy thoughts: Effects of sexual cognitions on testosterone, cortisol, and arousal in women

Previous research suggests that sexual stimuli increase testosterone (T) in women and shows inconsistent effects of sexual arousal on cortisol (C), but effects of cognitive aspects of arousal, rather than behaviors or sensory stimuli, are unclear. The present study examined whether sexual thoughts affect T or C and whether hormonal contraceptive (HC) use moderated this effect, given mixed findings of HC use confounding hormone responses. Participants (79 women) provided a baseline saliva sample for radioimmunoassay. We created the Imagined Social Situation Exercise (ISSE) to test effects of imagining social interactions on hormones, and participants were assigned to the experimental (sexual) or one of three control (positive, neutral, stressful) conditions. Participants provided a second saliva sample 15 min post-activity. Results indicated that for women not using HCs, the sexual condition increased T compared to the stressful or positive conditions. In contrast, HC using women in the sexual condition had decreased T relative to the stressful condition and similar T to the positive condition. The effect was specific to T, as sexual thoughts did not change C. For participants in the sexual condition, higher baseline T predicted larger increases in sexual arousal but smaller increases in T, likely due to ceiling effects on T. Our results suggest that sexual thoughts change T but not C, baseline T levels and HC use may contribute to variation in the T response to sexual thoughts, and cognitive aspects of sexual arousal affect physiology.

Linking Measures of Media Exposure to Sexual Cognitions and Behaviors: A Review

Research linking media exposure with various cognitive and behavioral outcomes has produced mixed results. While some studies have found evidence for a substantial media effect, other studies report a modest effect or no effect at all. The current study aims to advance the understanding of “media effects” by investigating the ways in which exposure to sexual content has been measured and by examining the various outcomes that have been linked to that exposure. A review of relevant articles suggests that studies have become more methodologically sophisticated over time. For example, in recent years, researchers have begun to use more specific exposure measures, capturing exposure to sexual content instead of exposure to a specific genre or to a given medium. The use of these specific sex content exposure measures, in comparison to general or genre exposure measures, have increased the likelihood of finding a significant association between exposure and behavioral outcomes.

Predicting first intercourse among urban early adolescent girls: The role of emotions

Little is known about how girls perceive their ongoing or future sexual experiences, especially the emotions that they associate with these experiences. This study examined how early adolescent girls characterise first intercourse experiences in terms of positive and negative emotions over a one-year period. A US sample of 162 girls (12–14 years), primarily Latina and Black, completed two interviews one year apart that assessed sexual cognitions, affect, and behaviour. Girls anticipated primarily negative emotions associated with first intercourse, but recalled primarily positive emotions for first and recent intercourse experiences. In addition, girls’ emotion scores proved more useful than two types of cognitions (intentions and perceived readiness) and pre-intercourse sexual experience in predicting transitions to intercourse over the one-year period.

An assessment for attitudes consistent with sexual offending for use with offenders with intellectual disabilities

Background. Over the past 10 years, the focus of assessment and treatment for sex offenders has changed from the assessment of skills and deviant sexual preferences to the assessment and treatment of cognitions that might be considered to encourage or justify inappropriate sexual behaviour. There have been a few assessment measures of deviant sexual cognitions developed for adults in mainstream sex offender populations but none in less able populations. The present study describes an assessment questionnaire consisting of 7 scales for cognitions associated with rape, voyeurism, exhibitionism, dating abuse, stalking, homosexual assault and offences against children, designed to be used by sex offenders with intellectual disabilities.Method. Four groups of subjects were employed in this study – sex offenders, non‐sexual offenders, non‐offenders all with mild intellectual disabilities or borderline intelligence and a further group of normal men. All subjects completed the questionnaire and 86 subjects provided reliability data.Results. Each item was subjected to 3 tests of reliability. Retained items were required to achieve an item‐to‐total correlation of at least 0.4. Of the 7 scales, 5 achieved an internal consistency coefficient of 0.8 or greater. All scales successfully discriminated between groups even when the normal controls were eliminated because their scores were so low.Conclusions. It is possible to develop scales to assess cognitions related to types of offences which discriminate between sex offenders and other groups with intellectual disabilities. The final scales have robust statistical properties and can be used for clinical and research purposes. Some caution was noted in the use of attitudinal assessments for sex offenders.

