Physiological Synchrony During Partnered Sexual Activity.

Physiological synchrony (PS) refers to the coordination of bodily responses in close relationships. It seems to be linked to relational well-being, satisfaction, closeness, and empathy. Recent research extends these findings to sexual relationships as well, with evidence suggesting that PS may predict attraction and sexual satisfaction. The current study focuses on PS during sexual activity within established couples. Results suggest that PS develops during sexual activity, in certain contexts, and tends to be greater in magnitude during sexual encounters than during non-sexual interactions. Results may shed light on the dyadic psychophysiological factors relevant to sexual experiences.

Psychometric Evaluation and Adaptation of the Five-Factor Sexual Satisfaction Scale (SSS-W) for Use in Men: The Sexual Satisfaction Scale (SSS).

The Sexual Satisfaction Scale for Women (SSS-W) is a psychometrically sound, widely used instrument for assessing sexual satisfaction and distress in women. Because the majority of scale items are gender nonspecific, numerous researchers have adapted this scale for use in male samples. The goal of the current study was to assess the reliability and validity of a slightly modified version of the SSS-W in a male sample (N = 268). A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of five previously established factors provided evidence for consistency of internal structure in men. The adapted scale (SSS) exhibited acceptable test-retest reliability, as well as evidence for validity based on relationships with theoretically predicted variables. Taken together, there is evidence to suggest that the SSS may be a reliable and valid psychometric tool for the measurement of sexual satisfaction and distress in both men and women.

Rising to the Occasion of This COVID-19-Impacted Nation: Development, Implementation, and Feasibility of the Brief Assessment-Informed Skills Intervention for COVID-19 (BASIC).

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the global economy, physical health, and mental health. This pandemic, like previous viral outbreaks, has resulted in spikes in anxiety, depression, and stress. Even though millions of individuals face the physical health consequences of infection by COVID-19, even more individuals are confronted with the mental health consequences of this pandemic. This significantly increased demand for mental health services cannot be easily met by existing mental health systems, which often rely on courses of therapy to be delivered over months. Single session interventions (SSIs) may be one important approach to meeting this increased demand, as they are treatments designed to be delivered over the course of a single meeting. SSIs have been found to be effective for a range of mental health challenges, with durable effects lasting months to years later. Here, we describe an SSI designed for the COVID-19 pandemic. This Brief Assessment-informed Skills Intervention for COVID-19 (BASIC) program draws upon therapeutic skills from existing empirically supported treatments to target common presenting complaints due to this pandemic. We discuss the process of developing and implementing this intervention, as well as explore feasibility and initial clinical insights. In short, BASIC is an easy-to-adopt intervention that is designed to be effective in a single session, making it well-suited for handling the increased demand for mental health services due to COVID-19.

Structural Inequity and Pregnancy Desires in Emerging Adulthood.

Public health discourses often claim that delaying pregnancy is associated with social and economic benefits. Yet research suggests that, for young people, structural inequity is most influential in future outcomes, regardless of childbearing. We conducted in-depth interviews with 50 young women (ages 18-24) and their male partners (n = 100) and investigated the influence of structural inequity on pregnancy desires and plans. Three themes emerged, stratified by social advantage. In the "Things Will Be Different Later" theme, socially advantaged participants envisioned that their future lives would surely be different due to achievement of educational, professional, and economic goals; thus, their pregnancy plans aligned with their desires, often reflected in use of highly effective contraception. In the "I Don't Have Everything I Need" theme, participants expressed delaying desired pregnancies (primarily through condom use) until they could contend with structural barriers. Their pregnancy plans, shifted by way of structural inequity, were not aligned with their desires. Under the "I'll Never Have Everything I Need" theme, socially disadvantaged participants expressed significant doubt about ever realizing ideal circumstances for pregnancy preparedness; as pregnancy prevention was not salient, these participants used condoms or no contraception. This analysis indicates that structural inequities constrain reproductive self-determination in emerging adulthood, creating a chasm between desired and actual childbearing that was reflected in contraceptive decision-making. Public health narratives emphasizing the importance of pregnancy prevention for socially disadvantaged groups without addressing the manifestation of structural inequity in their lives perpetuate reproductive oppression vis-à-vis emphasis on contraceptive use to ensure future economic success.

"We Kind of Met In-Between": A Qualitative Analysis of Young Couples' Relationship Dynamics and Negotiations About Pregnancy Intentions.

