Association between Psychopathological Dimensions and Sexual Functioning/Sexual Arousal in Young Adults

Franklin Soler, Reina Granados, Ana I. Arcos-Romero, Cristóbal Calvillo, Ana Álvarez-Muelas, María del Mar Sánchez-Fuentes, Nieves Moyano and Juan Carlos Sierra
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Franklin Soler: School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá 111221, Colombia
Reina Granados: Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain
Ana I. Arcos-Romero: Department of Psychology, Universidad Loyola, 41704 Sevilla, Spain
Cristóbal Calvillo: Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), Universidad de Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain
Ana Álvarez-Muelas: Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), Universidad de Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain
María del Mar Sánchez-Fuentes: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Nieves Moyano: Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain
Juan Carlos Sierra: Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), Universidad de Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: Psychological-psychiatric factors have a different effect on sexual functioning in men and women. This research aimed to examine the association between psychopathological dimensions and dimensions of sexual functioning in Spanish young adults in two studies. Study 1 examined sexual functioning and psychopathological dimensions in 700 women and 516 men. Study 2 conducted an experimental laboratory task to evaluate subjective sexual arousal and genital sensations when watching visual sexual stimuli in a subsample of participants from Study 1 (143 women and 123 men). As a result, the first study showed that depression and anxiety-related symptoms had a negative effect, both in men and women, and having a partner had a positive influence on the dimensions of sexual functioning. The second study showed that anxiety symptoms were positively associated with subjective sexual arousal in both men and women, and anxiety was associated with the assessment of genital sensations in men. The differences between the results of anxiety may be explained because sexual arousal was evaluated in general terms in Study 1, whereas it was evaluated as a state in Study 2. These findings confirm that the presence of psychopathological symptoms contributes to sexual functioning, as well as the necessity of strengthening mental illness prevention programs that include sexual health components.

Keywords: sexual functioning; sexual arousal; psychopathology; young adults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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