YSEX? A Replication Study in Different Age Groups.

INTRODUCTION: 10 years ago, Meston and Buss (Arch Sex Behav 2007;36:477-507) identified 237 reasons for having sex. Since then, only a few studies have built on the analyses of differences in sexual motivation. AIM: To replicate the YSEX? in a broader sample of women and men of different ages. METHODS: Women and men younger than 18 (n = 141), 18 to 22 (n = 1,039), 22 to 55 (n = 2,804), and at least 55 (n = 667) years old completed an online survey about their reasons for engaging in sex during the past year. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The YSEX? inventory was assessed to measure sexual motivation. The taxonomy consists of 4 main factors (physical, goal attainment, emotional, insecurity) and 13 subfactors. RESULTS: 4,655 participants took part in the survey. The top 5 primary reasons for engaging in sex were identical across age groups and sexes. However, results also showed that the pattern of motivations for sex significantly differed depending on the age and sex of the participant. Older participants reported significantly less physical and utilitarian reasons than younger participants. Young adult men (18-22 years) were particularly motivated to have sex for emotional reasons of love and commitment. Women in this age group engaged more often in sex to express their emotions than older women. Significant sex differences were found, with men preferring physical reasons and women more often expressing emotional and insecurity reasons, except for the group of adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that most people are driven by the pleasure of sex. With aging, the physical driving force and sexual satisfaction significantly decrease, although sex remains important throughout life. The findings support a biopsychosocial approach to the understanding of people's sexual motivation. Evolutionary differences might explain some of our findings, as might shifting cultural norms. Wyverkens E, Dewitte M, Deschepper E, et al. YSEX? A Replication Study in Different Age Groups. J Sex Med 2018;15:492-501.

The Meaning of the Sperm Donor for Heterosexual Couples: Confirming the Position of the Father.

In the literature, relatively little attention has been paid to the meaning of donor involvement in the intimate couple dyad. The current study aimed to enrich our understanding of couples' meaning-making regarding the anonymous sperm donor and how they dealt with the donor involvement. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine couples, who had at least one child conceived through sperm donation. Our thematic analysis showed that the donor conception was seen as a different path to create a normal family. Once the family was formed, most couples avoided talking about the donor because it was perceived as disrupting men's growing confidence in their position as father. Participants tried to confirm the position of the father to protect the family relationships. Uncertainties about how they were perceived as parents showed the continuing dominance of genetic ties within our social discourse. Participants also dealt with reminders of the donor in their daily life. Overall, they tried to manage the space taken up by the donor and to protect the position of the father. We relate our findings to literature on topic avoidance and shared obliviousness in families. For counseling practice, it could be useful to explore couples' meaning-making about the donor as this seemed to serve family functioning.

Family Communication about Donor Conception: A Qualitative Study with Lesbian Parents.

In this qualitative study of 10 lesbian couples who built their families through anonymous donor conception, we explore how lesbian parents experience communication about the donor conception within the family. While for these families "disclosure" of donor conception is often seen as evident, the way parents and children discuss this subject and how this is experienced by the parents themselves has not received much research attention. To meet this gap in the literature, in-depth interviews with lesbian couples were conducted. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis showed that this family communication process can be understood within the broader relational context of parent-child relationships. Even though parents handled this family communication in many different ways, these were all inspired by the same motives: acting in the child's best interest and-on a more implicit level-maintaining good relations within the family. Furthermore, parents left the initiative for talking about the DC mostly to the child. Overall, parents aimed at constructing a donor conception narrative that they considered acceptable for both the children and themselves. They used different strategies, such as gradual disclosure, limiting the meaning of the donor, and justifying the donor conception. Building an acceptable donor conception narrative was sometimes challenged by influences from the social environment. In the discussion, we relate this qualitative systemic study to the broader issues of selective disclosure and bidirectionality within families.

Recipients' views on payment of sperm donors.

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how recipients viewed payment of sperm donors. The study was conducted in Belgium, where, as in many countries, sperm donors receive recompense for their time and expenses. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 heterosexual and lesbian couples who, at the time of data collection, had at least one donor-conceived child aged 7-10 years or who were undergoing donor conception treatment. Although participants commonly described the issue of financial compensation as something that did not really concern them, all supported the idea that some level of payment was acceptable or even necessary. The participants also identified several ways in which donor payment offered advantages to their own position as (future) parents. Although the idea is commonly rehearsed that sperm donation is a gift and that monetary transaction for conception is demeaning, the participants of this study did not generally share this view. To them, a small financial return served as a symbolic acknowledgement of the donor's contribution and helped secure the type of relationship they expected from their donor. There was clearly concern, however, over high payments and the risk of attracting the wrong kind of donor.

Experiences of Family Relationships Among Donor-Conceived Families: A Meta-Ethnography.

