Sexual abuse in childhood increases the chances of high-risk pregnancy, shows a new study conducted by Prof. Rachel Lev-Wiesel, Head of the Graduate School of Creative Arts Therapies at the University of Haifa, Lee Yampolsky and Dr. Tzachi Ben Zion, Deputy Director of Soroka Hospital. “Even when a woman willingly and happily commences a pregnancy, it seems that the body relates the sexual act that created the pregnancy with the abuse trauma, evoking negative feelings which can then be expressed in physical and gynecological problems,” Prof. Lev-Wiesel explains.

The current study examined the possibility of sexual abuse experienced in childhood triggering retraumatization during wanted pregnancy. A group of 1,830 pregnant women participating in the study were divided into high- and low-risk groups, which were further divided into three subgroups: those who were victims of child sexual abuse, those who experienced other types of trauma in childhood, and those who had experienced no notable trauma. Compared with women who had not endured any notable trauma before, those who had been sexually abused in childhood, the study shows, suffered higher levels of depression and more post-traumatic symptoms.

According to Prof. Lev-Wiesel, the main post-traumatic symptoms that these women reported were detachment and avoidance. The study also found that the more severe the child sexual abuse, the stronger the correlation between the PTS symptoms and poor physical health during pregnancy. “Gynecological problems might be the body’s manifestation of the child sexual abuse trauma,” Prof. Lev-Wiesel explains.

“The current study’s findings have important practical implications for health care providers, practitioners and obstetrical gynecologists. There is a need to to recognize and address the psychological state of pregnant child sexual abuse survivors,” Prof. Lev-Wiesel says. “It is also important to remember that since the screening process itself may serve as a trigger to retraumatization, a specially trained team should provide a safe environment and psychological assistance.”

Sexual problems are frequent after operations for carcinoma of the rectum. Christian Schmidt et al. describe the consequences for quality of life in the current issue of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[8]: 123-30).

In Germany, each year more than 70,000 people develop colorectal carcinoma. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of tumor surgery on quality of life and sexual function. Data from 368 patients were available to the authors. The patients were asked the following two questions: “Has the operation resulted in an impairment of your sexuality?” and “How much does this disturb you?”

Men complained increasingly of sexual dysfunction over time and the effects were more marked than in women. Younger female patients had more difficulty in experiencing their sexuality than did older female patients. The probability of loss of function increased with the size of the wound. Radiation and chemotherapy did not have any unfavorable effect on the sex lives of the patients in this study. In spite of the clear results, the authors emphasize that sexual function was not recorded preoperatively, to avoid unsettling the patients. Only cautious conclusions could be drawn from the study.

According to the Journal of Sexual Medicine, people who engage in regular sexual activity gain several health benefits, such as longer lives, healthier hearts, lower blood pressure, and lower risk of breast cancer. However, approximately 33 percent of women may not receive these benefits due to low sexual desire. Also, the marriages of women with low sexual desire may also be at risk, given a recent statistic that 25 percent of divorce is due to sexual dissatisfaction.

Some doctors are prescribing testosterone patches for women with low sexual desire. However, research shows that testosterone patches might increase the risk of breast cancer when used for just a year. Researchers are currently testing a new drug, flibanserin, which was developed as an antidepressant and affects neurotransmitters in the brain, to treat women with low sexual desire. However, experts are concerned about the side effects of this possible treatment. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found evidence that a low-cost, risk-free psychological treatment is effective and may be a better alternative to drugs that have adverse side effects.

“Low sexual desire is the number one problem women bring to sex therapists,” said Laurie Mintz, associate professor of educational, school and counseling psychology in the MU College of Education. “Drugs to treat low sexual desire may take the focus away from the most common culprits of diminished desire in women, including lack of information on how our own bodies work, body image issues, relationship issues and a stressful lifestyle. Indeed, research demonstrates that relationship issues are far more important in predicting women’s sexual desire than are hormone levels. Before women seek medical treatments, they should consider psychological treatment.”