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.

The timing of changes in girls’ sexual cognitions and behaviors in early adolescence: a prospective, cohort study

Purpose This small, prospective cohort study of 162 12- to 15-year-old girls examines timing of changes in sexual cognitions and behaviors (breast fondling, genital contact, and sexual intercourse) over a 1-year period. Methods Girls from community sites in New York City provided information about sexual experiences and related cognitions (arousability, sexual agency, abstinence attitudes, perceived parental and peer approval, and sexual self-esteem) in 2 interviews 1 year apart. Results Percentages who reported breast fondling, genital contact, and sexual intercourse (18%, 24%, and 6%) increased significantly over the year (42%, 44%, and 19%) and with age. For each behavior, analyses compared girls who did not report the behavior at either Time 1 or 2, those who reported by Time 2 but not 1, or those who reported at both time points. Girls with no breast fondling experience at either time point had stronger abstinence values, and lower arousability, agency, peer approval, and sexual self-esteem scores compared to girls who initiated breast fondling over the year (transitioners). Transitioners were markedly similar in sexual cognitions to girls with this experience before Time 1, suggesting that changes in sexual cognitions precede actual experience. A similar pattern was found between groups for genital contact. Few differences between groups by comparison were noted for sexual intercourse, which occurs later in the trajectory. Conclusions Sexual experiences that occur before intercourse (e.g., breast fondling) are central to research on sexual development and related to greater changes in girls’ sexual cognitions than is intercourse. Changes in cognitions precede, rather than follow, new sexual experiences.

Relationship Between Sexual Violence and Positive and Negative Cognitions of Sexual Dominance

This study was designed to examine the extent to which men have a greater preference for cognitions of sexual dominance than do women, as has often been assumed. We also studied the link between sexual violence and these types of cognitions. Participants were 292 heterosexual undergraduate students who completed a 56-item checklist that assessed positive and negative sexual cognitions along with measures of use of sexual coercion, experiences of child sexual abuse, and experiences of adult sexual victimization. Two 6-item sexual dominance subscales were developed from the checklist to determine how often respondents had experienced the sexual dominance items as positive or as negative. Compared to the women, the men reported a significantly greater frequency of negative cognitions of sexual dominance but a lower frequency of positive cognitions of sexual dominance. Both men and women who had used sexual coercion reported more positive sexual dominance cognitions than did participants who had not used sexual coercion. Sexual violence was not uniquely associated with negative sexual dominance cognitions when the frequency of positive sexual dominance cognitions was controlled. Implications for the link between traditional sexual script and preferences for sexual dominance cognitions are discussed.

Interpersonal Violence, Substance Use, and HIV-Related Behavior and Cognitions: A Prospective Study of Impoverished Women in Los Angeles County

In a sample of 810 women residing in shelters and low-income housing, this 6-month prospective study investigated associations of recent violence and substance use with HIV-related sexual behaviors and cognitions. Controlling for baseline sexual behavior, partner violence at baseline was associated with less sexual activity and unprotected sex at follow-up. Non-partner violence at baseline was associated with a higher likelihood of being sexually active at follow-up (housed women), but less frequent sexual activity. Drinking to intoxication at baseline was associated with less ability to refuse unwanted sex (sheltered women) and higher perceived susceptibility to HIV at follow-up, whereas baseline drug use was associated with greater perceived ability to refuse unwanted sex and condom use self-efficacy. These findings differed in important ways from cross-sectional associations, emphasizing the need for additional prospective research to fully understand the impact of violence and substance use on women's HIV-related behaviors and cognitions.

