Sexual and Reproductive Health Service Utilization and Sexuality for Teens on the Autism Spectrum.

Objectives: Health care providers and educators play critical roles in supporting healthy sexuality development for youth with autism spectrum disorder. There is limited information about the sexual behavior of these youth, especially girls, and about their access to sexuality education or health care services.

Methods: This study addressed these gaps by surveying parents of youth with autism aged 12-18 years (N = 298, 52.

Family Sexuality Communication: Parent Report for Autistic Young Adults Versus a Comparison Group.

Families are a critical context for healthy sexuality development. This study characterized family sexuality communication for autistic adults (age 18-30) without intellectual disability (n = 117) versus a neurotypical comparison group (n = 319). Parent-reported number of sexuality topics covered did not significantly differ by gender or autism/comparison group.

Family Sexuality Communication for Adolescent Girls on the Autism Spectrum.

Families are critical for supporting healthy sexuality and relationship development for youth with autism. The objective of this study was to describe family sexuality communication for adolescent girls with autism. Participants were 141 parents of autistic daughters who completed an online survey about sexuality development.

The Impacts of Sexual Arousal and Its Suppression on Executive Functioning.

Suppression of certain types of reflexive emotional responses is thought to temporarily deplete executive functions (EF), as evidenced by poorer performance on measures of EF, but does not deplete other, lower-order cognitive processes. This study examined whether similar decrements in performance on EF tests would occur following suppression of sexual arousal. A sample of 44 male college students underwent baseline cognitive assessment (EF and lower-order cognitive processes), followed by experimental manipulation consisting of exposure to sexually explicit audiovisual stimuli.

Parent Expectations and Preparatory Activities as Adolescents with ASD Transition to Adulthood.

Community stakeholders, researchers, and providers are increasingly focused on individual, family, and systemic factors that contribute to positive outcomes for adults on the autism spectrum. Parent expectations for their youth's future are associated with adult outcomes (e.g.

Quality of Life Following Prostatectomy as a Function of Surgery Type and Degree of Nerve Sparing.

Objectives: To compare robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy with conventional retropubic radical prostatectomy in maintaining pre-surgery levels of urinary and sexual functioning and to evaluate the efficacy of nerve sparing in prostatectomies in protecting urinary functioning.

Material And Methods: Patients (n = 385) receiving both surgical procedures were surveyed prior to surgery. Multiple measures, including the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite, the Sexual Health Inventory for Men, and the International Prostate Symptom Score, assessed sexual and urinary function at an average of 12 months post-surgery.

Sexting by High School Students.

In the last 8 years, several studies have documented that many adolescents acknowledge having exchanged sexually explicit cell phone pictures of themselves, a behavior termed sexting. Differences across studies in how sexting was defined, recruitment strategies, and cohort have resulted in sometimes significant differences in as basic a metric as what percentage of adolescents have sent, received, or forwarded such sexts. The psychosocial and even legal risks associated with sexting by minors are significantly serious that accurate estimates of its prevalence, including over time, are important to ascertain.

Sexual Behavior, Definitions of Sex, and the Role of Self-Partner Context Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults.

Prior research has examined how heterosexual individuals define sex; however, these studies have rarely focused on sexual minority individuals or included a full range of applicable sexual behaviors. Participants were recruited from a local Pride Festival across two years. Study 1 (N = 329) was primarily descriptive and examined which physically intimate behaviors lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) participants included in their definitions of sex and the behaviors in which they had previously engaged.

Parental romantic expectations and parent-child sexuality communication in autism spectrum disorders.

This study examined the relationship between core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, parental romantic expectations, and parental provision of sexuality and relationship education in an online sample of 190 parents of youth 12-18 years of age with a parent-reported diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Regression analyses were conducted separately for youth with autism spectrum disorder + parent-reported average or above IQ and youth with autism spectrum disorder + parent-reported below average IQ. For youth with autism spectrum disorder + parent-reported average or above IQ, autism spectrum disorder severity predicted parental romantic expectations, but not parental provision of sexuality and relationship education.

Beholder and Beheld: A Multilevel Model of Perceived Sexual Appeal.

When individuals (observers) assess how appealing they find sexual stimuli (targets), which factors matter and to whom? The present study examined how observer and target characteristics interact and impact perceived sexual appeal. Participants were 302 men (206 heterosexual, 96 gay) and 289 women (196 heterosexual, 93 lesbian) between the ages of 18 and 67 years, who viewed 34 photographs of targets of their preferred gender and rated each target for sexual appeal, masculinity-femininity, and estimated age. Participants also rated their own masculinity-femininity.

An Experimental Study of Men's and Women's Personal Ads.

Personal ads have long served as a potentially rich source of information for social scientists regarding what women and men appear to be looking for in a partner and what they believe potential partners are looking for in them. Almost every study of this type has content analyzed existing personal ads in print media or, more recently, on the Internet. Many of the limits of this research approach were addressed in a study by Strassberg and Holty (2003) utilizing an experimental research design.

Gender-Specificity in Sexual Interest in Bisexual Men and Women.

