The Sexual Desire Inventory as a measure of sexual motivation in college students.

The human sexual response consists of at least two phases of behavior, the motivational phase and the consummatory phase, which are difficult to isolate. Sexual motivation questionnaires commonly contain items that assume sexual intercourse or partners' experience and are often difficult to use with sexually inexperienced persons. The Sexual Desire Inventory by Spector, Carey, and Steinberg does not appear to be confounded with consummatory behavior. Our goal was to check whether it can be used to measure sexual motivation. 40 men and 63 women completed the Sexual Experience Scale of sexual motivation by Frenken and Vennix and the Sexual Desire Inventory. Scores on the two inventories were highly correlated with this measure of sexual motivation and may be used with sexually inexperienced individuals.

The effect of question preface on response rates to a telephone survey of sexual experience.

Given the heavy reliance on self-report measures in research on sexuality, issues surrounding nonresponse rates are of particular importance. Phone interviews were conducted with 400 adults living in a midsized midwestern city. Rates of nonresponse and reported sexual experience were analyzed as a function of the type of preface statement provided for four questions related to sexual behavior. One preface was general; the other referred to public concern over AIDS. On questions regarding number of sexual partners in the past year and involvement in extramarital sex, women who were given the AIDS preface were significantly more likely to answer the questions than were women who received the general preface. However, for both men and women, reported rates of sexual experience did not differ as a function of the preface statement. Differences between responders and nonresponders were explored. Men were more likely to respond to the sexual items. Education, age, marital status, and religious affiliation were unrelated to rates of response to the sexual questions. For men, responders to the sexuality items reported greater yearly incomes than did nonresponders. Some differences in reported sexual behavior were also found between responders and nonresponders; nonresponders consistently reported less sexual experience. Implications for research on sexuality and future investigation of factors affecting response to sexual items are discussed.

Sexual attitudes as correlates of sexual details in human figure drawing.

The hypothesis that sexual attitudes, as measured by the Sexual Opinion Survey, are related to the explicitness with which nude figures are drawn was examined. The presence or absence of various sexual and nonsexual anatomical features, as well as length and width measurements, were assessed in the drawing of nudes by 17 male and 23 female undergraduates. Individuals with relatively positive sexual attitudes (erotophiles), as compared with individuals with relatively negative attitudes (erotophobes), were more likely to include such details as a glans, a urinary meatus, and chest hair on male figures and pubic hair and nipples on female figures. Positive sexual attitudes were also associated with drawing figures with longer and wider penises, breasts, testicles, and mons. Relationships between sexual attitudes and the drawing of nonsexual body parts were generally not significant. The results are discussed in terms of the pervasive generality of sexual attitudes in influencing quite varied sex-related behaviors.

Subjective reports of female orgasmic expulsion of fluid.

Fifty-four percent of a sample of 227 women reported having experienced an orgasmic expulsion of fluid at least one time. The source of the fluid is still not certain.

Orientations toward abortion: guilty or knowledge?

Students (N = 118) were classified as pro-choice, anti-abortion, or mixed on the basis of their responses to ten fictitious case histories of females who requested abortion. The distribution of participants on the abortion issue was quite similar to the results of a 1979 national survey. As expected, these groups differed on attitudes toward abortion as murder, the legalization of abortion, and the morality of premarital sex. The groups differed significantly in levels of sex guilt, but did not exhibit significant differences in levels of sexual knowledge. The results were discussed within the context of the public controversy over abortion. It was suggested that the affective messages accompanying the sexual socialization of children and adolescents may be more predictive of orientations toward abortion than the weight of intellectual arguments regarding the rights of the fetus, the point at which a fetus becomes viable, or a woman's right to have control over her own body.

PIP: 118 university students were classified as prochoice, antiabortion, or mixed on the basis of their responses to 10 fictitious case histories of females who requested abortion. The distribution of participants on the abortion issue was quite similar to the results of a 1979 national survey. As expected, these groups differed on attitudes toward abortion as murder, the legalization of abortion, and the morality of premarital sex. The groups differed significantly in levels of sex guilt but not in levels of sex knowledge. In the context of the public controversy over abortion, it is suggested that the affective messages accompanying the sexual socialization of children and adolescents may be more predictive of orientations toward abortion than the weight of intellectual arguments regarding the rights of the fetus, the point at which a fetus becomes viable, or a woman's right to have control over her own body.