Determinants Of Sexual Dysfunction: The Contribution Of Psychological, Medical, Relationship And Psychopathological Factors

INTRODUCTION In the last few years there has been a growing consensus among the scientific community about the multi-determined character of human sexual functioning (Bancroft, 1999; Gomes, 2002; Hawton, 1992; Reiss, 1999; Tiefer, 1994; Weis, 1998; Wiederman, 1998). The main challenge of the modern sexology is to improve and implement research methods that allow testing the interactive role of the various dimensions on sexual response. The present study is aimed at investigating the contribution of cognitive and emotional factors on sexual functioning after controlling for the effect of a variety of medical, psychopathological and inter-personal factors. METHODS PARTICIPANTS A convenience sample of 503 participants (253 women and 250 men) from the Portuguese population was recruited by a group of researchers in several regions of the country. MATERIALS Self report measures assessing bio-psycho-social dimensions of sexual functioning: Medical factors: (MHF; Wincze & Carey, 2001); Psychopathology: BSI; Derogatis & Spencer (1982), BDI; A. Beck et al. (1961); Interpersonal factors: DAS; Spanier (1976); and Cognitive-emotional factors: QCSASC; Nobre & Pinto-Gouveia (2002); SDBQ; Nobre, Pinto-Gouveia, & Gomes (2003), SMQ; Nobre & Pinto-Gouveia (2003). Sexual Function: FSFI; Rosen at al. (2000) and IIEF; Rosen at al. (1997). RESULTS Results showed the unique contribution of cognitive and emotional factors in determining male and female sexual functioning. After controlling for the effect of medical, psychopathological and relationship factors, cognitive variables still contribute significantly for the variance of female sexual functioning (R2 Change = .10, p < .05) and male sexual functioning (R2 Change = .14, p < .01). In this particular we should emphasize the role of sexual beliefs, negative schemas activated and automatic thoughts and emotions presented during sexual activity. CONCLUSIONS Results contribute for the recognition of the role of psychological variables in determining sexual functioning and suggest the growing use of cognitive and emotional interventions in the treatment of female sexual dysfunction.