Sexual dysfunction: overview of prevalence,etiological factors,and treatments

Sexual dysfunctions and sexual problems are reviewed from the perspective of prevalence, broad etiological factors, and available treatments. Although a large percentage of individuals experience sexual problems, with estimates between 10 and 52% of men and 25 and 63% of women, the prevalence of sexual dysfunctions that meet diagnostic criteria is lower and less well established by large scale population-based studies. Sexual problems and dysfunctions are correlated with other health conditions, including cardiovascular disorders, common diseases such a s diabetes, health habits, and mental health. Adequate sexual functioning also appears to be associated with personal well-being and relationship stability, although this may be more accurate for men than women. Efficacious and effective treatments exist for some of the sexual disorders, and there is an increasing focus on medical (particularly pharmacological) treatments being tested by the pharmaceutical industry. Sexual problems and dysfunctions have been notably under-researched, particularly from the perspective on consequences to individual mental health, relationships, and family functioning.     

Revealing side effects of quota rules on group cooperation

The quota rule in employment is a legal tool to promote gender equality in professions and positions where women are underrepresented. An accompanying assumption is that gender diversity positively affects one of the aspects of team performance in form of group cooperation. However, it is unclear whether this positive effect can be achieved if diversity increases due to a quota rule. In two fully incentivized experiments involving a real-effort task (N₁ = 188 and N₂ = 268), we examined the impact of quotas as compared to performance-based promotion on group cooperation. We thereby categorized participants either with regard to gender or to an artificial category that was randomly assigned. Cooperation within groups declined when promotion was based on quota compared to performance-based promotion, irrespective of the categorization criterion. Further analyses revealed that this negative effect of quota rules on cooperation is not driven by procedural fairness perceptions or expectations about performance of the promoted group member. Implications of the results for the implementation of equality and diversity initiatives are discussed.     

Systemic effects of trauma in clinic couples: an exploratory study of secondary trauma resulting from childhood abuse

Clinical literature suggests that those close to a trauma survivor may experience intrapersonal and interpersonal distress because of indirect or secondary effects of the trauma. The focus of this study is on the association between reported childhood physical and sexual abuse and current individual stress symptoms, relationship satisfaction, and family adjustment. The participants included 96 clinic couples who reported a history of childhood physical or sexual abuse in one or both partners and 65 clinic couples in which neither partner reported such abuse. Couples in which one or both partners reported childhood abuse reported significantly lower marital satisfaction, higher individual stress symptoms, and lower family cohesion than couples with no abuse history. No significant differences were found between individuals who reported a history of abuse and their partners who reported no history of childhood abuse, suggesting support for secondary trauma theory. Clinical and future research implications are discussed.     

Sensitivities: emotion-work and resulting personal effects in researching Black lesbians

The issues of self-disclosure, empathy, sharing the lives of others, developing rapport, and emotional memories are presented in relationship to the conduct of qualitative research interviews with Black lesbian students attending a historically Black university within a southern U.S. regional context. The challenge of doing such sensitive research is discussed from my perspective of also being a Black lesbian researcher, and the questions that this raised for me. Specific examples from the interview experiences are provided of self-disclosure, empathy, and rapport with the student participants. Conclusions suggest the need for building a community of social support for female scholars of African descent who study and serve Black lesbian populations.     

The dysfunctional side effects of quantitative indicator production: illustration from mental health care (a message from Chicken Little)

In the current context of economic conservation, accountability and retrenchment from social programs, justification is required in order to maintain human service capacity. In this effort, evaluation is a key component. Yet desire to base action upon information resulting from evaluation must be tempered by increased attention to the effects of the evaluation process. All too often premature application of quantitative indicators formerly used for individual assessment and research to bureaucratic decision making produces side effects that are dysfunctional in nature. Frequently these side effects influence service delivery directly. More insidious, because they are less easily discerned, are distortions introduced into the data by evaluation pressure. These not only delay effects on service but also impair understanding of the very process they are meant to illuminate. In order to illustrate this phenomenon, the author reviews a general literature and utilized examples from mental health care. Common themes are identified and a tentative theory of side effect generation proposed.     

