The thesis was designed to determine the relative impact of an academic course in human sexuality on specific sexual attitudes and intimate communication skills of undergraduate college students.Seventy-five students were subdivided into experimental and control groups. Data regarding personal sexual anxiety, sexual decision making skills and level of comfort about sexual issues were collected during the first and last weeks of the Spring 1990 semester. These served as pre and posttests. Descriptive data about the subjects were also obtained.The results of this study indicated that although males and females differ significantly from each other in sexual anxiety and sexual decision making skills, the subjects did not differ in their level of comfort. However, experimentalfemales did approach significant change in their reported comfort level scores from pre to posttest. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

The thesis was designed to determine sexual attitudes, as measured by the Reiss 12 Item Sexual Permissiveness Scale, and sexual practices, as measured by an eight item sexual behavior inventory, of undergraduate students at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.The sample for the study consisted of 617 undergraduate students selected using the method of stratified random sampling with proportional allocation of five percent from each of the four college levels. A biographical questionnaire was mailed to each of the subjects with a total return of 60 percent. Due to the low rate of return the respondents were declared to be the population of the study and no longer a randomly selected sample.Reliability coefficients were obtained through use of the Kuder-Richardson formula Number 20 on the sexual permissiveness scales and on the sexual behavior inventory. The reliability coefficient of the sexual permissiveness scale was found to be .8676, and .9215 was found to be the coefficient of the sexual behavior inventory.The returned questionnaires were subdivided into males and females and data were reported for each respondent on the scale that was the same sex as the respondent (women on the female scale and men on the male scale). For each group, the data were analyzed, through use of the chi-square test, according to age, academic field, college year, membership in fraternities or sororities, religious affiliation, whether religiously active or inactive, place of residence, cumulative grade point average, yearly income of parents, and marital status to determine their independency of the dependent variables of sexual attitudes and sexual behavior. Findings revealed that although some significant (.05) differences were found in the permissive attitudes of the students in relation to their biographical variables, there is little evidence from the study that would generally support a true dependency of sexual permissiveness on the biographical variables of the students, with the exceptions of the variables of sex and religious activity. Males were found to be more permissive in attitude than females, and the more permissive individuals were found to be religiously inactive rather than religiously active. In relationship to permissive behavior on the part of the subjects, although some significant (.05) differences were found, there is little evidence from the study that would support a true dependence of premarital coital experience on the biographical variables of the students. The investigation revealed that over 50 percent of the females studied and over 68 percent of the males studied had experienced premarital sexual intercourse.The relationship between sexual attitudes and sexual behavior was determined through use of the point biserial correlation. Findings revealed that there is evidence of some significant (.05) negative attitudes and what they stated as their actual sexual behavior. The significant negative findings indicated that there was a tendency for more males and females to be in accordance with permissive attitudes than were actually experiencing the behavior.

The national reported rates of sexually transmitted infections (other than HIV/AIDS) in Ireland have been increasing over the last decade of the 20^th century. Medical professionals and epidemiologists consider the rates of STIs as indicators of the proportion of the population engaging in 'high risk' behaviour. According to this hypothesis, an increase in reported rates reflects an increase in 'high risk' behaviours. This thesis will examine this relationship and determine the reasons for the increased reported rates in Ireland. This will involve an investigation into Irish sexual behaviours and attitudes, thus giving an insight into Irish sexuality, which has previously attracted little sociological interest. Evidence in regard to Irish sexuality and sexually transmitted infections is limited. In the absence of longitudinal data on sexual behaviours and a national survey on STIs and risk-taking sexual behaviours, the question of the rising rates has to be addressed by collating available data from different sources. This involves: (1) the use of epidemiological and GUM clinics' information, (2) a socio-historical account of Irish sexuality and sexually transmitted infections and (3) a comparative analysis of Irish sexual behaviours and attitudes with four other countries utilising the International Social Survey Programme's 1994 dataset, Family and Changing Gender Roles II. It is concluded that the increasing reporting rates of STIs are not being directly caused by accompanying increases of 'high risk' sexual behaviours in the general population but are produced by a number of factors including a growing public openness about sexuality and sexual health awareness.

