PSY 4122 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sexual Minority, Sexual Function, Orgasm
28 Apr 2018
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January 18, 2018
Sexual Satisfaction
What is sexual satisfaction?
Participant-driven definitions: evaluate participants’ definitions - see what’s out there and compare to what
researchers are doing
-Be aware that there’s other viewpoints out there and that you may be influenced by your own biases
Researcher-driven definitions: evaluate participants based on researcher’s definition
-No influence from participants
Two theoretically-driven approaches: two theories in the literature about what it is and what we should be testing; how
different predictors are connected together
Sexual satisfaction: being satisfied with your sex life and your sexuality
-One component of sexual health and sexual well-being
Major limitation with this kind of research: assumption that you can only be sexually satisfied when in a relationship
The way we have researched sexual satisfaction is influenced by the ways that we have measured it
-Hard to compare results across studies
-Some measures are more accurate than others - some of the findings might not be so accurate
Participant Definitions
Used to take for granted that everyone would define it in the same way
-Need to realize that single-item measures are not good enough - lots of variety as to what qualifies as sexual
satisfaction and what it means to people
Heterosexual laypeople’s definitions (from those in relationships): there is no one definition of sexual satisfaction, but
rather, two main themes have been found
-Personal sexual well-being
•Positive feelings, pleasure, sexual openness
•Sexual functioning: orgasm, arousal, desire
-Dyadic processes
•Intimacy: emotional expression, romance, mutuality
•Frequency: does frequency match desired frequency?
•Ludic sexuality: creativity, acting out desires
Sexual minority (same-sex relationships) laypeople’s definitions: very similar themes have been found, but there was
an extra component found (discourses)
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January 18, 2018
-Intrapersonal
•Subjective experience: losing control, spirituality
•Subjective sexual experience: pleasure, desire, excitement, orgasm, genital involvement
-Interpersonal
•Dyadic process: mutuality, eroticism, fantasy, connection, creativity
•Emotions towards others: affection, love, passion, attraction
-Discourses: not as salient of a need for heterosexual people
•Sexual minority identity: needed to feel comfortable and open about their sexual identity
•Relationship contexts that both fit monogamous and consensual non-monogamy
-Needed options that fit the person’s preference, not necessarily only the traditional monogamy
New Sexual Satisfaction Scale (Stulhofer, Busko & Brouillard, 2010)
Relatively new
-Developed by analyzing research
-Started by looking at clinical components - looks at what therapy did and what components were involved in
helping people improve their sexual satisfaction
Theoretical approach to conceptualizing: individual + interpersonal + behavioural
-Individual aspects tend to focus on orgasm, enjoyment, etc.
-Interpersonal tends to focus on emotional connection, intimacy, etc.
-Behaviour tends to focus on intensity, duration, frequency
Operational definition: involves two factors - ego-focused and partner/activity focused
-Found that behavioural aspect tended to fall inter either the individual or interpersonal aspects
Long form: ego-centred subscale and partner/activity-centred subsoil
-20 items (narrowed from initial 35)
Short form is unidimensional: collapses into the individual and looks at overall satisfaction
-12 items
-1 (not at all satisfied) to 5 (extremely satisfied)
-Higher overall score = more satisfied
Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction (Lawrence & Byers)
Borrowed from interpersonal exchange models and life satisfaction research
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Definition: affective response arising from one’s subjective evaluation of the positive and negative dimensions
associated with one’s sexual relationship
-Perceived value of rewards and costs + comparison level of these + equality with partner’s predict global sexual
satisfaction
•Looks at how many rewards/costs there are
•Looks at whether or not the rewards outweigh the costs and vice versa
•Looks at whether or not rewards/costs matches your partner’s and whether or not you think there is a fairness
and a balance
-NB: you do this by yourself - the comparison with your partner isn’t necessarily something you would have
talked about with them
-Very subjective - importance is placed on perceived value, not an absolute value
-Take the evaluation of cost and rewards and turn it into feelings about the sexual relationship
Global measure of sexual satisfaction: looks at 5 bipolar items; higher = more satisfied
-Good - bad
-Pleasant - unpleasant
Other Approaches
Single-item measures of sexual satisfaction
-Many, usually created for the study itself
Index of Sexual Satisfaction (Hudson et al., 1981)
-25 items: 1 (none of the time) to 7 (all of the time)
-Higher scores = lower sexual satisfaction
-Includes items about sexual relationships quality and others about consequences or predictors of sexual
satisfaction
Sexual satisfaction embedded in sexual function measures (desire, arousal, orgasm, pain, etc.)
-Usually looks at single-item measures
-Sometimes looks at two measures
A Psychometric Comparison of Three Scales and a Single-Item Measure to Assess Sexual
Satisfaction (Mark, Herbenick, Fortenberry, Sanders & Reece, 2014)
Found that there’s no gold-standard instrument
Lots of problem with predictor-criterion overlap
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Document Summary
Participant-driven de nitions: evaluate participants" de nitions - see what"s out there and compare to what researchers are doing. Be aware that there"s other viewpoints out there and that you may be in uenced by your own biases. Researcher-driven de nitions: evaluate participants based on researcher"s de nition. Two theoretically-driven approaches: two theories in the literature about what it is and what we should be testing; how different predictors are connected together. Sexual satisfaction: being satis ed with your sex life and your sexuality. One component of sexual health and sexual well-being. Major limitation with this kind of research: assumption that you can only be sexually satis ed when in a relationship. The way we have researched sexual satisfaction is in uenced by the ways that we have measured it. Some measures are more accurate than others - some of the ndings might not be so accurate.