CONTEXT: The literature on reproductive decision making often focuses on women and neglects the role of men and the importance of relationship context. Research with couples is vital to understanding joint decision making regarding having children at various stages of a couple's relationship and an individual's life course. METHODS: In-depth, individual interviews were conducted with a socioeconomically, racially and ethnically diverse sample of 50 young heterosexual women and their male partners in northern California in 2015-2016. A dyadic, thematic analytic approach was used to examine whether and how prospective pregnancy intentions and current pregnancy desires are negotiated at the couple level, and how relationship dynamics influence any negotiation and decision-making processes. RESULTS: Twenty-three couples described engaging in joint pregnancy decision making, which required purposeful communication and, for some, compromise and acceptance. For nearly all of these couples, these processes led to aligned prospective pregnancy intentions, even when current pregnancy desires differed. The remaining 27 couples described individual pregnancy decision-making processes; many respondents reported intentions that aligned with their partner's by happenstance, despite some respondents having avoided communicating their desires to their partner. Some of these couples faced relationship difficulties, including poor communication, leading some participants to misinterpret or be unaware of their partner's pregnancy intentions and desires. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship context is important in the formulation of prospective pregnancy intentions among young people. Counseling protocols, interventions and policies that attend to the complex factors that influence young couples' pregnancy decision making are needed to better help couples attain their reproductive goals.

The Relationship between Subjective and Physiological Sexual Arousal in Women with and without Arousal Concerns.

Whereas laboratory studies frequently report low correlations between women's physiological and subjective sexual arousal (i.e., concordance), research employing advanced statistical techniques reveals striking between-person variability in this relationship. Moreover, previous research has shown that interoception (i.e., the awareness of changes within the body) influences concordance in women, though how this effect varies by sexual function is yet unknown. The present study used multilevel modeling to examine concordance in women with (n = 27) and without (n = 28) sexual arousal concerns and explored how concordance varies as a function of interoception. Women viewed a sexual film while their arousal responses were measured and then completed a self-report measure of interoception. A significant relationship emerged between physiological and subjective sexual arousal, in addition to tremendous between-person variability across both groups. Several aspects of interoception moderated concordance (p's between 0.0008 and 0.03), and this pattern varied across groups. Given this variability even in absence of sexual arousal concerns, these findings question the utility of using concordance as a clinical outcome in treatment research. Individual differences in interoception may have implications for treatment matching.

Why Humans Have Sex: Development and Psychometric Assessment of a Short-Form Version of the YSEX? Instrument.

Research has documented 237 distinct reasons for engaging in sex, which have been clustered into the 141-item, 13 subscale YSEX? instrument. Although the YSEX? has impressive psychometric properties, the required completion time is a barrier to its use in time-constrained contexts. The current studies develop and validate a short-form version of the instrument. The new 28-item, 14 subscale YSEX?-SF demonstrates acceptable model fit and good internal-reliability, with evidence for cross-form and construct validity. The YSEX?-SF maintains the original instrument's sound psychometric properties with a significantly shorter completion time, which may facilitate the study of sexual motivation.

Scoring and Interpretation of the FSFI: What can be Learned From 20 Years of use?

INTRODUCTION: Over the past 20 years, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) has been considered the gold standard for the measurement of sexual function in women, with over 1,000 published manuscripts citing the article. Despite the measure's widespread usage and excellent psychometric properties, there has been some confusion over how to best implement and score the measure and interpret corresponding findings. AIM: The aim of the current article is to provide guidance, drawing from 20 years of use, on how to best implement the FSFI in research settings and interpret results based on the validation studies that have been conducted to date. METHODS: The overview of scoring and interpretation procedures found in this article is drawn from a review of the published literature on the psychometric properties of the FSFI. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The measure of interest for the present review is the FSFI. RESULTS: This review article provides information about implementing, scoring, and interpreting the full-scale FSFI. Domain-level scoring and interpretation procedures are also discussed across the 5 domains of the FSFI: arousal, satisfaction, desire, pain, and lubrication. Additionally, guidance is provided for evaluating translated versions of the FSFI and using the measure to examine sexual function in culturally diverse populations. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Guidance on appropriately scoring and interpretating the FSFI has the potential to strengthen our empirical understanding of sexual function, and consequently, to guide theory-driven treatment development and clinical practice. STRENGTH & LIMITATIONS: The present review provides applied guidance for the appropriate use of the FSFI specifically, but does not cover other common measures of sexual function or adaptations of the original measure. CONCLUSION: It is our hope that the guidance found in this review will ultimately lead to more rigorous and appropriate usage of the FSFI in research settings. Meston CM, Freihart BK, Handy AB, et al. Scoring and Interpretation of the FSFI: What can be Learned From 20 Years of use? J Sex Med 2020;17:17-25.

Preliminary Evidence for a Relationship Between Physiological Synchrony and Sexual Satisfaction in Opposite-Sex Couples.