The courtship behavior of the brown garden snail, Cantareus aspersus , includes a bizarre component where one snail attempts to pierce its mating partner with a sharp, calcareous dart that is covered with mucus. In vitro, the mucus causes conformational changes to the reproductive tract causing sperm to be stored rather than digested. In addition, successful dart shooters have an increased relative paternity compared to unsuccessful shooters. I have tested whether this increased paternity is caused by the mucus delivered on the dart or by the mechanical action of the dart. Mating trials were conducted using dartless and glandless snails, where a future mother was mated to two different potential fathers, receiving an injection of mucus with one mating, and an injection of saline with the second mating. The fathers accompanied by the mucus injection sired significantly more offspring than the fathers accompanied by the saline injection. I conclude that the mucus carried on the dart is responsible for increased paternity levels in Cantareus aspersus.

A survey of a natural population of Aquarius remigis, a stream dwelling water strider, living in East Turkey Creek, Arizona, USA, revealed that they were mostly found in either pairs consisting of one male and one female, or in small female biased groups. Chi-squared analysis confirmed that this finding was not due to random chance. The sex ratios were manipulated to further test this observation, that is, that the water striders would return to the most commonly observed sex ratio combinations even after being deliberately rearranged. Pairs of water striders or female biased sex ratios were observed in the experimental pools after a 24 hour period. Behavioural experiments conducted in the laboratory were performed to investigate the possible behavioural interactions that could influence the sex ratios observed in the field. Artificial pools with three water striders, in four sex ratio combinations, and four water striders, in five sex ratio combinations, were used. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

No description available.

This study explores the morphology and electrical behavior of breeding weakly electric fish. Wave-type electric fish communicate by means of a continuous oscillatory electric signal produced by an electric organ. The electric organ discharges at frequencies which are sexually dimorphic in many species of electric fish. This dimorphism is thought to be attributed to female mate choice, although to date, there is no evidence for mate choice or intrasexual competition to have driven the evolution of this signaling dimorphism in wave-type electric fish. Here, I have tracked changes in body shape and electric organ discharge (EOD) frequency of A. leptorhynchus throughout a breeding conditioning period. I find that only females alter the shape of their bodies, presumably to account for increasing egg mass, during the breeding conditioning period. Throughout this period, both females and males do not alter their EOD frequencies significantly. Gravid females were used in an unforced preference test, where they were presented with two live, male A. leptorhynchus. Female preference was indicated by a passage of the female into one of the two male compartments. I find that females show a preference for higher EOD frequency males, while no preference is shown for longer, heavier or larger-amplitude males. Further investigations are needed to dissociate the role of EOD frequency from potentially correlated male traits, such as rate and type of modulations of EOD frequency. The finding of this study that female A. leptorhynchus prefer males of higher EOD frequency establishes wave-type weakly electric fish as a promising model system for the study of the evolution and the sensory mechanisms of female choice.

Cambodian youth live in a country undergoing rapid development and modernization. The srey kalip or modern women of Phnom Penh are an emerging demographic group of young urban females driving social change in the context of globalization. Despite their obvious presence in society, very little is known about this growing demographic and even less is known about their sexual behavior. This research employed a range of ethnographic methodologies in order to capture one essence of Phnom Penh’s modern women—their reproductive health seeking behavior. The results of this study indicate that the adoption of a modern identity has changed constructions of traditional Khmer femininity. This introduced “liberalism” challenges traditional ideas about what it means to be a Khmer woman and what it means to be a sexual woman. The srey kalip’s sexual and reproductive health needs present a much broader profile than the existing health system is capable of providing for. The availability of existing sexual and reproductive health services does not dovetail with their modern identity. This inability to acquire adequate reproductive health care is a consequence of the disjunction between the srey kalip’s modern identity and a less modern health system. The tension between the modern and traditional body are drawn into focus when the srey kalip seek medical care for reproductive health services and are unable to obtain care that meets their unique needs. This is not a problem restricted to Cambodia. Many developing nations around the world have populations of urban youth who are more globally interconnected and more modern than their parent’s generation. Ministries of Health and health service providers around the world need to develop innovative and dynamic strategies to meet the sexual health needs of their burgeoning modern youth populations. The opportunity to meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of youth is a task that Ministries of Health around the world cannot afford to waste.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 1989. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on January 31, 2008) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.