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PubMed1980

Sexual behavior of the obese male Zucker rat.

Obese male Zucker rats displayed inadequate sexual behavior at four months placed with ovariectomized lean females pretreated with estrogen and progesterone. Only one out of seven obese males ejaculated during the test sessions. Diet-restricting the obese males at five months of age did not improve their sexual behavior when tested at six months of age. At ten months of age none of the obese males ejaculated during the test sessions. Lean littermates ejaculated during the sessions at all ages tested. Obese males which do ejaculate are capable of inducing pseudopregnancy in intact lean females. These findings suggest that inadequate sexual behavior is one factor contributing to the reduced reproductive capacity of obese male Zucker rats.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

Medial preoptic connections with the midbrain tegmentum are essential for male sexual behavior.

The medial preoptic area appears to play a major role in the control of sexual behavior. Efferents from the medial preoptic area course through the medial forebrain bundle to pass through and/or terminate in the dorsolateral and ventral tegmentum of the midbrain. Bilateral lesions of the dorsolateral tegmentum eliminate mating behavior in male rats, reproducing the effect of bilateral medial preoptic lesions. Sexual behavior is also eliminated when a preoptic lesion on one side of the brain is combined with a lesion of the dorsolateral tegmentum on the other side of the brain. In other words, asymmetric brain damage which bilaterally destroys the preoptic connections with the dorsolateral tegmentum eliminates male sexual behavior, and we conclude that the connections between these two regions are essential for copulation.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Substance use and other factors associated with risky sexual behavior among pregnant adolescents.

A study of the relationship between substance use and risky sexual behavior was conducted among 241 unmarried pregnant adolescents aged 17 and younger who lived in a metropolitan area in the Northwest. The respondents had comparable or higher lifetime use rates for all substances than did women in a national sample of high school seniors, even though the pregnant adolescents were younger. Ninety-four percent had used alcohol, 78% marijuana, 30% cocaine and 30% stimulants, compared with 92%, 48%, 14% and 23%, respectively, among women in the national sample. Among the pregnant adolescents, 84% had had more than one sexual partner, 39% had had a sexually transmitted disease and 60% had used contraceptives during less than half of their sexual encounters. At the bivariate level, use of cigarettes and alcohol in general and use of alcohol and drugs during sex were positively associated with risky sexual behavior. However, when other characteristics associated with risky sexual behavior--family bonding, parental monitoring, commitment to conventional values, peer associations, self-esteem and delinquent activities--were included in the multivariate analysis, the effect of substance use disappeared.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Effects of neonatal polychlorinated biphenyl exposure on female sexual behavior.

The effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on development and reproduction are well documented. However, very little is known about the effects of PCBs on sexual behavior. In this study, we examined the effects of two commercial PCB mixtures, Aroclor 1221 (A1221) and Aroclor 1254 (A1254), on the development of female sexual behavior and of the incertohypothalamic dopaminergic cells (A11 and A13) in Long-Evans rats. Neonatal exposure to A1254 significantly reduced sexual receptivity and reduced the female's latency to approach a male after an intromission. Neonatal treatment with A1221 did not affect female sexual behavior nor did treatment of adult females with A1221 or A1254. Since sexual behavior is affected by dopamine and since PCBs have been reported to alter dopamine content in the brain, we examined the effects of A1221 or A1254 on dopaminergic cells in the incertohypothalamic region of neonatally exposed rats. None of the treatments significantly affected the number of A11 or A13 neurons that were immunoreactive for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) or the expression of Fos (i.e., the product of the immediate early gene c-fos) in these dopaminergic neurons. Therefore, the disruption of behavior induced by neonatal treatment with A1254 does not appear to be mediated by toxic effects of the mixture on incertohypothalamic dopaminergic systems.

Animals↗

PubMed1979

Attitudes of college students toward sexual behavior of disabled persons.

