QUALITIES MIDLIFE WOMEN DESIRE IN THEIR SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS AND THEIR CHANGING SEXUAL RESPONSE

The present study focused on the association between the particular sexual qualities midlife women desired in themselves and their husbands and the changes in sexual response they were experiencing. In a U.S. sample of 280 women participating in the ongoing Midlife Women's Health Survey, 40% reported a change in their sexual response, more often as decrements than increases, although desiring more nongenital touching was frequently noted. Respondents wanted more change in their own than in their partners' sexual qualities. In addition, the desire to change sexual qualities in oneself and in one's husband was significantly related to many changes in sexual responsivity. These findings are discussed in the context of a woman-defined sexuality at midlife.     

Hooking up: Gender differences, evolution, and pluralistic ignorance

"Hooking-up" - engaging in no-strings-attached sexual behaviors with uncommitted partners - has become a norm on college campuses, and raises the potential for disease, unintended pregnancy, and physical and psychological trauma. The primacy of sex in the evolutionary process suggests that predictions derived from evolutionary theory may be a useful first step toward understanding these contemporary behaviors. This study assessed the hook-up behaviors and attitudes of 507 college students. As predicted by behavioral-evolutionary theory: men were more comfortable than women with all types of sexual behaviors; women correctly attributed higher comfort levels to men, but overestimated men's actual comfort levels; and men correctly attributed lower comfort levels to women, but still overestimated women's actual comfort levels. Both genders attributed higher comfort levels to same-gendered others, reinforcing a pluralistic ignorance effect that might contribute to the high frequency of hook-up behaviors in spite of the low comfort levels reported and suggesting that hooking up may be a modern form of intrasexual competition between females for potential mates.     

Changes in Sexual Orientation and Object Choice in Midlife in Women

Changes in sexual orientation or object choice in midlife can represent many different dynamics. Understanding these involves recognition of the psychological developmental issues of this period, such as changes in self concept, identity, the awareness of time, and changes in expectations and goals, such as the wish to create a family. Other needs, for intimacy and emotional richness, or the revival of wishes for closer ties to one's mother, can then become dominant and be expressed sexually. Earlier, more conventional choices can be abandoned, particularly after children are born. For some women an early homosexual relationship is replaced temporarily or permanently by a heterosexual one. This can represent permission to move outside the world of women, or a wish for a family and children. Fluidity of choice may be more characteristic for women than men and may be related to characteristics of the female body.     

Sexual assault and stranger aggression on a candian university campus

There is a severe lack of knowledge about sexual assault on Canadian college campuses. This exploratory study of 259 Canadian undergraduate women (mostly white, of British or European heritage, with about half from families of total incomes of over Can $50,000) provides evidence that although Canada generally has a lower crime rate than the United States, sexual aggression against women does not seem to be lower. Further, there is an extraordinary victimization rate for the stranger sexual advances that are legal or barely illegal, but which form a major component of women's fear. Most surveyed women have in the past year been victimized by uncomfortable stranger aggression in public places, while approximately one-third of those who date reported at least one episode of physical, verbal, or psychological sexual coercion. Close to 25% of the women said they had sexual intercourse when they did not want to during the past year.An earlier and substantially different version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Pittsburgh, March 1992.     

Midlife Transitions in Women: Cultural and Individual Factors

Traditional views of women at midlife are often inaccurate and may be deleterious to the emotional and physical well‐being of women. The author reviews quantitative and qualitative research that may help guide counselors in their work with midlife women.     

The Sexual Self-Perceptions of Young Women Experiencing Abuse in Dating Relationships

Though information about one's sexuality may be inferred from sexual interactions themselves, a sexual sense of self may also be derived from the quality of the intimate relationship more generally. In this study, we examined the sexual self-perceptions of young women in dating relationships (N=108) as a function of whether these relationships were characterized by abuse. Negative sexual self-perceptions were found to be more evident among women who were experiencing physical/psychological abuse or sexual coercion in their current relationships than among women who were not, even after controlling for self-esteem and depressive symptoms. However, positive sexual self-perceptions were unaffected by abuse, and hence may provide young women a basis for establishing healthier relationships in future.     

