The Effect of Pre-Existing Affect on the Sexual Responses of Women With and Without a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are at greater risk for experiencing sexual problems in their adult lives. Yet, little is known about the possible role of cognitive and affective mechanisms in the development of sexual arousal difficulties in this population. This study investigated the role of pre-existing affect (affect prior to exposure to sexual stimuli) on genital responses, subjective sexual arousal, and affect elicited during the presentation of erotic film excerpts in a community sample of 25 women with and 25 women without a history of CSA. The CSA group showed greater pre-existing negative affect and smaller genital responses to the erotic film stimuli compared to the NSA group. Findings support a moderating effect of CSA, in that pre-existing negative affect was associated with strength of genital responses in the NSA but not in the CSA group. The results did not support a mediation model of pre-existing negative affect as an explanation for smaller physiological sexual responses in the CSA group. Taken together, the findings suggest that pre-existing affect may be more relevant for women with no history of CSA and call for more research on factors implicated in impaired sexual responses in women with a history of CSA.

The Effect of Participating in a Trauma- and Stressful Event-Focused Study

“…Summed PANAS scores were 18.9 ( SD = 6.8) in the week before the interview and 17.4 ( SD = 6.60) in the week after the interview. This is consistent with norms found in two other studies with traumatized populations ( M = 24.1, SD = 9.8; Tull, Barrett, McMillan, & Roemer, ; M = 19.7, SD = 6.6; Vujanovic, Bonn‐Miller, Potter, Marshall, & Zvolensky, ), lower than the mean in a population of urban violence victims ( M = 32, SD = 9.8; Rocha‐Rego et al., ), but higher than the mean in a population of survivors of childhood sexual abuse ( M = 13.6, SD = 3.5; Rellini, Elinson, Janssen, & Meston, )…”

Devices and Methods to Measure Female Sexual Arousal

“…Continuous measurement of self‐reported sexual arousal was first introduced by Wincze and colleagues [98] through the creation of a lever that participants could swing in a 90 degree arc to indicate increases and decreases in sexual arousal. A similar device continues to be used at present (e.g., [7,25,49]), along with related devices such as sliders with visual indicators (e.g., [38]) and a computer mouse in which the buttons are used to indicate increases and decreases in sexual arousal (e.g., [80]). When using a continuous recording of self‐reported sexual arousal, researchers usually limit themselves to one question, typically about a global assessment of sexual arousal in the moment.…”

“…Traditional models of sexual response emphasize sequential stages of sexual desire, arousal, plateau, and orgasm [5,6] in contrast to more recent theories that indicate sexual response to be a multifaceted phenomenon where sexual arousal and desire are highly overlapping and are influenced by a number of other contextual factors [2]. Research on theoretical models of sexual response supports the multifaceted nature of sexual arousal and acknowledges that while sexual arousal may occur in a traditional linear fashion for some women, others are influenced by a variety of different factors, including, but not limited to, personal history [7,8], psychological mood states [9–11], personality characteristics [12,13], physical health [14,15], and personal attitudes and belief systems [16,17]. Additionally, studies examining female sexual dysfunctions have demonstrated difficulties in differentiating diagnostic groups from each other and healthy controls [18,19], and treatment effect studies have generally produced mixed results in terms of significantly ameliorating sexual response [19].…”

The Mediating Effect of Daily Stress on the Sexual Arousal Function of Women With a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse

“…In theory, negative affectivity in anticipation of sexual activities (anticipatory negative affect) could impair sexual arousal by impacting the ability of women to focus on pleasant stimuli and activating negative expectations, two cognitive mechanisms that can reduce sexual arousal (Barlow, 1986). However it is also worth noting that a recent study did not find that negative affect before sexual stimuli predicted lower physiological and subjective sexual arousal responses to sexual stimuli in women with a history of childhood sexual abuse as compared to women with no abuse histories (Rellini, Elinson, Janssen, & Meston, 2012). Given the dearth of studies on the relation between affect before sexual stimuli and the effects of negative affect on sexual arousal in women with a history of childhood sexual abuse, a replication and expansion of past studies to women with a variety of types of childhood maltreatment, other than sexual abuse, is warranted.…”