Differentiating the Social Service Needs of Homeless Sexual Minority Youths from those of Non-homeless Sexual Minority Youths

While homeless youths and sexual minority youths are at greater risk for negative life experiences, and homeless sexual minority youths are at greater risk than homeless heterosexual youths, little is known about the differential risks for homeless sexual minority youths compared to non-homeless sexual minority youths. Using a sample of 187 sexual minority youths from a community-based social service agency in Denver, Colorado, the findings of this study suggest that homeless sexual minority youths are at greater risk for victimization, mental health issues, substance abuse, and illegal or dangerous activities than their non-homeless counterparts. Implications for social work practice and social service provision are discussed.     

Missing from the Conversation: Sexual Risk Factors Across Young People by Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

Abstract

Objectives: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer/questioning (LGBQ), and transgender/nonbinary (trans/NB) youth experience health disparities. Much research combines gender identity with sexual orientation or siloes them, ignoring intersections. Methods: Logistic regressions with representative data from 2015 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (n?=?15,970) explores sexual risk. Results: Findings indicate LGBQ and trans/NB youth have differential levels of sexual risk (drugs during sexual interactions, not using condoms) compared to cisgender heterosexual peers. Other identities, mental health, and bullying are also related. Conclusions: There is a need for culturally responsive bullying prevention, mental health support, education, and sexual health services for marginalized populations.     

Healing from Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Theoretical Model

Childhood sexual abuse is a prevalent social and health care problem. The processes by which individuals heal from childhood sexual abuse are not clearly understood. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical model to describe how adults heal from childhood sexual abuse. Community recruitment for an ongoing broader project on sexual violence throughout the lifespan, referred to as the Sexual Violence Study, yielded a subsample of 48 women and 47 men who had experienced childhood sexual abuse. During semistructured, open-ended interviews, they were asked to describe their experiences with healing from childhood sexual abuse and other victimization throughout their lives. Constructivist grounded theory methods were used with these data to develop constructs and hypotheses about healing. For the Sexual Violence Study, frameworks were developed to describe the participants' life patterns, parenting experiences, disclosures about sexual violence, spirituality, and altruism. Several analytic techniques were used to synthesize the findings of these frameworks to develop an overarching theoretical model that describes healing from childhood sexual abuse. The model includes four stages of healing, five domains of functioning, and six enabling factors that facilitate movement from one stage to the next. The findings indicate that healing is a complex and dynamic trajectory. The model can be used to alert clinicians to a variety of processes and enabling factors that facilitate healing in several domains and to guide discussions on important issues related to healing from childhood sexual abuse.     

Voices of Healing and Recovery from Childhood Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse continues to occur for a significant number of children, often having deleterious consequences for survivors’ physical and mental health. Research has thoroughly explored various consequences as a result of child sexual abuse, but scholars and practitioners know less about the healing processes from survivors’ viewpoints. Using a constructivist grounded theory design, this study examined perceptions of healing in 10 female survivors of child sexual abuse. Results conclude with a theoretical model of healing, capturing the significance of supportive relationships, internal characteristics, turning points, and sources of active healing. Important sources of active healing include therapy, informal and formal education, compassion and empathy, blame attribution to abusers, and confronting abusers. Limitations and implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Problem gambling: One view from the gaming industry side

An experienced lawyer for the gaming industry argues that the very appellation of compulsive gambling is misleading. Advocates of the medical model of compulsive gambling have created a strange new disease, where individuals are viewed as not responsible for their misdeeds but as solely responsible for their own cure. The fact that some individuals have problems because of gambling does not lead to the conclusion that casinos bear the ultimate legal or moral responsibility. More research and dialogue is needed; but so is the acceptance by problem gamblers and those who study and treat them that individuals have to take responsibility for their own conduct.     