Go Figure? Body-Shape Motives are Associated with Decreased Physical Activity Participation Among Midlife Women

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between midlife women's physical activity motives and their participation in physical activity. Cross-sectional qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 59 midlife women, most of whom were well-educated European-Americans (mean age = 45.6 years). Body-shape physical activity motives (i.e., motives related to toning, shaping, and weight loss) were compared with all other types of physical activity motives combined. Participants with body-shape motives were significantly less physically active than those with non-body-shape motives (p<.01). Negative affect toward physical activity was negatively associated with participation, but did not mediate the effect of physical activity motives on participation. Body Mass Index (BMI) was not related to physical activity motives or participation. Results suggest that body-shape motives might be associated with less physical activity participation than non-body-shape motives among midlife women.     

Sexual Minority Stress and Social Support Explain the Association between Sexual Identity with Physical and Mental Health Problems among Young Lesbian and Bisexual Women

Bisexual women report more physical and psychological health problems than lesbian women do, which may be attributed to greater sexual minority stress and less social support. However, many studies combine lesbian and bisexual women into a single group. The current study examined if sexual minority stress and social support mediated the association between women’s sexual identity (lesbian or bisexual) and health-related outcomes. A total of 650 U.S. young adult lesbian (n?=?227) and bisexual (n?=?423) women completed an online survey about sexual minority stress, social support, and physical and mental health problems. Bisexual women reported more physical and mental health problems. A sequential mediation model showed that bisexual women reported greater sexual minority stress than lesbian women, which in turn was associated with less social support, which was associated with more physical and mental health problems. Greater sexual minority stress and lower social support may help explain why bisexual women report more health-related problems than lesbian women. The results of the present study support the importance of examining risk and protective factors for health problems separately for lesbian and bisexual women. Health-related intervention programs that target sexual minority women may need to be tailored differently for lesbian and bisexual women.

     

Sticks,Stones, or Words? Counting the Prevalence of Different Types of Intimate Partner Violence Reported by New Zealand Women

This study documents the lifetime and 12-month prevalence and overlap of psychological/emotional, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) reported by a representative sample of New Zealand women. Use of controlling behaviors by women's current or most recent intimate partner was also explored. The results indicated that 55% of ever-partnered women had experienced any IPV in their lifetime: 33% had experienced more than one type of IPV (usually psychological/emotional violence and physical and/or sexual violence), and 22% had experienced one type of IPV. Use of controlling behaviors by the woman's current or most recent partner was associated with partner's use of physical or sexual violence. Implications are discussed at the population level, for service providers, and for future studies.     

Is it all about intimacy? Age,menopausal status,and women’s sexuality

Two studies examined the contribution of aging to various aspects of sexual functioning. Study 1 examined the association between age and sexual response among 289 women. Results showed that aging and relationship length were associated with relatively low sexual desire, excitement, and intimacy, with sexual intimacy mediating the association between relationship length and sexual excitement. Furthermore, the negative association between aging and sexual desire was particularly pronounced among women experiencing lower sexual intimacy. In Study 2, 93 women were classified according to menopausal status. Findings paralleled those of Study 1, indicating that postmenopausal state was negatively associated with sexual desire, mainly among women who experienced low sexual intimacy. Implications for the understanding of sexuality of women at midlife are discussed.     