Empirical data on attitudes toward sexual behavior of disabled persons were gathered from a written, sentence-completion task in which 110 college students engaged. The task consisted of 36 sentence stubs, 18 of which probed attitudes toward sex. To facilitate expression of attitudes rather than values, respondents were instructed to respond rapidly with the first thoughts that came to mind. Responses were scored as positive or negative. Negative responders took significantly less time to complete the sentences than did positive responders. The X2 comparisons of negative responses to 5 pairs of parallel sentence stubs concerned with aspects of sex in general and the same aspects of sex in disabled women yielded statistically significant differences. Four of those differences showed more disapproval of sex for the disabled than for the able-bodied. The 5th difference indicated greater tolerance of homosexual play among disabled girls. On 9 of the 13 sentence stubs concerned with sex and disability, at least 43% of all participants gave negative responses. Similarly, order analysis disclosed that 9 of 10 aspects of sex viewed most negatively were related to sexual behavior by the disabled. It was concluded that attitudes in the sexual revolution have not as yet embraced the disabled even among college students.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

An exploration of the relationship between youth assets and engagement in risky sexual behaviors.

PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between specific youth assets and adolescents' engagement in risky sexual behaviors, as measured by an Aggregate Sexual Risk score, and to specifically explore which youth assets and demographic variables were predictive of youth engagement in risky sexual intercourse. METHODS: A total of 2108 sexually active high school students attending public high schools in a southern state completed a self-report questionnaire that measured youth assets. Based upon responses to items measuring risk behaviors, an Aggregate Sexual Risk score was calculated for each student. Unconditional logistic regression and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between the assets and the Aggregate Risk Score. Four separate analyses (white females, white males, black females, and black males) were conducted. RESULTS: In general, the patterns in all four groups indicated that students who had an Aggregate Risk Score of > or = 3 (high risk) possessed less of the measured youth assets. The assets that were most significantly associated with engagement in risky sexual behaviors included self peer values regarding risky behaviors, quantity of other adult support, and youths' empathetic relationships. Thus, students who reported not having these assets were significantly more likely to engage in the risky sexual behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Results underscore the relationship of specific youth assets to sexual risk behaviors. Health researcher and practitioners who work to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections among teenagers need to understand and acknowledge these factors within this population so that the assets can be built or strengthened.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1976

Formal and informal sex education as determinants of premarital sexual behavior.

Controversies exist regarding the effects of sex education in the schools and informal sex education obtained from parents, peers, the mass media, and other sources. Similarly, there is widespread interest in premarital sexual behavior, especially its determinants. This study presents several issues reflecting these concerns which have been the subject of much speculation but which have received little attention by researchers. The purpose of this study was to investigate--through the use of respondent reports--how formal and informal sex education influences premarital sexual behavior during college. A national probability sample of 1177 college students was studied using face-to-face interviews with approximately equal numbers of males and females. These interviews, which were conducted for the Institute for Sex Research, included questions about past and present sexual involvement and other attitudinal, behavioral and background variables. Accordingly, the data about sexual behavior and attitudes are based on the interviewees' self-reports. Indices were created which operationalized independent variables such as familial sexual conservatism, exposure to eroticism, perceived sex knowledge, and sexual exposure and assault during childhood and adolescence. Individual items reflecting childhood sex play, masturbation, current religiosity, religiosity while growing up, social class, sources of sex information, sex education in classrooms, and high school and college dating were used. The dependent variable, premarital sociosexual involvement, is a composite measure of incidence and prevalence of premarital heterosexual involvement which meets Guttman scaling criteria. An Automatic Interaction Detector analysis was used to determine the relative influences of reported sexualization variables on premarital sexual behavior. Major findings can be summarized as follows: Heterosexual behavior progresses in stepwise fashion from elementary to advanced levels of involvement, with each level representing a threshold. Reports of current influences and pressures explain more variance in premarital sexual behavior than reports of past informal sexualization influences, which, in turn, explain more variance than reported formal sex-education experiences. Limited success was reported with the use of a four-stage AID analysis which attempted to ascertain whether variables represented in later stages of the sexualization process "mask" the effects of variables in earlier stages and whether a development process can be identified. It may be concluded that these data do not support the belief that exposure to sexuality through formal sex education influences premarital sexual behavior. Informal sex education has significantly more impact on premarital sexual behavior, but there are indications that pressures and experiences confronting young people in a given dating or peer group situation take precedence over all past sexual socialization influences.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Crack cocaine use and sexual behavior among psychiatric inpatients.

