Sexual and Relationship Therapy Is responsive sexual desire for ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Sexual and Relationship Therapy 249MeasuresDownloaded by [b-on: Biblioteca do conhecimento online ISPA] at 04:47 02 November 2013Patterns of sexual desireThe participants who reported a decrease in sexual interest in the past six months(‘‘Did you notice a decrease in your sexual interest [i.e., sexual thoughts and fantasies,motivation to have sex, being receptive to have sex, etc.] during the past 6 months?’’)were considered men with decreased sexual desire. Men who did not report thedecrease in sexual interest, but who stated that in the same timeframe they ‘‘often oralways engaged in sexual activity without initially wanting it (‘‘How often in the past6 months did you engage in sexual activity just because your partner wanted it, that iswithout really desiring sex?), were categorized as men with MRD. All otherparticipants – that is, men without reduced sexual interest who stated that they onlyinfrequently (from ‘‘never’’ to ‘‘sometimes’’) had sex solely because their partnerwanted it – were considered men with more spontaneous pattern of sexual desire.Current level of sexual desireCurrent level of sexual desire was assessed by two moderately strongly correlateditems (r S ¼ .63, p 5 .001): ‘‘How would you rate the degree of your current sexualinterest?’’ and ‘‘How would you rate your current desire for sexual activity?’’ Bothindicators used the same 5-point scale, ranging from 1 ¼ very high to 5 ¼ very lowor non-existent, to anchor answers. The two items were summed and reversed so thathigher scores denoted more sexual desire.Sexual difficultiesSexual difficulties were measured by six yes/no questions from the National Surveyof Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Mercer et al., 2003) asking about inability toreach orgasm, reaching orgasm too quickly, pain during sexual intercourse, lack ofinterest in sex, unpleasurable sex, feeling anxious about performing sexually andtrouble achieving or maintaining erection. Those who had no such experienceslasting at least 2 months in the past 12 months were instructed to check the option ‘‘Ihave experienced none of these difficulties’’.Frequency of sexual intercourseFrequency of sexual intercourse in the past three months was reported using a sixpointscale (1 ¼ never, 2 ¼ once, 3 ¼ two or three times, 4 ¼ once a week,5 ¼ several times a week, 6 ¼ daily or more often). A similar scale (ranging from1 ¼ never to 7 ¼ daily) was used to anchor answers regarding the frequency ofmasturbation in the past six months.Sexual satisfactionSexual satisfaction was measured using a short version (k ¼ 12) of the recentlyvalidated New Scale of Sexual Satisfaction (Sˇ tulhofer, Busˇ ko, & Brouillard, 2011).Participants were asked to rate their satisfaction with the quality of their orgasmsduring the past six months, the pleasure they provide to their partner, the partner’ssexual creativity, the frequency of sexual activity and so on. The scale had high
250A. Sˇtulhofer et al.internal consistency in both subsamples (Cronbach’s a ¼ .92 and .93). Higher scoresindicated more sexual satisfaction.Downloaded by [b-on: Biblioteca do conhecimento online ISPA] at 04:47 02 November 2013Sociodemographic characteristicsSociodemographic characteristics were assessed by asking participants how oftenthey attend religious services (an eight-point scale for anchoring answers wasrecoded into 1 ¼ never, 2 ¼ up to several times a year, 3 ¼ once a month or morefrequently), what is the highest level of formal schooling they completed (theindicator was dichotomized into 0 ¼ secondary or less and 1 ¼ college education),how they would compare their total household income in the past year to thenational average (a five-point scale, ranging from 1 ¼ substantially below averageincome to 5 ¼ substantially above average income, was used), how many years havethey been in the current relationship and whether they have children.Health-related characteristicsHealth-related characteristics included Body Mass Index (participants were askedabout their height and weight), general health status (participants were askedwhether they had any of 13 listed health problems, which included heart disease,diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic pain and so on [the additive indicator wasdichotomized into 0 ¼ healthy and 1 ¼ one or more illnesses reported]), job-relatedstress (‘‘In the past 12 months did you have any stressful experience on the job?’’)and the SCL_ANX4 and SCL-DEP6 scales measuring anxiety (four items) anddepression (six items), respectively (Søgaard, 2009). The two composite indicatorshad acceptable internal consistency in this study (Cronbach’s a were .74 and .83) andwere combined due to their strong interrelatedness (r ¼ .73, p 5 .001). Higherscores denoted higher levels of anxiety and depression.Relationship-related characteristicsRelationship-related characteristics were measured using the Emotional IntimacyScale (Sinclair & Dowdy, 2005: Cronbach’s a for the scale was .90 in this study –higher scores indicate stronger relationship intimacy) and the seven-item BodyAppearance Evaluation dimension from the Multidimensional Body-Self RelationsQuestionnaire (Cash & Labarge, 1996; Cash & Szymanski, 1995; Cronbach’s a ¼.91 – higher scores reflected a more positive body image). Men were also asked abouthow sexually attractive (from 1 ¼ very attractive to 5 ¼ very unattractive) theyfound their current partner/spouse.Sexuality-related characteristicsSexuality-related characteristics were the number of sexual partners in the past fiveyears and the gender of sexual partners during the same period. A shortened, fouritemversion of Sexual Boredom Scale (Watt & Ewing, 1996) was used to assessproneness to sexual satiation in a relationship. The scale had acceptable reliability inthis study (Cronbach’s a ¼ .85) but needed to be categorized into quartiles becauseof extreme skewness. Placement into a higher quartile denotes more sexual boredom.Frequency of pornography use in the past 12 months was measured on an 8-point
Page 1 and 2: This article was downloaded by: [b-
Page 3 and 4: Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 20
Page 8 and 9: Sexual and Relationship Therapy 251
Page 15: Downloaded by [b-on: Biblioteca do

Sexual and Relationship Therapy Is responsive sexual desire for ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?