College Men'S Reactions to Hypothetical Forceful Sexual Advances from Women

Summary

A sample of 263 college men read a vignette in which they were to imagine receiving a forceful sexual advance from a woman. Initiator relationship was varied by describing the woman as a relative stranger an acquaintance, a recent non-sexual dating partner, or a steady dating partner with whom the subject has already had sexual intercourse (sexual date). The sexual intimacy of the act attempted-genital touch, oral sex, and sexual intercourse-was varied in the vignette. Subjects gave ratings for social acceptability, positive reaction, feelings of violation, and negative impact of the situation, and indicated if they would consent to sex with the initiator. Results revealed a significant effect for relationship. Men had generally negative responses to the advance of a stranger and positive responses to the advance of a sexual date. Reactions to acquaintance and recent date advances were more positive than those for a stranger, but less positive than responses to the sexual date. The results add further support to a model that proposes that men will respond favorably to female sexual coercion when conditions are optimal for perceiving the event as a sexual opportunity. To date, conditions known to promote positive reactions to hypothetical sexual advances are low force, high initiator sexual desirability, and a high level of romantic relationship with the initiator.     

Positive Reaction to Disclosure and Recovery from Child Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT

Factors associated with improvement in the behavioral-emotional functioning of sexually abused children, from 6 to 18 years of age, were investigated. Children were classified by their therapist according to current level of disclosure regarding past abuse. Ratings of degree of support offered by significant people in the children's lives were also made. Findings showed children who were in an actively disclosing stage to be exhibiting significantly less externalizing behavior problems than non-disclosing children. Children who were fully disclosing without recantation showed significantly lower dissociation than did all other subjects. Children who recanted with or without re-disclosure showed significantly more post-traumatic stress symptomatology. As all the subjects were in foster care, the reactions to disclosure of foster parents proved to be most salient with respect to current functioning. Children who received full support from foster parents showed significantly lower depression scores than did children who received only partial support.

Other significant findings pertain to the effects of time since initial disclosure, age of subjects, and type of sexual abuse on behavioral-emotional functioning. Implications for developing structured training programs for foster parents and their caseworkers are discussed. Recommendations are made for future study using the present design with a non-foster care population and investigating the effect that the timing of supportive reactions to disclosure has.     

Canadians' support for radical life extension resulting from advances in regenerative medicine

This paper explores Canadian public perceptions of a hypothetical scenario in which a radical increase in life expectancy results from advances in regenerative medicine. A national sample of 1231 adults completed an online questionnaire on stem cell research and regenerative medicine, including three items relating to the possibility of Canadians' average life expectancy increasing to 120 years by 2050. Overall, Canadians are strongly supportive of the prospect of extended lifespans, with 59% of the sample indicating a desire to live to 120 if scientific advances made it possible, and 47% of respondents agreeing that such increases in life expectancy are possible by 2050. The strongest predictors of support for radical life extension are individuals' general orientation towards science and technology and their evaluation of its plausibility. These results contrast with previous research, which has suggested public ambivalence for biomedical life extension, and point to the need for more research in this area. They suggest, moreover, that efforts to increase public awareness about anti-aging research are likely to increase support for the life-extending consequences of that research program.     

Sexual decision making and safer sex behavior among young female injection drug users and female partners of IDUs

Data from interviews with 94 young women who were injection drug users (IDUs) or partners of IDUs were analyzed to examine associations between self-reported sexual decision making and condom use, contraceptive use, and relationship characteristics. Most women (73-85%) reported participating in decisions about condom use, contraception, and when to have sex. Adjusting for potential covariates, respondents who reported participating in decisions about condom use and when to have sex were 7 and 19 times, respectively, more likely than others to report recently using condoms. Respondents who reported participating in decisions about contraception were 20 times more likely than others to report recently using contraceptives. Longer sexual relationships were associated with decreased likelihood of condom or contraceptive use.