Preliminary evidence that acute and chronic daily psychological stress affect sexual arousal in sexually functional women

It is assumed that psychological stress may inhibit sexual arousal in women. Research on the effect of (acute and chronic) psychological stressors on genital and subjective sexual arousal, however, is scarce. To investigate whether psychological stressors indeed inhibit sexual responding, sexually functional women were randomly assigned to an experimental condition (n=30) in which acute psychological stress was induced by a frustrating computer task or a control condition (n=29). After the acute psychological stress or control induction women were exposed to an erotic stimulus. Genital sexual arousal was assessed using vaginal photoplethysmography. Self-report ratings of subjective sexual arousal were collected after the erotic stimulus. Furthermore, women were post hoc divided into a 'low' and a 'high' chronic stress group, based on their pre-assessment scores on a chronic daily stress questionnaire. As predicted, it was found that women in the acute stress condition responded with lower levels of genital and subjective sexual arousal to an erotic stimulus than women in the control condition. In addition, women with high levels of chronic stress responded with lower levels of genital sexual arousal to an erotic stimulus than women with low levels of chronic stress. Chronic stress did not affect the level of subjective sexual arousal.     

Personal warmth and psychological health at midlife

Personal warmth, arguably a strong trait in the makeup of psychological health, seems to fade in conceptual importance at midlife. In contrast, ideas of interiority and androgyny appear to gain conceptual importance at midlife. The present study sought to rebalance these foci by determining the predictive power of personal warmth for psychological health of men and women at age 50: first, by developing separate California Psychological Inventory (CPI) scales to assess personal warmth; next, by joining these warmth scales with the 20 standard CPI scales to predict psychological health. Without the personal warmth scale, the standard CPI scales do not significantly predict psychological health for men; for women, the standard scales do. For both genders, the personal warmth scales add significantly to the predictability of psychological health. The results point to an amendment of current theoretical formulations of interiority and androgyny to better understand optimal psychological development in men and women at midlife.     

Relation of perceived emotional intelligence and health-related quality of life of middle-aged women

This study examined the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence and health-related quality of life in middle-aged women. 99 middle-aged Spanish women, who studied in two adult schools, volunteered to participate. 49 were premenopausal and 45 were postmenopausal. These women completed the Trait Meta-Mood Scale and Health Survey SF-36. Scores were analyzed according to social, physical, and mental health, menopausal status, and scores on perceived emotional intelligence. Then, the data regarding the mental and physical health of the premenopausal and postmenopausal women were compared after controlling for age. No associations between menopausal status and health-related quality of life were found. Perceived skill at mood repair was significantly associated with scores on health-related quality of life in these middle-aged women. These findings provide empirical evidence that aspects of perceived emotional intelligence may account for the health-related quality of life in midlife including social, physical, and psychological symptoms.     

The psychological impact of reproductive difficulties on women's lives

Little is known about the long-term impact of reproductive experiences on women's lives. This paper uses questionnaire data collected from 107 White female college graduates, when they were approximately 47 years old. More than half the sample had experienced at least one type of reproductive difficulty (abortion, miscarriage, or infertility). The stress and coping model of life difficulties (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) was used to examine the relationship between the women's reproductive difficulties and emotional sequelae, politicization, and orientation to motherhood at midlife. As predicted, emotional responses to the reproductive difficulties varied according to the particular nature of each experience. In addition, women who had abortions and no other difficulties were more politicized at midlife than other women. Women whose reproductive experiences were especially likely to arouse feelings of not being in control of their life (those who had miscarriages or infertility) described a more agentic orientation to motherhood when compared with other women.     

How Do African American and Caucasian Women View Themselves at Midlife?1,2

This report examines midlife perceptions of African American and Caucasian women. African American and Caucasian women (aged 42 to 52) completed self‐report measures of midlife perceptions, health status, and personality factors. Women had positive perceptions of themselves at midlife; few women reported interpersonal isolation or hopelessness. More optimistic women reported a more positive perception of their current identity and security at midlife. African American women reported more positive perceptions than did Caucasian women. Among those who reported more stressful life events and financial difficulty, African Americans had more positive perceptions, whereas Caucasians had more negative perceptions. Although women tend to view themselves positively at midlife, race is an important moderator of psychosocial factors that may be associated with midlife perceptions.     