The present study assessed the gender-specificity of sexual interest of bisexually-identified men and women, compared to gay men and lesbian women. Utilizing viewing time as a measure of sexual interest, self-identified bisexual men (N = 50) and women (N = 54) rated the sexual appeal of sexually provocative pictures while the amount of time spent viewing each picture was inconspicuously measured. As hypothesized, bisexual men and women demonstrated a pattern of sexual interest that was significantly less gender-specific than that of a gay/lesbian sample.

Assessing Sexual Interest in Adolescents Who Have Sexually Offended.

Adolescents who have sexually offended have unique treatment needs. For mental health professionals to adequately address these unique needs, further research is necessary. To that end, we explored the assessment of sexual interest (which may play an integral role in understanding potential for sexual reoffending) in a sample of 103 male adolescents who have sexually offended.

How do heterosexual undergraduate students define having sex? A new approach to an old question.

This study examined how people define having sex utilizing a new approach to this area of research. A total of 267 men and 327 women rated their degree of confidence that engaging in each of 21 physically intimate behaviors (e.g.

Understanding processing speed weaknesses among pedophilic child molesters: response style vs. neuropathology.

Research shows that pedophilic (PED) child molesters exhibit slower performance speed and greater performance accuracy when compared to nonpedophilic (N-PED) child molesters or other criminal and noncriminal controls. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether these differences reflect a slow/deliberate response style among PEDS (as we have previously hypothesized; Eastvold, Suchy, & Strassberg, 2011; Suchy, Whittaker, Strassberg, & Eastvold, 2009a, 2009b), or a fundamental neuropathological weakness in processing speed. Data came from a larger study examining neurocognition among sex offenders.

Addressing sexuality in youth with autism spectrum disorders: current pediatric practices and barriers.

Objective: Research on adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has focused on promoting independence and optimizing quality of life, yet the areas of sexual development and sexuality has been largely neglected. The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages pediatricians to address sexuality issues in youth with disabilities to foster healthy development and minimize negative consequences. However, it is unclear to what extent pediatricians address sexuality issues in this population.

Sexting by high school students: an exploratory and descriptive study.

Recently, a phenomenon known as sexting, defined here as the transfer of sexually explicit photos via cell phone, has received substantial attention in the U.S. national media.

Psychopathy among pedophilic and nonpedophilic child molesters.

Objective: Among men who commit sexual offenses against children, at least 2 distinct groups can be identified on the basis of the age of the primary targets of their sexual interest; pedophiles and nonpedophiles.

Method: In the present report, across 2 independent samples of both types of child molesters as well as controls, a total of 104 men (53 pedophilic and 51 nonpedophilic) who had sexually offended against a child age 13 or younger were compared to each other (and to 49 non-sex offender controls) on psychopathy as assessed by the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI).

Results: In both samples of child molesters, the nonpedophiles scored as significantly more psychopathic than the pedophiles.

The latent structure of Multiphasic Sex Inventory-assessed pedophilic interest.

The Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSI; Nichols & Molinder, 1984) is a self-report measure frequently used in the assessment of sex offenders. Scores on the MSI are often used to assess levels of pedophilic interest. However, the question of whether men with pedophilia represent a unique group distinguished by their sexual interests, or whether they are high-scorers on a continuum of sexual interest in children among men who sexually offend against children remains unanswered.

Executive function profiles of pedophilic and nonpedophilic child molesters.

There is increasing evidence of neurocognitive dysfunction among child molesters, supporting the notion of brain anomalies among pedophiles. However, approximately half of child molesters are not pedophilic (i.e.

Category-specificity in sexual interest in gay men and lesbians.

The present study assessed the category-specificity of sexual interest of gay men and lesbians toward an understanding of the possible interaction of sex and sexual orientation that may exist in this phenomenon. Utilizing viewing time as a measure of sexual interest, we had participants (N = 99) rate the sexual appeal of sexually provocative pictures while the amount of time spent viewing each picture was inconspicuously measured. As hypothesized, same-sex oriented individuals demonstrated a category-specific pattern of sexual interest.

Facial and prosodic affect recognition among pedophilic and nonpedophilic criminal child molesters.

The present study compared facial and prosodic affect recognition abilities among pedophilic and nonpedophilic child molesters and community-dwelling controls. Pedophilic child molesters are characterized by primary sexual interest in prepubescent children, whereas nonpedophilic child molesters are characterized by offending against children despite being primarily sexually attracted to adults. The results showed that nonpedophilic child molesters made more errors in recognizing both facial and prosodic affect, performing more poorly than both controls and pedophilic child molesters.

Neurocognitive differences between pedophilic and nonpedophilic child molesters.

Although some evidence exists that child molesters may be characterized by structural and functional brain abnormalities, findings across studies are inconsistent. Past cognitive research in this area has been extensively criticized for relying on conceptually weak batteries, measures of questionable reliability, and poorly defined samples (i.e.

Viewing time as an objective measure of sexual interest in heterosexual men and women.

The present study assessed viewing time as a measure of sexual interest in self-identified heterosexual men and women. Participants (N = 106) rated the sexual appeal of sexually provocative pictures while the length of time they spent viewing each picture was unobtrusively measured. As hypothesized, (1) men and women viewed opposite sex pictures significantly longer than same sex pictures, (2) men viewed opposite sex pictures significantly longer than did women, and (3) women viewed same sex pictures significantly longer than did men.