Rises in both crack cocaine use and incidence of sexually transmitted diseases have been recently reported. In this study, we investigated the relationship between crack cocaine abuse and sexual behavior in 50 psychiatric inpatients. The relationship between crack use and sexual behavior is a very complicated one, influenced by many variables such as the dose of crack used, the user's preexisting sexuality, gender, and psychiatric illness. Results indicated that while most of the subjects developed sexual disinterest and dysfunction with prolonged crack cocaine use, some of them became more sexually promiscuous and consequently contracted more sexually transmitted diseases. The implications of these findings regarding transmission of HIV among crack cocaine users are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1987

Lisuride inhibits temporarily sexual behavior in female rats.

The effect of lisuride (0.1 and 0.2 mg/kg IP) on the sexual behavior was studied in the adult, ovariectomized and chronically estradiol-primed female rats. The behavioral tests were done under dyadic interaction with males 60 min before and 30, 120 and 360 min after lisuride or saline injection. Lisuride induced a prompt, short-termed and dose-dependent loss of the precopulatory patterns (darting, hopping, presenting posture) while the effect on the copulatory (lordosis) behavior was weaker. A partial restoration of the precopulatory behavior was observed in the 120th min, the full restoration of the original precopulatory states was found in the 360th min. The inhibitory effect of lisuride on feminine sexual behavior is in contrast with its facilitatory effect on masculine sexual behavior in rats. The results suggest that the serotonergic system participates in the mediation of both copulatory (receptive) behavior and precopulatory (proceptive) behavioral patterns.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

Cocaine use and high-risk sexual behavior among STD clinic patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Crack-smoking sexually transmitted disease (STD) patients are at high-risk for contracting HIV. GOAL OF THE STUDY: To examine the effects of cocaine use and other correlates on high-risk sexual behavior among STD clinic patients. STUDY DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study of 1,490 consecutive patients attending three Los Angeles County STD clinics between 1992 and 1994. RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis found high-risk sexual activity was associated with being a male and being of younger age. Among women, high-risk sexual behavior was associated with crack cocaine use and a perceived need for help. Among the men in the study, ethnicity (being black) and having an arrest history were associated with high-risk behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Effective intervention strategies should address cocaine use among STD patients and provide them with referrals to drug treatment.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Male sexual behavior as risk factor in cervical cancer.

Risk factors of male sexual behavior for squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix were studied in Thai women at Chulalongkorn Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, using an unmatched case-control design. A total of 93 case husbands and 169 control husbands were recruited in the study. Case husbands are prone to have more sexual partners than the control and have an age of first sexual intercourse earlier than the controls. More husbands of cases than of controls had history of prostitute visits in their life with the odds ratio of 9.42. Prostitute visit is a main risk factor, irrespective of whether the husband had a history of sexually transmitted diseases or not. Condom use in sexual intercourse with prostitutes seemed to have a protective effect for their wives in decreasing risk of cervical cancer. This study supports the infectious and venerally transmitted character of cervical cancer and indicates that the other measure of preventing and controlling cervical cancer in women is to educate and prevent men from having high risk sexual behavior.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Adolescents' recall of sexual behavior: consistency of self-report and effect of variations in recall duration.

PURPOSE: To describe the relationship between adolescents' 2-week, 2-month, and 12-month recall of sexual behavior; to assess the variability of adolescents' self-reported sexual behaviors over a period of 1 year; and to draw conclusions regarding the use of recall periods in measuring self-reported sexual behavior in adolescents. METHODS: Data from 296 African-American adolescents (age 12-19 years; 28% male) were analyzed. Baseline data comprise 2-week, 2-month, and 12-month recall of number of partners and frequency of condom-protected and unprotected vaginal, oral, and anal sex. Self-reported frequency of refusal of unprotected sex during the 2-week and 2-month recall periods are also included. To assess variability in self-reports of number of partners and frequency of behaviors over time, repeated measures of 2-week and 2-month recall were collected from a subset of the sample (n = 129; 24% male). RESULTS: The strength of correlation among responses from the three recall periods was dependent upon (a) the difference in length of the recall periods, and (b) the nature of the construct being recalled (e.g., number of partners vs. number of behaviors). Longitudinally, the variability of 2-week recall responses was generally larger than the variability in 2-month recall responses. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent estimates of adolescents' sexual behavior over a 1-year period may be obtained from several assessments of 2-week recall, or from relatively fewer assessments of 2-month recall data.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Effects of four beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists on male rat sexual behavior.

