Use Of Sexual Activity Research Articles

A Pilot Study Assessing Sexual Behavior as Self-Injury in College Students.

The use of sexual activity to self-injure has been proposed in research literature but remains underexplored. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the feasibility of identifying sexual activity as self-injury in a U.S. college-based sample and to provide a preliminary examination of sexual activity as self-injury to inform future study on this topic. A cross-sectional descriptive pilot study was conducted to assess for recognition of and attitudes toward sexual behavior as self-injury and to identify participant-reported experiences of sexual activity to self-injure. A total of 50 participants completed the online survey. Thirteen (26%) participants reported they had heard of the concept of "sex as self-injury." Six (12%) participants reported ever having used sexual activity to cause physical or psychological harm to themselves. Participants reported intentions for engaging in sexual activity to self-injure, including causing physical pain, reliving past self-harm or trauma, showing vulnerability, proving self-worth, pleasing or wanting to feel needed by their partner, and suicidal ideation. Sexual activities have been used by some college students as a means of self-harm. Further research is needed to understand this phenomenon and clinicians should consider screening for this in patients who participate in dangerous sexual behaviors or self-injurious behaviors.

Sex As a Coping Strategy and Its Relationship to Juvenile Sexual History and Intimacy in Sexual Offenders

The current research examined the hypothesis that sexual activity functions as a coping strategy for sexual offenders. A 16-item scale, the Coping Using Sex Inventory (CUSI), was developed to assess the presence of and the degree to which sex was used to deal with problematic situations. Sexual offenders consistently reported using sexual activities, both consenting and nonconsenting, as a coping strategy to deal with stressful and problematic situations. In the first study, when compared to nonsexual violent offenders, sexual offenders showed evidence of sexual preoccupation during adolescence, and this preoccupation was related to the latter use of sex as a coping strategy. In the second study, intimacy deficits and loneliness were related to greater use of sexual activity as a coping mechanism. The third study examined the psychometric properties of the CUSI. A factor analysis revealed 3 factors in the CUSI corresponding to consenting sexual themes, rape themes, and child sexual abuse themes. Sexual offenders reported higher use of each type of sexual activity to cope with stressful and difficult situations as compared to nonsexual offenders. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed here.

Revising the Proximate Determinants of Fertility Framework: What Have We Learned in the past 20 Years?

The proximate determinants of fertility framework, developed in its current form by Bongaarts, has been used extensively by researchers for the past 20 years. Since the initial framework was developed, a wealth of new survey data on the proximate determinants has become available. This article reviews the new data and past experiences and suggests modifications to the framework that would take advantage of this experience. The major modifications suggested are (1) the use of sexual activity rather than marriage to indicate exposure to pregnancy; (2) a revision of the sterility index to measure infecundity from all causes; (3) a revised index of contraception that accounts for the fact that users of sterilization may become infecund before age 49; and (4) a revised definition and estimate of total fecundity.