INTRODUCTION: Over the past 3 decades, our understanding of physiological synchrony (PS) has increased substantially. Research has shown that interpersonal PS is stronger in relationships characterized by emotional closeness and intimacy and that the magnitude of PS is moderated by relational satisfaction. Despite growing momentum for this area of study, no research to date has examined the relationship between PS and sexual satisfaction. AIM: The current study seeks to elucidate the relationship between PS and sexual satisfaction using study tasks that have been used in previous research to assess PS. METHODS: Heterosexual couples completed several survey measures in a laboratory setting. They were then connected to an electrocardiogram and instructed to complete baseline, gazing, and mirroring tasks. Subsequently, heart rate (HR) data for each dyad were analyzed for PS using a moderated multilevel modeling approach. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Scores on the Sexual Satisfaction Scale were used to moderate dyadic coherence between male and female partner HRs over time. RESULTS: PS was detected in our sample, with both men reliably predicting the HR of their female partners, and women reliably predicting the HR of their male partners. Akaike information criterion values indicate the better fitting model for each task was for men predicting the women's HRs. A significant interaction effect was found between observed PS during the mirroring task (with male HR predicting female HR) and overall sexual satisfaction scores. There was no relationship between PS during baseline or gazing and overall sexual satisfaction. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Results provide initial evidence for the relevance of PS in sexual dyanmics. STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS: The current analysis used a dyadic psychophysiological approach to extend the growing body of literature on PS into the theoretically linked field of sexuality. Because of the small sample size and nondirectional nature of the study design, future research is needed to replicate and extend findings. CONCLUSION: The ability of couples to co-regulate while attempting actively to synchronize (as in the mirroring task) may be connected to how they perceive and experience their sexual relationship. Conversely, more sexually satisfied couples may be more likely to synchronize physiologically. Taken together, these findings reflect the first evidence that PS and sexual satisfaction may be associated at the couple-level. Freihart BK, Meston CM. Preliminary Evidence for a Relationship Between Physiological Synchrony and Sexual Satisfaction in Opposite-Sex Couples. J Sex Med 2019;16:2000-2010.

The Misclassification of Ambivalence in Pregnancy Intentions: A Mixed-Methods Analysis.

CONTEXT: Researchers have developed various measures of pregnancy ambivalence in an effort to capture the nuance overlooked by conventional, binary measures of pregnancy intention. However, the conceptualization and operationalization of the concept of ambivalence vary widely and may miss the complexity inherent in pregnancy intentions, particularly for young people, among whom unintended pregnancy rates are highest. METHODS: To investigate the utility and accuracy of current measures of pregnancy ambivalence, a mixed-methods study was conducted with 50 young women and their male partners in northern California in 2015-2016. Survey data were used to descriptively analyze six existing pregnancy ambivalence measures; in-depth interviews addressing pregnancy desires and plans were deductively coded and thematically analyzed to understand why some participants appeared to be ambivalent from the survey data when their interview responses suggested otherwise. RESULTS: Eighty participants would be considered ambivalent by at least one measure. After assessment of the interview data, however, these measures were deemed to have misclassified almost all (78) participants. Qualitative analysis revealed several themes regarding misclassification: conflation of current pregnancy desires with expected postconception emotional responses; acceptability of an undesired pregnancy; tempering of survey responses to account for partners' desires; perceived lack of control regarding pregnancy; and, among participants with medical conditions perceived to impact fertility, subjugation of pregnancy desires in the interest of self-protection. CONCLUSIONS: Current approaches to measuring pregnancy ambivalence may fail to capture the intricacies of pregnancy intentions and may be ineffective if they do not account for young people's experiences, especially when used to inform clinical practice, programs and policy.

Motivations for Interest, Disinterest and Uncertainty in Intrauterine Device Use Among Young Women.

Objective To elucidate salient contraceptive preferences and priorities as they relate to young women's interest or lack thereof in intrauterine device (IUD) use. Methods Qualitative data were drawn from a 2012 survey on contraceptive preferences and IUD interest. Among 413 young (ages 18-29) women, open-ended responses describing reasons for interest, disinterest or uncertainty in future IUD use were examined using a thematic analysis approach. Results Most participants were unsure about (49.2%) or not interested in (30.0%) future IUD use. Themes regarding IUD interest related to specific facets of IUD use (e.g., risks and side effects, ease of use), as well as broader influences on contraceptive decision-making (e.g., social influences, alignment with pregnancy intentions). For interested participants, a sense of empowerment pervaded the responses, with many references to the ease of use and lack of requisite maintenance. Uninterested participants were concerned about the internal nature of the IUD, with many describing "horror stories" and fears that the IUD would cause injury or infertility. Unsure participants provided more detailed and complex responses, carefully weighing the advantages and disadvantages of IUD use. Uncertainty was often driven by an acknowledged need for specific information, rather than overall lack of knowledge. Conclusions for Practice In this analysis, many women had a clear sense of their contraceptive preferences, which frequently did not align with IUDs. While continuing to remove barriers to IUD access is critical, patient-centered counseling approaches offer the opportunity to support women in best matching with a method that aligns with their preferences.