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.