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The Dual Control Model: Gender, Sexual Problems, and Prevalence of Sexual Excitation and Inhibition Profiles

The Dual Control Model: Gender, Sexual Problems, and Prevalence of Sexual Excitation and Inhibition Profiles. Deanna L. Carpenter, Ph.D., University of Minnesota Medical School, Program in Human Sexuality

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The Dual Control Model: Gender, Sexual Problems, and Prevalence of Sexual Excitation and Inhibition Profiles

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  1. The Dual Control Model: Gender, Sexual Problems, and Prevalence of Sexual Excitation and Inhibition Profiles • Deanna L. Carpenter, Ph.D.,University of Minnesota Medical School, Program in Human Sexuality • Cynthia Graham, Ph.D.,Oxford Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology, University of Oxford • Erick Janssen, Ph.D.,The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction & Department of Psychology, Indiana University • Harrie Vorst, M.A., Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam • Jelte Wicherts, M.A., Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam

  2. The Dual Control Model (Bancroft, 1999; Bancroft & Janssen, 2000) • Sexual arousal affected by independent conceptual excitatory & inhibitory CNS mechanisms. • Inhibitory system presumed adaptive, but… •  central inhibitory tone increases proneness to sexual problems? •  inhibition contributes to sexual risk-taking/compulsivity?

  3. The Dual Control Model (Bancroft, 1999; Bancroft & Janssen, 2000) Central Excitatory Mechanism Central Inhibitory Mechanism Sexual Response “Love is a conflict between reflexes and reflection.” (Hirschfeld, 1935)

  4.  Inhibition: Requires low threat levels for response. Keeps individual safe, but may impair facile sexual response.  Inhibition: Response may occur despite presence of risk. Preserves ready sexual response, but may not protect individual from harm. Dual Control Model:Central Inhibition & Sexual Arousal/Behavior • Excitation compensatory? • Excitation exacerbates risk?

  5. Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 “If I feel that I am being rushed, I am unlikely to get very aroused. The Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales: • SIS/SES asks Ss to estimate sexual responses to 45 “If…then” statements: • Items describe non-threatening sexual situations & situations involving risk/threat.

  6. SIS/SES Factor Structure in ♂ • EFA of undergraduate men’s scores (N = 408) yielded 3 factors accounting for 60% of response variability (Janssen et al., 2002). • Acceptable internal consistency ( = .7 - .9), test-retest reliability (r = .67 - .76), and convergent/ discriminant validity. • SES • Sexual Excitation • SIS 1 • Inhibition due to • Threat of • Performance • Failure • SIS 2 • Inhibition due to • Threat of • Performance • Consequences

  7. SES: “Sexual Excitation” Items “If I am on my own watching a sexual scene in a film, I quickly become sexually aroused.” “Just thinking about a sexual encounter I have had is enough to turn me on sexually.” “When I see an attractive person, I start fantasizing about having sex with him/her.” “Sometimes I become sexually aroused just by lying in the sun.”

  8. SIS1: “Threat of Performance Failure” Items “When I have a distracting thought, I lose my arousal.” “Using condoms or other safe-sex products can cause me to lose my arousal.” “If I am concerned about pleasing my partner sexually, it interferes with my arousal.” “If I feel that I’m expected to respond sexually, I have difficulty getting aroused.”

  9. SIS2: “Threat of Consequences” Items • “If there is a risk of unwanted pregnancy, I am unlikely to get sexually aroused.” • “If having sex will cause my partner pain, I am unlikely to stay sexually aroused. • “If I am masturbating on my own and realize that someone may come into the room…I will lose my sexual arousal.” • “If I discovered that someone I find sexually attractive is too young, I would have difficulty getting sexually aroused with him/her.”

  10. Sexual Inhibition of Special Importance to♀? Parental Investment Theory: Given greater “costs” of offspring for ♀ vs. ♂ (Trivers, 1972)… • ♀ strategize by: • Avoiding casual sex • Choosing mates carefully, based on attribute fitness (Bjorklund & Kipp, 1996; Symons, 1979). • ♂ benefit from: • Sexual responsiveness • Opportunistic/indiscriminant mate choice (Buss, 1998; Knoth, Boyd & Singer, 1988).  Higher Inhibition?  Higher Excitation?

  11. Inhibition and ♂ vs.♀ Sexual Problems? ♀ issues include: • Pain • Pregnancy • Reputation • Negative body image • Victimization • ♂ concerns: • Culture views male sexual arousal as exceptionally strong • Male arousal problems uniquely impact sexual activity SIS2 more relevant? SIS1 more important?

  12. Predictions: • Three-factor structure in ♀ SIS/SES scores. •  SES &  SIS scores in ♀ (vs. ♂) • Test-retest reliability & convergent/discriminant validity for ♀ similar to ♂. 4.  SIS will predict more sexual difficulties  SIS will predict more risk-taking 5. SIS1 “Failure” more relevant to ♂ sexual problems? SIS2 “Consequences” better predictor for ♀?

  13. Participants (N = 2045) • Undergraduates (1067 women, 978 men) • Age ( = 19.8; range 18-44.) • Predominantly university freshman (40.8%), Caucasian (87.6%), heterosexual (95.6%) and unmarried (95.1%). • = 1.74 lifetime intercourse partners

  14. Results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis for ♀ Note: Better fit is reflected in higher coefficients (values approaching one) for the Goodness of Fit, Comparative Fit and Normed Fit Indices, and smaller values (lower bound = zero) for Chi sq./df ratios and Steiger-Lind RMSEA • Chi square test rejects complete model-data consistency for ♀. • Fit indices suggest acceptable fit.

