Male couples' dyadic adjustment and the use of safer sex within and outside of primary relationships.

Eighty-two cohabiting men (41 male couples) provided data on their sexual behavior patterns with their primary partner and with other partners. A multifactorial index of risk behaviors was used to measure exposure to HIV, and the association between relationship adjustment in primary relationships and the use of safer sex practices was assessed. Relationship adjustment was higher among individual men using safer sex practices inside and outside of their primary relationships than among men using riskier sex practices. In addition, partners who practiced safer sex had lower relationship satisfaction when their primary partner practiced risky sex as opposed to safer sex. The findings are discussed with reference to the processes likely to account for the association between relationship quality and health outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol use, expectancies, and sexual sensation seeking as correlates of HIV risk behavior in heterosexual young adults.

Most theoretical models of HIV risk behavior have not considered the role of personality factors, and few studies have examined mechanisms accounting for dispositional influences on sexual risk taking. This study elaborated on a conceptual model emphasizing sexual sensation seeking, alcohol expectancies, and drinking before sex as key predictors of HIV risk (S. C. Kalichman, L. Tannenbaum, & D. Nachimson, 1998). Multiple groups structural equation modeling was used to determine whether gender moderated relationships among these variables in a sample of 611 heterosexual, young adult drinkers (49% women, 76% Caucasian, mean age = 25 years). The model provided an excellent fit to the data, and gender differences were not substantiated. Sexual sensation seeking predicted HIV risk directly as well as indirectly via sex-related alcohol expectancies and drinking in sexual contexts. Findings suggest that expectancies and drinking before sex represent proximal mechanisms through which dispositional factors influence sexual risk outcomes. Moreover, these relationships appear to be similar in men and women. Interventions could benefit from targeting alcohol expectancies and drinking before sex in individuals with a dispositional tendency toward sexual risk taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk behaviors, self-efficacy, and AIDS prevention among adolescents

This study was conducted to investigate risk behaviors and AIDS-preventive variables in high school adolescents. One hundred fifty-two students in Grades 10 through 12 were administered an AIDS-related behavior questionnaire and the Attitudes Toward AIDS Scale-High School Version (ATAS-HS; Goh, 1992). The results indicated that use of alcohol was far more common than other risk behaviors among the respondents. Rates of sexual intercourse and intravenous drug use were significantly lower than those reported in other research. Self-efficacy was significantly related to AIDS-preventive behavioral intentions, perceived knowledge, and measured knowledge about AIDS. Because the AIDS-preventive variables functioned differently in their relationships to sexual practices, the correlations suggest a pattern of co-occurrence between specific behavior intentions and actual AIDS-preventive behaviors (i.e., sexual experience, use of condoms). In addition, significant gender and grade differences were found on selected risk behaviors and AIDS-preventive variables.     

What men want: The role of reflective opposite-sex normative preferences in alcohol use among college women.

Misperceptions of peer drinking norms have been found to be strongly associated with individual drinking behavior, especially for proximal reference groups such as same-sex friends. Less studied are the effects of perceived preferences from the opposite sex on alcohol use; that is, the behaviors an individual believes the opposite sex prefers from them. Research suggests that these perceived “reflective” normative preferences may be particularly salient among college women, who may drink in pursuit of intimate relationships and positive attention from male peers. Heterosexual undergraduate students from two universities participated in this project. Females answered questions regarding the amount of alcohol they believe a typical male would like his female friends, dates, or romantic partners to drink. Males answered the same questions, stating their actual preferences. Results showed that females overestimate the amount of alcohol males want their female friends, dating partners, and sexual partners to drink, and that this misperception was associated with their drinking behavior, even after controlling for perceived same-sex norms. These results suggest that reflective normative feedback may offer a powerful new tool for female-targeted interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Present versus future time perspective and HIV risk among heterosexual college students.

Because safer sex behaviors require planning and forethought and their primary motivations lie in the future, the hypothesis that behaviors that might reduce exposure to HIV would positively correlate with future time orientation, whereas risky behaviors would correlate with present time orientation, was tested in a survey of 188 heterosexual college students. As expected, those high in future time orientation were less likely to be sexually experienced and had fewer sexual partners. In contrast, present time orientation positively related to those measures. Those high in future orientation were more likely to use alternate methods of reducing exposure to HIV (e.g., inquiring about partner's sexual history, delaying or abstaining from sex). Time perspective also interacted with both gender and fear of AIDS. The responses of women and individuals low in fear were more related to time orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual orientation and the second to fourth finger length ratio: A meta-analysis in men and women.