Antihypertensive medication has been reported to cause serious sexual side effects in men. Frequently mentioned as causing sexual dysfunction are beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists. The purpose of this study was to examine in detail the effects of beta blockers on adult male rat sexual behavior. Thirty minutes following a single subcutaneous injection of propranolol, pindolol, atenolol or labetalol, mating tests were conducted. The mixed beta 1- and beta 2-adrenergic antagonists, propranolol and pindolol, profoundly inhibited male sexual behavior. At the 5 and 10 mg/kg doses, propranolol inhibited ejaculatory behavior to the extent that only 9.1 and 8.3% respectively showed the behavior while pindolol reduced this behavior to 36.4% (16 mg/kg). These drugs also adversely affected various parameters of behavior in a dose-dependent manner. The selective beta 1 antagonist, atenolol, had only minor effects and labetalol even less so at the doses tested. It was suggested that the strongly inhibitory effects of propranolol and pindolol on male rat sex behavior may well be due to their 5-HT1A antagonistic binding properties rather than their beta-antagonistic properties.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

PubMed2005

Rapid decreases in preoptic aromatase activity and brain monoamine concentrations after engaging in male sexual behavior.

In Japanese quail, as in rats, the expression of male sexual behavior over relatively long time periods (days to weeks) is dependent on the local production of estradiol in the preoptic area via the aromatization of testosterone. On a short-term basis (minutes to hours), central actions of dopamine as well as locally produced estrogens modulate behavioral expression. In rats, a view of and sexual interaction with a female increase dopamine release in the preoptic area. In quail, in vitro brain aromatase activity (AA) is rapidly modulated by calcium-dependent phosphorylations that are likely to occur in vivo as a result of changes in neurotransmitter activity. Furthermore, an acute estradiol injection rapidly stimulates copulation in quail, whereas a single injection of the aromatase inhibitor vorozole rapidly inhibits this behavior. We hypothesized that brain aromatase and dopaminergic activities are regulated in quail in association with the expression of male sexual behavior. Visual access as well as sexual interactions with a female produced a significant decrease in brain AA, which was maximal after 5 min. This expression of sexual behavior also resulted in a significant decrease in dopaminergic as well as serotonergic activity after 1 min, which returned to basal levels after 5 min. These results demonstrate for the first time that AA is rapidly modulated in vivo in parallel with changes in dopamine activity. Sexual interactions with the female decreased aromatase and dopamine activities. These data challenge established views about the causal relationships among dopamine, estrogen action, and male sexual behavior.

3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid↗

PubMed2005

Regulation of anxiety and initiation of sexual behavior by CREB in the nucleus accumbens.

Sexual deficits and other behavioral disturbances such as anxiety-like behaviors can be observed in animals that have undergone social isolation, especially in species having important social interactions. Using a model of protracted social isolation in adult rats, we observed increased anxiety-like behavior and deficits in both the latency to initiate sexual behavior and the latency to ejaculate. We show, using transgenic cAMP response element (CRE)-LacZ reporter mice, that protracted social isolation also reduces CRE-dependent transcription within the nucleus accumbens. This decrease in CRE-dependent transcription can be mimicked in nonisolated animals by local viral gene transfer of a dominant negative mutant of CRE-binding protein (CREB). We previously showed that this manipulation increases anxiety-like behavior. We show here that it also impairs initiation of sexual behavior in nonisolated animals, a deficit that can be corrected by anxiolytic drug treatment. This local reduction in CREB activity, however, has no influence on ejaculation parameters. Reciprocally, we used the viral transgenic approach to overexpress CREB in the nucleus accumbens of isolated animals. We show that this local increase in CREB activity completely rescued the anxiety phenotype of the isolated animals, as well as their deficit in initiating sexual behavior, but failed to rescue the deficit in ejaculation. Our data suggest a role for the nucleus accumbens in anxiety responses and in specific aspects of sexual behavior. The results also provide insight into the molecular mechanisms by which social interactions affect brain plasticity and behavior.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Reliability and validity of a self-efficacy instrument for protective sexual behaviors.