  15. Lower SES and Higher SIS Scores in ♀? MANOVA [F (3, 2004) = 213.04, df = 3, p  0.001] & ANOVAs revealed predicted gender differences: • SES [F(1,2006) = 230.19, p  0.001) • SIS1 [F(1,2006) = 138.41, p  0.001) • SIS2 [F(1,2006) = 425.13, p  0.001)

  16. SES “Sexual Excitation” Scores Men (N =973) Women (N =1040) Mean (SD) = 56.7 (7.69)  = .88 Mean (SD) = 51.5 (7.77)  = .87

  17. SIS1 “Threat of Performance Failure” Scores Men (N =971) Women (N =1040) Mean (SD) = 27.7 (4.43)  = .80 Mean (SD) = 30.4 (5.01)  = .76

  18. SIS2 “Threat of Consequences” Scores Men (N =972) Women (N =1038) Mean (SD) = 27.6 (4.43)  = .71 Mean (SD) = 31.7 (4.54)  = .70

  19. SIS/SES Factor Intercorrelations

  20. Test-Retest Reliability for ♀(N = 51):

  21. SIS/SES Validation Results: ♀

  22. SIS/SES Validation Results: ♀[♂]

  23. Frequencies of SIS/SES Profiles:

  24. Frequencies of SIS/SES Profiles:

  25. Predicting Sexual Problems

  26. Predicting Sexual Risk-Taking

  27. Discussion • Similar factor structure in ♀ & ♂ SIS/SES scores, but… • Reliability of SIS2 scores lower for ♀ • Context-dependent? • Influenced by cyclical fluctuations? • SIS/SES more related to behavior in nonsexual contexts for ♂ • Sexual double-standard

  28. Discussion (cont.) Lower SES & higher SIS1/SIS2 scores in ♀ vs. ♂are consistent with sample gender differences… • ♂reported: •  frequent masturbation •  one-night stands •  positive attitudes toward “casual” sex •  exposure to sexually explicit materials •  arousal to SEMs • attributing  importance to sex • ♀ reported: •  frequent problems with orgasm/arousal • attributing  importance to religion

  29. Discussion (cont.) SIS1 “Performance Failure” predicts arousal problems best for ♀ & ♂ , but… • SIS2 “Consequences” more relevant to ♀ • Consistent w/gender differences re: sexual pain, coercion, pregnancy & reputation effects. • SES more important for ♂ • Gender diffs. in ease/speed of arousal?

  30. Discussion (cont.) SIS2 “Consequences” best predictor of sexual risk-taking for ♀ & ♂, but… • SES also predictive of risk-taking in ♀ • Relates to availability of willing partners? • Addressed by HIV/STI interventions? • Prediction more complex for riskier behaviors (SES for ♂ /SIS1 for ♀)

  31. Limitations/Future Directions: • Prevalence of SIS/SES profiles are not expected to represent the population. • SIS/SES scores may vary across the lifespan. SES: Focus on sex changes with age/stage of relationship SIS1: Sexual problems increase with age. SIS2: Probability/meaning of sexual consequences change • Published paper will include a sex-invariant version of the SIS/SES (in development).

  32. References: Bancroft, J. (1999) Central inhibition of sexual response in the male: A theoretical perspective. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 23, 763-784. Bancroft, J. & Janssen, E. (2000) The dual control model of male sexual response: A theoretical approach to centrally mediated erectile dysfunction. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 24, 571-579. Bjorklund, D. F. & Kipp, K. (1996) Parental investment theory and gender differences in the evolution of inhibition mechanisms. Psychological Bulletin, 120(2), 163-188. Buss, D. M. (1998) Sexual strategies theory: Historical origins and current status. The Journal of Sex Research, 35(1), 19-31. Carver, C. S. & White, T. L. (1994) Behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, and affective responses to impending reward and punishment: The BIS/BAS Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(2), 319-333. Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1975) Manual for the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. London: Hodder and Stoughton. Fisher, W. A., Byrne, D., White, L. A. & Kelley, K. (1988) Erotophobia-Erotophilia as a dimension of personality. The Journal of Sex Research, 25, 123-151. Hays, R. D., Hayashi, T. & Stewart, A. L. (1989) A five-item measure of socially desirable response set. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 49, 629-636. Holm, S. (1979) A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, 6, 65-70.

  33. References: Janssen, E., Vorst, H., Finn, P., & Bancroft, J. (2002). The Sexual Inhibition (SIS) and Sexual Excitation (SES) Scales: I. Measuring sexual inhibition and excitation proneness in men. Journal of Sex Research, in press. Knoth, R., Boyd, K. & Singer, B. (1988) Empirical tests of sexual selection theory: Predictions of sex differences in onset, intensity, and time course of sexual arousal. The Journal of Sex Research, 24, 73-89. Simpson, J. & Gangestad, S. (1991) Individual differences in sociosexuality: Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 870-883. Symons, D. (1979) The Evolution of Human Sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. Tellegen, A. & Waller, N. G. (1982) Exploring personality through test construction: Development of a multidimensional personality questionnaire. In S. R. Briggs & J. M. Cheek (Eds.), Personality measures: Development and Evaluation, (Vol. I.) Greenwich, CT: Jai press. Trivers, R. L. (1972) Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.) Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man (pp. 136-179). Chicago: Aldine.

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