Sibling influence, gender roles, and the sexual socialization of urban early adolescent girls

This study examined whether older siblings influence early adolescent girls' sexual socialization. Participants were 180 girls, 12 to 14 years old, from predominantly ethnic minority backgrounds. They completed a battery of interviewer‐administered measures assessing a range of sexual cognitions and romantic and sexual behaviors. As predicted, compared with other girls, girls with older brothers placed greater value on becoming a parent, had lower levels of sexual responsivity or interest, and reported smaller age discrepancies between themselves and their partners for their first romantic kiss. Regardless of sibling sex, having older siblings was associated with more restrictive sexual cognitions and behaviors. Findings are interpreted in the context of sexual script theory.

Assessing reliability of early adolescent girls' reports of romantic and sexual behavior.

Increasing rates of HIV among urban adolescents have raised concerns about their participation in sexual risk behaviors. The accuracy of adolescents' sexual reports is critical to the assessment of risk, which may later guide the development of public policy, interventions, and education efforts. The data presented here are part of a larger study on a range of sexual behaviors and cognitions believed to be important regarding adolescent girls' sexual choices and decision-making. Our goal here was to assess the test-retest reliability of early adolescent girls' reports of their romantic and sexual experiences. This information will contribute to our limited information base regarding sexuality research with early adolescents. Fifty urban African American and Latina girls between the ages of 12 and 14 years were recruited from community settings around New York City. A battery of sexual behavior and sexual cognition measures was administered by interviewers at two time points separated by a 3-week interval. Results indicated that the girls were highly reliable in reporting their sexual experiences, especially those experiences related to age of first romantic and sexual milestone experiences.

Treatment of compulsive sexual behaviour with naltrexone and serotonin reuptake inhibitors: two case studies

Although there is no universally accepted definition of compulsive sexual behaviour (CSB), the term is generally used to indicate excessive sexual behaviour or sexual cognitions that lead to subjective distress, social or occupational impairment, or legal and financial consequences. Similar to impulse control disorders, CSB is characterized by a failure to resist the impulse for sex. Opioid antagonists have been effective in treating urge-driven disorders, such as pathological gambling disorder, alcoholism, borderline personality disorder with self-injurious behaviour, cocaine abuse, mental retardation with self-injurious behaviour and eating disorders. Based upon the efficacy of opioid antagonists in treating disorders associated with urges, we hypothesized that naltrexone would reduce both the urges associated with CSB and therefore reduce the sexual behaviour. We present two case reports of individuals with CSB treated successfully with naltrexone, a novel treatment for CSB. In both cases, symptoms dramatically decreased and psychosocial functioning improved with the use of naltrexone. Although more research is needed to determine the mechanism that leads to the excessive sexual behaviour in individuals with CSB, the present case reports suggest that naltrexone may be effective in treating some cases of CSB.

Positive and negative sexual cognitions: Subjective experience and relationships to sexual adjustment

Some individuals appraise their sexual cognitions negatively and/or experience negative affect in association with their sexual cognitions. However, sex researchers have tended to subsume different types of sexual cognitions under the term sexual fantasy and have assumed that these cognitions are positively experienced. The purpose of this study was to clarify past research on sexual‐cognitions by exploring the distinction between sexual cognitions that are perceived as positive by individuals and those that are perceived as negative. Two‐hundred and ninety‐two (148 women and 144 men) heterosexual undergraduate students completed a 56‐item positive and negative sexual cognition checklist along with measures of sexual adjustment. Results revealed that compared to negative sexual cognitions, positive sexual cognitions were associated with more positive affect, less negative affect, more frequent subjective general physiological and sexual arousal, and less frequent self‐reported upset stomach. In addition, positively experienced sexual cognitions were experienced as more deliberate and less intrusive, and were associated with less frequent attempts to control the thought, than were negative sexual cognitions. Further, while a higher frequency of positive sexual cognitions was related to better sexual adjustment for men and women, the frequency of negative sexual cognitions was not related to sexual maladjustment. Indeed, overall the results suggest that negative sexual cognitions have little to do with sexual adjustment. Together, these findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between positive and negative sexual cognitions in research.