The authors investigated the psychometric properties of a 22-item scale that measured respondents' perceptions of their ability to refuse sexual intercourse, question potential sexual partners, and use condoms. Two hundred twenty-one male and female undergraduates completed an anonymous questionnaire that measured a wide range of constructs. The scale exhibited good internal consistency, and convergent validity was demonstrated for 5 sexual behavior items (number of sexual partners ever and in the past 3 months, condom use in past 3 months, at last intercourse, and in the future). The instrument appeared to be free of social desirability bias and was reliable and valid for assessing college students' self-efficacy for protective sexual behaviors. College healthcare professionals could administer the instrument to help students determine their levels of self-efficacy for engaging in self-protective behaviors and identify domains in which they may need to improve their skills to reduce their risks of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease or having or causing an unplanned pregnancy.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Does a condom-promoting strategy (the Swiss STOP-AIDS campaign) modify sexual behavior among adolescents?

OBJECTIVE: To measure sexual behavior changes (especially the use of condoms) among adolescents after 5 years of a population-based acquired immunodeficiency syndrome prevention strategy at the national and regional level. DESIGN: Two comparative cross-sectional surveys by self-administered questionnaires were conducted in 1987 and 1990. SETTING: Two similar samples of 16- to 19-year-old apprentices. The two samples, 1987 (n = 1359) and 1990 (n = 817), are comparable in terms of sex, age, profession, and location. RESULTS: The percentage of boys who say they are sexually active has remained the same (75%) and has slightly increased among younger girls (65% to 75%, NS). The average number of partners has remained steady for boys and girls. Regular use of any contraceptive device has remained steady among girls (75%) and increased among boys (1987, 38%; 1990, 54%; P < .001). In 1987 as well as in 1990, the condom was the most widely used method (> 90%), followed by the pill (50%), withdrawal (20%), and chemicals (5%). Rates were about the same for both sexes. Rates of irregular use of condoms increased among boys and girls (P < .01); regular use of condoms increased among boys (22% to 34%, P < .01) and girls (10% to 27%, P < .001); use of the pill has slightly decreased. CONCLUSIONS: During a 5-year period, the Swiss "STOP-AIDS" campaign and local interventions had had no real effect on the rate of sexual activity of apprentices but had had a positive effect on the use of contraception and condoms. The prevention strategy should (and will) be maintained in the future.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1997

The inhibitory effects on sexual behavior and ambulatory activity of the mixed GABAA/GABAB agonist progabide are differentially blocked by GABA receptor antagonists.

Progabide inhibited male rat sexual behavior at a dose of 200 mg/kg. This dose had only modest effects on ambulatory activity and no effect at all on motor coordination as evaluated by a rotarod test. The GABAA antagonist bicuculline, at a dose of 1 mg/kg, blocked the effects of progabide on sex behavior. In contrast, the GABAB antagonist CGP 35348, at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg, was ineffective. These doses have previously been shown to block the actions of baclofen on sexual behavior. It was concluded that the GABAA but not the GABAB receptor is important for the inhibitory effects of progabide on that behavior. The actions of progabide on ambulatory activity were not blocked by bicuculline or CGP 35348 at any of the doses used (up to 2 and 200 mg/kg, respectively). Even the combination of both antagonists was ineffective. This suggests that the motor effects of progabide are mediated by either a non-GABAergic receptor or by a subtype of the GABAA or the GABAB receptor that is not sensitive to the antagonists. Present results show that the effects of progabide on motor functions depend on mechanisms different from those involved in its effects on sexual behavior. They further suggest that the GABAA receptor may be important for drug actions on male sexual behavior.

Animals↗