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Wright and Adams (1994; 1999) developed a Choice Reaction Time measure to assess sexual interests in men and women. In their studies, men responded in accordance to their self-reported sexual interests much more consistently than women. Placing these results in the framework of objectification theories (e.g., Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), the present study was designed to examine the relationship between body image and young women's CRT responses.Forty-two females participated in the CRT task. Consistent with previous studies, 21 (50%) of the women took longer to respond on male trials than female trials. These women were compared to those who took longer on female trials on all the body image and sexuality measures using ANOVA's. Results indicated no significant differences on any of the body image measures, but a small number of differences on sexuality measures. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for gender differences in sexual interest. / Department of Psychological Science

The effects of anxiety arousal on subsequent sexual arousal were investigated to determine if sexually functional and dysfunctional women respond differentially to pairings of anxiety-evoking and erotic cues. Eight sexually dysfunctional and eight sexually functional women viewed a neutral control (travelogue videotape) or anxiety-evoking (threatened amputation videotape) preexposure stimulus followed by a sexually arousing (erotic videotape) experimental stimulus. A repeated measures design was used in which each subject observed both pairs of preexposure and experimental stimuli. Changes in sexual arousal were measured physiologically with a vaginal photoplethysmograph, and subjectively with a self-report rating scale. As predicted, functional women showed significantly greater physiological sexual arousal than dysfunctional women in both the neutral-erotic and anxiety-erotic conditions. Consistent with previous research, anxiety preexposure significantly enhanced genital arousal relative to the neutral-control stimulus for functional women. Moreover, dysfunctional women also achieved a significantly enhanced rate and magnitude of genital arousal following exposure to the anxiety stimulus. Contrary to the strength of their physiological responses however, both groups rated the anxiety-erotic condition as significantly less sexually arousing. Non-significant correlations between vaginal blood volume and subjective ratings revealed a trend for functional and dysfunctional women to experience enhanced genital arousal accompanied by an inhibited likelihood of acknowledging feeling aroused. These findings contradict the literature on sexually functional and dysfunctional men, and challenge current conceptualizations of sexual dysfunction. The findings suggest that (1) anxiety arousal enhances genital arousal in functional and dysfunctional women, (2) heightened arousal occurs despite contradictory cognitive perceptions, (3) the female sexual response system is desynchronous, (4) functional women do not necessarily process genital cues more effectively than dysfunctional women, (5) the physiological response system is imperative to defining a response as sexual and must be targeted in therapy, and (6) common modes of treatment directed toward increasing parasympathetic response may be counterproductive to the elicitation of sexual arousal. Alternative treatment strategies directed toward response synchrony, sympathetic activation, and cognitive attribution are discussed. A preliminary model of sexual dysfunction in women is proposed, .and discussed in terms of directions for future research. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Traditionally, juvenile sex offenders have been ignored in the literature. More recently the research has expanded particularly in the area of assessment and treatment. This study focused on the assessment of sexual arousal to deviant stimuli using the penile plethysmography (PPG) since it likely plays a significant role in juvenile sex offending behaviors. The goal of this study assessed its validity and reliability using Becker et al.'s set of PPG scenarios with a population of juvenile sex offenders. Significant differences were found between groups of (a) admitters versus partial admitters and (b) offenders with and without male victims. This study also examined the latent structure of the PPG results and found three dimensions: arousal to male stimuli, arousal to females and paraphilias, and arousal to non-sexual acts. These findings provide important implications for assessment of juvenile sex offenders and add to the clinical utility of PPG assessments.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-153).

There are substantial differences between the sexual arousal patterns of men and women. Men’s genital and subjective sexual arousal are category-specific; different sexual stimuli elicit different degrees of arousal. Women’s subjective sexual arousal is also categoryspecific, but their genital arousal is category-nonspecific; different sexual stimuli produce similar arousal. Men also exhibit a high concordance or correlation between their genital and subjective arousal, whereas women exhibit much lower sexual concordance. I conducted five studies with 219 participants to further explore these sex differences and test different explanations for their occurrence. The results confirm the existence and stability of sex differences in arousal patterns, provide support for a functional explanation of the sex difference in genital category-specificity, provide mixed support for an informationprocessing model of sexual arousal in relation to sexual concordance, and provide no support for the notion that sexual concordance is another manifestation of sex differences in interoception. / xvi, 212 leaves ; 29 cm

Studies investigating the sexual responses of men and women in the laboratory reveal reliable sex differences. Men’s genital and subjective sexual responses exhibit a high degree of concordance and are category-specific (i.e., are dependent on the types of sexual cues presented). In comparison, women’s genital and subjective responses exhibit lower concordance and their genital responses are much less category-specific. One functional explanation for these sex differences is the preparation hypothesis of women’s genital responses: Women’s genital responses occur automatically in the presence of any sexual cue to protect the reproductive tract from injuries that may result from sexual activity. If this hypothesis is correct, then there should be a sex difference in patterns of habituation of genital responses. Specifically, women’s genital responses should be more resistant to habituation than men’s because the costs of not producing a genital response to sexual cues are inherently higher for women than for men. The results of two studies of 38 men and 38 women suggest, however, that repeated exposure to sexual stimuli leads to similar degrees of habituation of genital responses in men and women. Of note, attention appeared to influence the pattern of genital responses in both studies and higher attention did not preclude habituation. Implications for the preparation hypothesis, models of sexual arousal, and directions for future research are discussed. / xii, 93 leaves ; 29 cm

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2007 / Typescript. Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Social Work. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-47).

Thesis (M.A. (Health Social Science))--Mahidol University, 2006. / LICL has E-Thesis 0012 ; please contact computer services.