Analysis of the Consistency of Objective Measures of Sexual Arousal in Women

Abstract

Eight adult women volunteers viewed the same erotic film in two different sessions. Their resulting genital responses were recorded simultaneously by three different measures: vaginal pressure pulse, vaginal blood volume, and labial temperature change. During the erotic stimulation, the vaginal pressure pulse and labial responses always increased, and the vaginal blood volume response increased on all but two occasions. Although there was considerable intersubject variability in each genital measure, all three measures were found to have some intrasubject consistency over sessions with respect to either their response amplitudes or patterns, with labial temperature being the most consistent on both parameters. The relationship between the response patterns of the three measures during the film was also relatively consistent across sessions, as was the correspondence between subjective ratings of arousal and both vaginal pressure pulse and labial responses but not vaginal blood volume response. To overcome the problem of considerable intrasubject variability of response amplitudes, it was suggested that the inclusion in the data analysis of several parameters of response patterns, which were relatively stable over sessions, might facilitate the evaluation of a treatment.DESCRIPTORS: genital responses, objective measures, reliability, womenIt has been well documented that genital vasocongestion and myotonia are the primary physiological manifestations of sexual arousal for both men and women (Masters and Johnson, 1966). At the present time, however, considerably more is known about how various factors influence the sexual responding of men than women. This has occurred because it has been much easier to objectively measure the genital vasocongestion (penile erection) of men. There is an extensive literature indicating that penile erection, as objectively measured by volumetric changes of the penis by a penile plethysmograph (Freund, Sedlacek, and Knob, 1965) or circumference changes of the penis by either a mercury-in-rubber (Bancroft, Jones, and Pullan, 1966) or mechanical (Barlow, Becker, Leitenberg, and Agras, 1970)

The Nature of Behavioral Assessment: A Commentary

“…Descriptive studies are static or structural in that they describe an existent state of affairs. In this issue, for example, Henson, Rubin, and Henson (1979) describe intraindividual stability in women's sexual arousal across recording sessions and across measures of arousal; Williams (1979) shows that happily married and distressed couples may be differentiated on their temporal patterns of interaction as well as on the ratio of positive to negative interactions; and Prinz, Foster, Kent, and O'Leary (1979) find that distressed and nondistressed mother-adolescent dyads may be differentiated on the bases of maternal and adolescent reports of behavior, and of independent ratings of tape-recorded interactions. Such descriptive studies in behavioral assessment are often useful in describing behavioral patterns, developing assessment methodologies, and suggesting relationships which may be used to increase our clinical impact.…”

“…All three response systems may provide important target behaviors. In this issue, for example, the motor behavior of children in a classroom setting was recorded by Kent, O'Leary, Dietz, and Diament (1979); the physiological responses indicative of women's sexual arousal was measured by Henson et al (1979); and the verbal responses of mother-adolescent dyads were assessed via questionnaires by Prinz et al (1979). Although these three types of behavior may covary, it is not assumed that such covariation occurs (Lang, 1968).…”

“…Several examples are provided in this issue. Henson et al (1979) examined the relationship between physiological measures of sexual arousal and subjective report of arousal; and Greenwood et al (1979) examined the correspondence between children's actual observed rates of social interaction and teacher or peer judgments about rates of interactions. These types of studies are valuable in helping us to assess a fuller range of behavior in the applied setting.…”

“…Physiological-emotional responses are usually measured in analogue situations, due to instrumentation requirements. For example, Henson et al (1979) used an erotic film while measuring women's sexual arousal, and Martinez-Diaz and Edelstein (1979) used a contrived conversation while measuring heart rate. Cognitive-verbal responses are measured via rating scales (e.g., Williams, 1979), checklists (e.g., Prinz et al, 1979), questionnaires (e.g., Martinez-Diaz and Edelstein, 1979), and academic tests (e.g., Filipczak et al, 1979).…”

“…Organismic variables include individual differences produced by past learning and by physiology. For example, in this issue, Henson et al (1979) found large intersubject differences in measures of sexual arousal, and Martinez-Diaz and Edelstein (1979) resorted to an analysis of covariance because of baseline differences in subjects' heart rate. Many behavioral assessors have somewhat neglected organismic variables because they are frequently not amenable to changes or because they smack of traditional assessment.…”