In this qualitative evidence synthesis, we explore how family relationships are experienced by parents who used gamete donation to conceive. We systematically searched four databases (PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and ProQuest) for literature related to this topic and retrieved 25 studies. Through the analysis of the qualitative studies, a comprehensive synthesis and framework was constructed. Following the meta-ethnography approach of Noblit and Hare, four main themes were identified: (a) balancing the importance of genetic and social ties, (b) normalizing and legitimizing the family, (c) building strong family ties, and (d) minimizing the role of the donor. Underlying these four main themes, a sense of being "different" and "similar" at the same time was apparent. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for studying and counseling donor-conceived families.

Pre-abortion counselling from women's point of view.

OBJECTIVE: The value of mandatory pre-abortion counselling for women seeking abortions has been repeatedly questioned. The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives and feelings of almost 1000 women regarding pre-abortion counselling in Flanders. METHODS: Participating women (N = 971) - all requesting an abortion at one of the five Flemish abortion centres - were offered a questionnaire prior to the counselling session and immediately afterwards. Both questionnaires measured their emotional and cognitive state as well as aspects of the content and the perceived value of the counselling session. RESULTS: Prior to the counselling, women are hesitant regarding the value of the sessions, feel distressed, yet decisive about their abortion. After the counselling session, women assign an increased value to the counselling, are very satisfied, and experience less distress and greater decisiveness. During counselling the abortion procedure (89%), the use of contraceptives (83%) and the individual decision-making process (81%) are nearly always addressed. The sessions are tailored to each woman and to the needs they expressed with regard to the content of the counselling. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-abortion counselling in Flanders is standardised as well as personalised. The women in this study positively valued it.

Sexual Motivation in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis: A Controlled Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: Sexual motives are major determinants of sexual behaviour. It has been known that sexual motives may vary according to circumstances. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease causing a broad range of symptoms and disabilities, that often interfere with sexual activities. We aimed to investigate the sexual motives in persons with MS. Patients and Methods: Cross-sectional study in 157 persons with MS and 157 controls matched for age, gender, relationship, duration of relationship and educational status via propensity score matching. The Reasons for Having Sex (YSEX) questionnaire assessed the proportion with which a person had engaged in sexual intercourse for each of 140 distinct motives to have sex. Estimated mean differences in scores for four primary factors (Physical, Goal attainment, Emotional, Insecurity) and 13 sub-factors, and sexual satisfaction and importance of sex were calculated as Average Treatment Effect of the Treated using 99% confidence intervals. Results: Persons with MS reported a lower proportion of engaging in sex compared with the controls for the factors Physical (-0.29), Emotional (-0.23) and Insecurity (-0.10); and for the physical sub-factors Pleasure (-0.48), Experience seeking (-0.32), Stress reduction (-0.24), and Physical desirability (-0.16), the emotional sub-factors Love and commitment (-0.27) and Expression (-0.17), and the insecurity sub-factor Self-esteem boost (-0.23). In the control group seven of the top 10 sexual motives were physical versus five in the MS group. The importance of sex was lower in the MS group (-0.68). Conclusion: Findings of this controlled cross-sectional study suggest a reduction in the number of sexual motives in persons with MS, especially of physical motives related to pleasure and experience seeking. Health care professionals may consider assessing sexual motivation when dealing with persons with MS who suffer from decreased sexual desire or another sexual dysfunction.

Ten years of fertility treatment experience and reproductive options in transgender men.

BACKGROUND: Up to 2018, the Belgian law stated that transgender people who wanted to change their legal sex had to undergo physical gender affirming treatment. This included gonadectomy to a medically possible and justified extent, which entailed that they had to accept the fact that they could no longer reproduce. However, research has shown that many transgender people desire to have children. AIMS: (1) to describe a cohort of transgender men and their respective cisgender female partners, to share our experiences with their request for donor conception, and to evaluate their disclosure intentions to the child, (2) to explore how the couples approach current and future reproductive options. METHODS: This mixed method study presents data from a retrospective analysis of patient records and from a qualitative interview study. The couples were selected from the group of transgender men who - together with their respective cisgender female partners - applied for sperm donation at Ghent University Hospital between 2002 and 2012. RESULTS: Forty-seven transgender men with a cisgender female partner requested treatment with anonymous donor sperm for a first child as a couple. Forty-one requests were accepted for treatment. We found that most couples requesting treatment intended to disclose the use of donor sperm to their future child (n = 34) while 24 couples were planning to inform the child about the parent's transgender identity. The six couples we interviewed saw donor conception as the preferred route to become parents. Adoption was seen as less obvious. The couples' attitudes toward stem cell-derived gametes reflected the significance of the genetic link with the child for both parents. DISCUSSION: Not all participants in our study were aware of their reproductive options. To be able to make a well-informed decision, transgender people should be counseled about all options at the time of transition.