Appraisal and control of sexual and non-sexual intrusive thoughts in university students

This study examined differences in the appraisal and thought control strategies associated with the perceived control of unwanted sexual and non-sexual intrusive thoughts. Eleven appraisal dimensions, subjective physiological arousal and 10 thought control strategies were measured in 171 university students who were administered the Revised Obsessive Intrusions Inventory-Sex Version, a self-report measure of unwanted intrusive thoughts. Thought-action fusion (TAF) likelihood was a significant unique predictor of the perceived controllability of respondents' most upsetting sexual and non-sexual intrusive thought. Moreover greater subjective physiological arousal was a significant predictor of reduced control over sexual intrusions, whereas worry that one might act on an intrusive thought and greater effort to control the intrusion were significant unique predictors of the control of non-sexual intrusive thoughts. Various thought control strategies were more often used in response to non-sexual than sexual cognitions. The results are discussed in terms of the differential role of various appraisal processes in the control of unwanted sexual and non-sexual thoughts.

Summary of the Practice Parameters for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents Who Are Sexually Abusive of Others

This summary provides an overview of the assessment and treatment recommendations contained in the Practice Parameters for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents Who are Sexually Abusive of Others. The parameters were written to aid clinicians in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with symptoms of sexually abusive behavior. The assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with sexually abusive behavior requires an understanding of normal sexual development. A multiplicity of biological and psychosocial factors determines the child's sexual development, gender role, sexual orientation, patterns of sexual arousal, sexual cognitions, sexual socialization, and the integration of sexual and aggressive patterns of behavior. The individual's sexuality evolves in concert and as a result of interaction with family, ethnic, social, and cultural influences. These parameters summarize what we know about the epidemiology and phenomenology of sexually abusive youths and provide guidelines for the assessment and the selection of treatment interventions for these youths. Essential considerations in the assessment and treatment of sexually abusive youths, as well as the different categories of sexually abusive youths which should be recognized and which influence treatment decisions, are presented. The spectrum of currently available psychosocial and biological treatments will be summarized.

Mentally ill sex offenders in a regional secure unit. II: Cognitions, perceptions and fantasies

This study explores the aetiological role of deviant sexual interests, cognitions, perceptions, fantasies, assertiveness and self-esteem in sexual offending by the mentally ill. Established psychometric instruments were administered to a sample of mentally ill sex offenders in a secure psychiatric facility (RSU) and the results compared with norms for the non-mentally ill sex offenders and non-offending community groups. The results revealed similarities between the mentally ill and non-mentally ill sex offenders in the extent of cognitive distortion on all scales of the Sexual Offence Attitudes Questionnaire. High levels of sexual obsession, sexual dysfunction and faulty sexual knowledge and beliefs were found when using the Multiphase Sex Inventory on the mentally ill sex offender, in comparison with the non-mentally ill sex offender. Pre-morbid IQ scores on the mentally ill and non-mentally ill sex offenders were comparable with population norms. The mean scores using the Culture Free Self-esteem Inventory and the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule were low. These preliminary findings suggest that the presence of mental illness alone may provide only a partial explanation of sexual offending by the mentally ill, and support the need for further study of the psychological profile of the mentally ill sex offender.

Subjective sexual arousal and involvement: Development of multiple indicators

Three measures of subjective sexual arousal were observed across four erotic conditions in a sample of 241 college men and women (a) to refine two multi‐item scales of subjective sexual arousal, (b) to determine the convergent and discriminant validity of three measures of sexual arousal, and (c) to relate these operational definitions of subjective sexual arousal to the construct of subjective sexual arousal within Mosher's (1980) involvement theory. From the perspective of involvement theory, subjective sexual arousal is conceived to be an affect‐cognition blend, consisting of awareness of physiological sexual arousal, sexual affects, and affect‐cognition blends, which is transmuted into consciousness and deepens involvement by amplifying the perception of sexual stimulation, sexual cognitions, sexual behavior, physiological sexual response, and itself. Evidence of convergent validity was strong with a median validity coefficient of .51 for the three measures across the four conditions.