The ratio of the lengths of the second and fourth fingers (2D:4D) may serve as a marker for prenatal androgen signaling. Because people are typically unaware of their 2D:4D, its use allows possible effects of early sex hormone regimes and socialization to be disentangled. We conducted a meta-analysis on relationships between 2D:4D and sexual orientation in men and women in 18 independent samples of men and 16 independent samples of women. Collectively, these samples comprised 1,618 heterosexual men, 1,693 heterosexual women, 1,503 gay men, and 1,014 lesbians. In addition to identifying the normative heterosexual sex difference in 2D:4D for both hands, we found that heterosexual women had higher (more feminine) left- and right-hand 2D:4D than did lesbians, but we found no difference between heterosexual and gay men. Moderator analyses suggested that ethnicity explained some between-studies variation in men. These results add to a literature suggesting that early sex hormone signaling affects sexual orientation in women, and highlight the need for further research exploring the relationships among 2D:4D, sexual orientation, and ethnicity in men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk contexts and risk behaviors in the Euregion Maas-Rhein: the Boule de Neige intervention for AIDS prevention among drug users

Using targeted sampling, self-reported data of 1,767 drug users in the Euregion Maas-Rhein were collected over 3 years. Forty-two percent of the injection drug users shared syringes with sexual partners and 47.8% with friends. Eighty-one percent of the total sample had sexual contact in the last 6 months, half of whom with one person and half with two or more. Significant predictors of high-risk drug use were injecting in the presence of others, injection onset before the age of 20, female gender, and not living in The Netherlands. Participation in needle exchange or methadone programs and sufficient knowledge of risk factors was not significantly related to a reduction of high-risk drug use behavior. High-risk sexual behavior was found to be related to male gender, under the age of 30 and to multiple sexual partners. We conclude that in a social context where needle exchange, methadone programs, and sufficient knowledge of risk factors among the drug user population exist, AIDS prevention can be improved through behavioral skills training and developing specific interventions that target the peer group environments, rituals, partner relationships, and lifestyles of drug users.     

Early hormonal influences on childhood sex-typed activity and playmate preferences: Implications for the development of sexual orientation.

Early hormones have been hypothesized to influence both sexual orientation and related childhood sex-typed behaviors. This study examined hormonal influences on activity and playmate preferences in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) aged 2.5–12 yrs (24 girls, 19 boys) and their relatives (16 girls, 25 boys). CAH girls preferred boys' toys and activities. They also had greater preference for boy playmates than controls, but this was largely attributable to 4 girls. CAH boys did not differ significantly from controls. Activity and playmate preferences were not related. It was concluded that early androgen has a major effect on childhood activity preferences but only a weak influence on playmate preferences; sex segregation does not arise from sex-typed activity preferences; activity and playmate preferences may be differently predictive of sexual orientation; and hormonal influences on sexual orientation are likely to be complex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

HIV risk correlates among non-injection cocaine dependent men in treatment

Guided by the AIDS Risk Reduction Model (ARRM), psychosocial correlates of HIV risk behavior were examined among noninjection cocaine dependent, heterosexual men (NI-CD-HM) in treatment. Subjects (N = 111) completed a structured interview to measure ARRM mediating variables and HIV risk behaviors. The results indicated that greater perceived susceptibility to contracting HIV, lower sexual self-efficacy, higher lifetime incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, and being under the influence of alcohol or other drugs during sex predicted having more sexual partners in the month prior to admission. Despite adequate knowledge of safer sex guidelines, subjects remained misinformed regarding certain aspects of HIV transmission. Men who perceived that their partners viewed condoms more positively and who exchanged drugs for sex were more likely to use condoms, yet condom use skills were typically inadequate to ensure effective prevention. These results suggest that HIV prevention interventions among NI-CD-HM should focus on improving knowledge, enhancing beliefs in the capacity to enact safer sex behaviors for preventing HIV and other STDs, building relevant skills (e.g., condom use, open sexual communication between partners), and emphasizing psychoactive substance abstinence. Couple interventions, in which partners actually rehearse safer sex negotiations, may be particularly effective in this regard.     

Perceived proposer personality characteristics and gender differences in acceptance of casual sex offers.