Changing the Scripts: Midlife Women’s Sexuality in Contemporary U.S. Film

This article examines the portrayal of midlife women’s sexuality in 13 recent U.S. narrative films. Content analysis of these films suggests that film portrayals of midlife women’s sexuality are relatively muted, with the most positive portrayals found in the broadest comedies. In addition, midlife women’s bodies are more often displayed as objects of humor than as objects of desire, the “female gaze” at the male body is shown only humorously, and midlife women’s sexuality is primarily validated for slim, white, middle-class women in committed romantic relationships with “age-appropriate” partners. Nevertheless, these films suggest that midlife women should have sexual desires, should act on those desires, should experience sexual pleasure, and should not sacrifice their sexual needs for a man’s approval.     

Psychological distress associated with domestic violence in Northern Ireland

Several studies have noted an association between domestic violence and psychological distress. However, little empirical work has examined behavioral and psychological difficulties, especially with reference to dissociation and guilt, in victims of domestic violence in Northern Ireland. In addition, childhood abuse history has tended not to be assessed in studies conducted in the Province. Using measures designed to assess behavioral and psychological difficulties that are problematic to self and/or others (that is, Brief Symptoms Inventory, General Health Questionnaire, Guilt Inventory), dissociation (that is, Dissociative Experiences Scale, Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire) and trauma (that is, Traumatic Experiences Checklist), the current study assessed Northern Irish victims of domestic violence from shelter-type accommodation (N=33) and a comparison sample of women from the general population (N=33). The domestic violence group displayed significantly more psychological difficulties, including higher depression, anxiety and dissociation scores. Dissociative episodes at the time of an assault were related to higher on-going dissociative experiences. Finally, the domestic violence sample reported more emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in childhood than the comparison group. Despite the difficulty generalizing from victims of domestic violence in shelter-type accommodation to all victims of spousal abuse, the current results highlight the increased levels of psychological distress in those exposed to abuse by their partner.     

Sexual Harassment and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Asian and White Women

Sexual harassment is a prevalent problem that has been associated with negative psychological and physical health outcomes. Although sexual harassment has been linked to posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, little is known about how PTS symptoms that arose from sexual harassment experiences might be associated with psychological and physical health. This study examined the associations among sexual harassment, PTS symptoms, and psychological and physical well-being in a sample of Asian and White women. In addition, given the lack of research on sexual harassment among Asian women, we investigated the moderating role of ethnicity. Results indicated that greater sexual harassment frequency and PTS symptom severity predicted more depression, overall psychological distress, and physical symptoms. PTS symptom severity and ethnicity moderated the relationship between sexual harassment frequency and physical symptoms. We discuss the implications of these findings and directions for further research.     

HARASSED BODIES

The present study examined the relationships among sexual harassment and body image and eating disturbances using a sample of 195 undergraduate women. Sexual harassment was associated with a variety of eating disorder symptoms, even when controlling for experiences of sexual abuse/assault and physical abuse. Whereas sexual abuse/assault and physical abuse appear to be nonspecific risk factors for such symptoms, sexual harassment was more closely associated with eating disorder symptomatology than other types of psychological distress. The results of structural equation modeling better supported a model in which body image and eating disturbances were outcomes rather than antecedents of sexual harassment. Finally, several analyses indicated that disordered eating may function as a way to cope with the negative emotions associated with sexual harassment.     

Factors Related to Counselor Preference Among Gays and Lesbians

This study explored the preference for counselor's sexual orientation among gay and lesbian clients. Recognizing that the perceived reaction of participants to hypothetical situations may be a viable predictor of future choices, respondents were administered a comfort/discomfort index intended to probe a number of potential counseling concerns. Internalized homophobia (Hudson & Ricketts, 1977) and a scale measuring degree of same- or opposite-sex sexual preferences (Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, & Gebbhard, 1953) were also investigated in an attempt to account for variance in the comfort/discomfort ratings. Findings indicated that gay men and lesbians tend to prefer gay or lesbian counselors, although a sizable number believe that counselors' sexual orientations do not make a difference. Internalized homophobia was found to predict discomfort in discussing various topics with a counselor of unknown sexual orientation.