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Abstract

This paper reports on a study of individual variability in the relationship between negative mood and sexuality in men. Part 1 involves a questionnaire survey of 919 white heterosexual men, asking what typically happens to sexual interest and response when (a) depressed and (b) anxious/stressed, using the Mood and Sexuality Questionnaire (MSQ). Trait measures of sexual inhibition and excitation, depression, anxiety, and sensation seeking were also used. Relationships between trait measures and MSQ scores were tested using multiple linear and ordinal logistic regression. Of those reporting the experience of depression, 9.4% indicated increased and 42% decreased sexual interest when depressed; for anxiety/stress, the percentages were 20.6 and 28.3%, respectively. Increase in sexual interest during negative mood states was negatively related to age and trait measures of sexual inhibition and positively related to depression proneness and sexual excitation. In Part 2, the relationship between mood and sexuality was explored qualitatively, using in-depth interviews with 43 participants from Part 1. This supported the findings in Part 1, while finding more complex relations with depression than anxiety. Sex when depressed can serve needs for intimacy and self-validation as well as sexual pleasure. Sex when anxious appears to be more simply related to the calming effect of sexual release, plus a possible "excitation transfer" effect of anxious arousal. Further research is needed to explore these relationships in clinical mood disorders. Paradoxical increases of sexual interest with negative mood may help explain high risk as well as "out of control" patterns of sexual behavior.

A Place for Sexual Dysfunctions in an Empirical Taxonomy of Psychopathology

“…There is one consistent finding that stands in contrast to the studies reviewed above: Three studies have found that some men and women experiencing depressive symptoms report elevated desire (Bancroft et al, 2003a; Frohlich & Meston, 2002; Nofzinger et al, 1993). Nofzinger et al (1993) found that this relationship was specific to episodes of atypical depression, and was not evident in anhedonic, endogenous, or melancholic depression.…”

“…Nofzinger et al (1993) found that this relationship was specific to episodes of atypical depression, and was not evident in anhedonic, endogenous, or melancholic depression. It seems likely that these studies may be describing the same phenomenon, as Frohlich and Meston (2002) and Bancroft et al (2003a) did not test for features of atypical depression, which can manifest as mild symptoms of major depression on self-report inventories (e.g., Fabre & Smith, 2012). A specific relationship between atypical depression and elevated desire would also be consistent with the finding that atypical depression is associated with lower rates of sexual dysfunction than major depression in men and women (Fabre, Clayton, Smith, Goldstein & Derogatis, 2013; Fabre & Smith, 2012), and could be explained by the mood reactivity to potential positive events in atypical depression, which may reinforce sexual approach behaviors.…”

Anxiety, Social Threat, and the Diversion of Sexual Interests

“…First, Odlaug et al (2013) found a lifetime history of Social Anxiety Disorder to be more prevalent among students who reported "out of control" sexual fantasies/behavior (versus those who did not). Second, whereas negative affective states may diminish sexual interest among less compulsive individuals, sometimes such states appear to enhance sexual interest among more compulsive individuals (e.g., Bancroft et al, 2003;Grov, Golub, Mustanski, & Parsons, 2010). Third, nearly half of Bancroft and Vukadinovic's (2004) self-identified sample of sex addicts used language suggestive of dissociative processes when describing episodes of "acting out" sexually.…”

“…Moreover, at clinically significant levels, social anxiety has been linked-among other things-to arousal difficulties and loss of desire during sexual episodes (Bodinger et al,188 C. T. Burris and K. M. Schrage 2002). On the other hand, stress/anxiety that is not attributed to social evaluative cues can sometimes facilitate not only increased sexual interest but also situation-specific sexual arousal in men and women (e.g., Bancroft et al, 2003;Bradford & Meston, 2006;Dèttore, Pucciarelli, & Santarnecchi, 2013;Goldey & van Anders, 2012;Lykins, Janssen, & Graham, 2006;Seto, 1992).…”

Moral and Sexual Disgust Suppress Sexual Risk Behaviors among Men Who Have Sex with Men in China

“…Disgust sensitivity is a kind of special emotion related to sexual risk behaviors (Bancroft et al, 2003). Fessler and Navarrete (2003) noted that disgust sensitivity has the potential to “reduce participation in biologically suboptimal sexual behaviors” (p. 406).…”