In a highly influential paper, Clark and Hatfield (1989) demonstrated that, whereas men were quite likely to accept a casual sexual offer from a confederate research assistant, women never did so. The current research provides a more in-depth explanation of gender differences in acceptance of casual sex offers via 4 (quasi-) experiments. First, using a person-perception paradigm, I assessed people's impressions of women and men who proposed a casual sexual encounter in the same manner that confederates in Clark and Hatfield did. Women and men agreed that female proposers were more intelligent, successful, and sexually skilled than men who made the same proposals. Second, I demonstrated that the large gender differences from the original Clark and Hatfield study could be eliminated by asking participants to imagine proposals from (attractive and unattractive) famous individuals, friends, and same-gender individuals. Next, I assessed factors associated with likelihood of agreeing to the casual sex proposal. The extent to which women and men believed that the proposer would be sexually skilled predicted how likely they would be to engage in casual sex with this individual. Finally, I examined these factors in the context of actual encounters from the participants' previous experiences, and the results were replicated in this context. Overall findings suggest that the large gender differences Clark and Hatfield observed in acceptance of the casual sex offer may have more to do with perceived personality characteristics of the female versus male proposers than with gender differences among Clark and Hatfield's participants and that sexual pleasure figures largely in women's and men's decision making about casual sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The thickness of being: intentional worlds, strategies of identity, and experience among schizophrenics

Ethnographic research among Glasgow female prostitutes working in street, sauna, flat, escort agency and "sugar daddy" sectors investigated prostitutes' accounts of the occasions in which condoms were not used for penetrative sexual encounters. Such occasions were a minority of commercial sex encounters and a majority of private sex encounters. Although prostitutes saw condom use as inappropriate in private sexual relationships this was not, as has been suggested, an aid to relationship interpretation as either private or commercial. Condoms in commercial sex were seen as routine tools of the trade, and hence emerged as emblems of prostitution. These emblematic qualities were found in turn to produce both challenges to condom use from customers and opportunities for prostitutes to manipulate customer relations by judicious suspension of condom application. Both norms of gendered role-play and prostitute status were highlighted as threatening condom use in some situations, while prostitute status could also be used as the basis of rational argument for condom use in others. Relational issues such as familiarity or a desire to communicate trust were at the forefront in explanations of condom non-use. Perceptions of physical power and the authority to permit or withhold sexual service or profit were determining influences crucial in condom use negotiation.     

North American opossum Didelphis virginiana as a fetal nephrotoxicity model: histologic and ultrastructural assessment of uranyl nitrate (UN)-induced damage

Individuals report a variety of reasons for having sex. Understanding these reasons can improve HIV and STD prevention efforts because they may constitute an important component in the aetiology of sexual risk-taking behaviours. Relationships between self-reported reasons for having sex and frequency of participation in sexual practices among 146 heterosexual men recruited from public STD clinics in Southern California were examined. Using a self-administered questionnaire, respondents reported how often they engaged in sex for each of 16 reasons and how frequently they participated in high, moderate, and low-risk sexual practices. A principal components analysis identified five factors used to construct scales: love; compliance; pleasure; altered states; and potency. Higher-risk sexual practices were positively associated with the pleasure and potency scales, whereas lower-risk practices were positively associated with the love scale. These findings suggest that some reasons men report for having sex may influence sexual risk-taking. Interventions to reduce unsafe sex should explicitly address how men can practise safer sex and still experience pleasure and potency.     

Sexual differentiation of the human hypothalamus in relation to gender and sexual orientation

Recently, sex differences in the structures of the human hypothalamus and adjacent brain structures have been observed that seem to be related to gender, to gender problems such as transsexuality, and to sexual orientation, that is, heterosexuality and homosexuality. Although these observations have yet to be confirmed, and their exact functional implications are far from clear, they open up a whole new field of physiological structural-functional relationships in human brain research that has so far focused mainly on such relationships in pathology.     

Burden of psychiatric morbidity among lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals in the California Quality of Life Survey.

In recent population-based surveys, minority sexual orientation has been identified as a potential risk indicator for psychiatric morbidity. However, methodological limitations in the studies to date have led to concerns that current estimates are biased due to inadequate measurement of sexual orientation and uncontrolled confounding from prevalent HIV infection. In the present study, the authors investigate associations between sexual orientation and mental health/substance use morbidity using information obtained from 2,272 individuals, including 652 sexual orientation minorities, age 18 to 72 years, interviewed in the California Quality of Life Survey. Results confirm that minority sexual orientation is a risk indicator for psychiatric morbidity. However, levels of increased risk vary within this subpopulation by both gender and patterns of sexual orientation expression. Among gay/bisexual men, much of this greater burden is related to concurrent HIV infection. Reducing excess mental health morbidity risk among sexual orientation minorities could result in possibly a 5% to 11% reduction in the burden of the disorders assessed here among the adult population. Sexual orientation represents an important, but relatively understudied, individual characteristic shaping risk for psychiatric morbidity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors predicting continued high-risk behavior among gay men in small cities: Psychological, behavioral, and demographic characteristics related to unsafe sex.

