Help-Seeking for Sexual Difficulties and the Potential Role of Interactive Digital Interventions: Findings From the Third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles

Sexual difficulties are common and can negatively impact health and well-being. A wide range of support is available, but there are multiple barriers to accessing help. Interactive digital interventions (IDIs) for sexual difficulties have the potential to provide a convenient, wide-reaching, and cost-effective source of support, but little is known about who might use them. We explored the potential reach of IDIs by assessing the prevalence of help-seeking among people with distressing sexual difficulties, including who seeks which sources of help. Data came from sexually active men and women, ages 16 to 74, participating in Britain’s third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3) (N = 11,637). Help/advice was sought by less than half of those with distressing sexual difficulties, and help-seeking was associated with younger age in women but not men. The most popular sources of support were family doctor (47.5% to 54.8%), Internet (22.0% to 25.6%), and family/friend (20.7% to 41.8%), with older participants (≥ 35), particularly men, preferring to seek help from a family doctor, and younger participants (<35) preferring to seek help from the Internet or family/friend. Despite a paucity of good digital support sites for sexual function, the Internet is a common source of help. As Internet access continues to increase, so too does the potential for well-designed IDIs to support those with sexual difficulties.     

Perceived Parental Sexual Conservatism,Religiosity, and Premarital Sexual Behavior

Abstract

The assumption that parental influence in the sexual socialization process is likely to affect premarital sexual behavior is challenged in this article. The hypothesis that individuals brought up in sexually conservative homes will have less premarital heterosexual involvement than those from liberal home environments is tested in a secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey interview data from a national probability sample of 1177 American college students. Correlational and contingency table analysis using indices to measure perceived Parental Sexual Conservatism and Premarital Socio-sexual Involvement suggests that parents may be less influential in the sexual socialization process than has been generally assumed. Previous findings demonstrating the relationship between religiosity and premarital sexual permissiveness are examined in light of the study's results.     

Inter-ideological mingling: White extremist ideology entering the mainstream on Twitter

ABSTRACT

This case study explores the convergence of white extremist political ideology with mainstream political ideology on the micro-blogging platform Twitter – a phenomenon termed “inter-ideological mingling”. Exploring the spread of white extremism in the digital environment can provide insight into the growth of hate groups in the physical environment. A sample of 4800 tweets was examined through hierarchical cluster analysis and textual analysis. Several pieces of evidence were found supporting inter-ideological mingling. Cluster analysis shows that extremist terms are not isolated from terms found in mainstream political discourse. Textual analysis of individual tweets provides evidence for five strategies of inter-ideological mingling: joining, blending, piggybacking, backstaging, and narrating.     

Righteousness on two wheels: Bikers as a secular sect

The study concerns itself with a comparison of the value system of bikers, those who pursue a life‐style centered around motorcycles, with that of a religious sect Several parallels are drawn with the religious sect, in the function of the life‐style of bikers as well as the degree of commitment. The study is the product of several years of participant observation by the author.     

Video and the Hausa Novella in Nigeria

An explosion of Hausa popular fiction writing in Nigeria, from about 1987 onwards, was mirrored in an even greater growth in Hausa video film production from the mid-1990s onwards. A range of themes, reflected in the imagery of book covers, has been dominated by issues concerning the roles of women and the relations between men and women in this predominantly Islamic society, leading to a continuing debate both about Hausa society and about the morality and value of such forms of cultural production. The paper traces the ideological transformation of the stereotypical identities of bora and mowa, the unfavoured and favoured wife, as they move from genre to genre—from tale to play to novella to video film.     

Gender differences in cardiovascular disease prevention

Risk factors are generally shared between men and women with the major differences being hormonal. Nine modifiable risk factors account for over 90% of the risk of a coronary event in men and women--smoking, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, abdominal obesity, lack of exercise, alcohol excess, reduced intake of fruit and vegetables, and psychosocial issues. Approximately half the decline in deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD), between 1980 and 2000, can be attributed to a reduction in the major risk factors and the other half to the use of evidence-based management. As educational efforts to increase awareness of cardiovascular disease (not cancer) to be the leading cause of death and disability in women are also associated with preventative action, it is important that health-care professionals educate themselves about CHD in women and communicate with women themselves, so that women can come forward for advice and evaluation.     

Leaving the parental home in Australia over the generations: Evidence from the Household,Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) Survey

The decision to remain in or leave the parental home represents the first housing career choice of young people. In this paper, we examine the parental home leaving outcomes for Australian birth cohorts in the twentieth century using recall questions contained in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. The findings from survival analysis and hazard function modelling is that a continuous, gradual reduction in the age of first leaving the parental home in Australia is evident up to the 1947–51 birth cohort, followed by stability and then a rise in age of first leaving home for the most recent birth cohorts. Birth cohort effects remain significant even after other measured determinants of parental home leaving are taken into account. The paper confirms the strong roles that education, family background and ethnicity have on parental home leaving outcomes.     

A longitudinal study of domestic water conservation behavior

A 1988 study of a school-linked sample in a metropolitan and a regional urban area established baseline data for knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behavior with regard to water management and conservation (Murphy, Watson, & Moore, 1991). This paper reports on a 1991 follow-up, utilising both longitudinal and cross-sectional samples of students, teachers and parents, which aimed at identifying changes within the community since the initial study. In addition, the study sought to identify factors influential in change and the extent to which the pattern of relationships between knowledge, attitudes, intentions and behaviors had remained stable over time. The results indicated that there was a move towards greater conservation as measured by the variables studied over the three year period, that media interventions and water costs were perceived as influential in this change, and that reported conserving behavior continued to be better predicted by stated intentions than by knowledge. Little difference in the pattern of intervariable relationships was observed across the time span studied.