Nearly 6,000 men entering gay bars in 16 small American cities were anonymously surveyed to assess their sexual behavior and to determine predictors of risky sexual practices. Excluding individuals in long-term exclusive relationships, 27% of the men reported engaging in unprotected anal intercourse in the past 2 months. Factors strongly predictive of risk included having a large number of different male partners, estimating oneself to be at greater risk, having weak intentions to use condoms at next intercourse, believing that safer sex is not an expected norm within one's peer reference group, being of younger age, and having less education. These findings indicate that HIV prevention efforts are urgently needed for gay men in smaller cities, with efforts particularly focused on young and less educated men sexually active with multiple partners. Prevention should focus on strengthening intentions to change behavior and on changing social norms to foster safer sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The sexual negotiation behavior of HIV-positive gay and bisexual men.

This study describes the sexual negotiation practices of 256 HIV-positive gay and bisexual men enrolled in a sexual risk reduction intervention. Negotiation behavior was associated with sexual risk practices. Men who abstained from anal sex and those who had unprotected anal sex had the lowest negotiation scores. Negotiations occurred most often with steady partners and least often with anonymous partners. A logistic regression to predict high versus low frequency negotiators revealed the significance of self-efficacy for condom use and number of months HIV-positive. Findings are discussed in terms of the development of sexual risk reduction interventions for HIV-positive gay and bisexual men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between posttraumatic stress symptoms and sexual risk: Examining potential mechanisms.

Little is known about behavioral and psychological mechanisms that may explain relationships between posttraumatic stress and sexual risks. As rates of HIV infection among African American women remain significantly higher than for other female subgroups, research on sexual risk among African American women is needed. The present study examines the relationships of posttraumatic stress symptoms as measured by the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version with sexual risk behaviors, sexual sensation-seeking, and sexual compulsivity in 30 undergraduate African American women with any reported history of sexual intercourse. Higher posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with more sexual partners, greater frequency of vaginal sex without a condom, and endorsement of sex while under the influence of a substance. Posttraumatic stress symptoms were negatively correlated with perceived sexual control, but were not significantly correlated with sexual compulsivity or sensation-seeking. Perceived sexual control was negatively associated with frequency of unprotected sex and sex under the influence. The preliminary evidence from this small sample suggests sexual control may mediate the relationship of the posttraumatic stress symptoms with unprotected sex. These results are generally consistent with previous findings suggesting posttraumatic stress is associated with sexual risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding gender differences in adolescent sexuality

More than 1,800 junior high school students were surveyed regarding sexual activity. It was found that females were less likely to have "ever had sex" but among nonvirgins there was little gender difference in frequency or recency. Items measuring sexual values indicated greater commitment to abstinence and less permissive sexual attitudes among females. Females also saw sexual activity as more detrimental to future goal attainment. They viewed parents as less approving, but were more likely to discuss sex and dating practices with them. They reported parents as having more rules and were more likely to believe that they were unfair, and that they had gone against the parents' rules. Females perceived less peer pressure for sex and more support for waiting. However, more males anticipated partner pressure for sex and believed they might "have sex" before marriage. Males and females reported no difference in the importance of parenthood, but more females saw teen parenthood as a problem. No gender differences were found for smoking or drinking. Significantly more males had experienced petting behavior. Females were more likely to believe that sexual urges can be controlled. It was concluded that understanding these differences can help in the design of sex education and social programs to address problems associated with adolescent sexuality.     

Close relationships and elevated HIV risk behavior: Evidence and possible underlying psychological processes.

A review of research on AIDS preventive behavior indicates that minority and nonminority heterosexual adolescents and adults, gay men, injection drug users, and commercial sex workers are all less likely to practice safer sex with close relationship partners, compared with partners they perceive to be "casual" sexual partners. Because many individuals in close relationships have engaged in HIV risk behavior over extended periods of time and are unaware of their actual HIV status, practicing unprotected sexual intercourse with a committed relationship partner who is not tested for HIV appears to be a major and unrecognized source of HIV risk. This article reviews the evidence for higher levels of HIV risk behavior in close relationships and then presents relevant conceptual and empirical work to explore the psychological processes that may underlie risky sexual behavior in close relationships, using as a framework the information-motivation-behavioral skills model of preventive behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)