Mintz has authored a book based on this premise. In her book, Mintz suggests a six-step psycho-educational and cognitive-behavioral treatment approach that she based on scientific literature and more than 20 years of clinical knowledge. The treatment plan includes chapters about one’s thoughts about sex, how to talk with your partner, the importance of spending time together, ways to touch each other in both erotic and non-erotic ways, how to make time for sex and different ways to make sexual activity exciting and thus, increase women’s sexual desire.

In a study demonstrating the effectiveness of her treatment, Mintz recruited married women between the ages of 28 to 65, who said they were uninterested in sexual activity. All the women were employed and a majority had children. All participants completed an online survey that measured sexual desire and sexual functioning. Then half of the participants were selected randomly to read her book and perform the exercises outlined in her book. After six weeks, they were emailed the same survey again. The control group did not read the book. Mintz found that the intervention group who read the book made significant gains in sexual desire and sexual functioning, compared to the control group who did not read the book. On average, women who read the book increased their level of sexual desire by almost 30 percent.

“This finding is especially exciting because low sexual desire among women has been not only the most common, but the least successfully treated of all the sexual problems brought to therapists” Mintz said. “Also, although other books have been written on the topic, this is the first to be tested for its effectiveness. In addition, unlike medical treatments such as testosterone, there are certainly no known negative medical side effects associated with the treatment strategies in my book.”

At age 55, men can expect another 15 years of sexual activity, but women that age should expect less than 11 years, according to a study by University of Chicago researchers published early online March 10 by the British Medical Journal. Men in good or excellent health at 55 can add 5 to 7 years to that number. Equally healthy women gain slightly less, 3 to 6 years.

One consolation for women is that many of them seem not to miss it. Men tend to marry younger women, die sooner and care more about sex, the study confirmed. Although 72 percent of men aged 75 to 85 have partners, fewer than 40 percent of women that age do. Only half of women 75-85 who remained sexually active rated their sex lives as “good,” and only 11 percent of all women that age report regularly thinking about or being interested in sex. Among those age 57 to 85 not living with a partner, 57 percent of men were interested in sex, compared to only 11 percent of women.

“Interest in sex, participation in sex and even the quality of sexual activity were higher for men than women, and this gender gap widened with age,” said lead author Stacy Tessler Lindau, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago. But the study also “affirms a positive association between later-life health, sexual partnership and sexual activity,” she said.

Lindau and co-author Natalia Gavrilova focused on two large surveys, the National Survey of Midlife Development, involving about 3,000 adults aged 25 to 74 and completed in 1996, and the National Social Life Health and Aging Project, involving another 3,000 adults aged 57 to 85, completed in 2006. Participants provided information about their relationship status and rated the quality of their sex lives and how often they had sex. They also rated the level of their general health as poor, fair, good, very good or excellent.

The results showed that men are more likely to be sexually active, report a good sex life and be interested in sex than women. This difference was most stark among the 75 to 85-year-old group, where almost 40 percent of men, compared to 17 percent of women, were sexually active.

The study also introduced a new health measure, “sexually active life expectancy,” or SALE, the average remaining years of sexually active life. For men, SALE was about ten years lower than total life expectance. For women it was 20 years lower.

Men at the age of 30, for example, have a sexually active life expectancy of nearly 35 years, but they can, on average, expect to remain alive for 45 years, including a sexless final decade. For 30-year-old women, SALE is almost 31 years but total life expectancy is more than 50. So men that age can anticipate remaining sexually active for 78 percent of their remaining lifespan, while women at 30 can expect to remain sexually active for only 61 percent of the remaining years.

The authors conclude that “sexually active life expectancy estimation is a new life expectancy tool than can be used for projecting public health and patient needs in the arena of sexual health,” and that “projecting the population patterns of later life sexual activity is useful for anticipating need for public health resources, expertise and medical services.”

In an accompanying editorial, Professor Patricia Goodson from Texas University says Lindau and Gavrilova’s research is both refreshing and hopeful. She says: “the study bears good news in the form of hope … the news that adults in the US can enjoy many years of sexual activity beyond age 55 is promising.”

Goodson adds that many unanswered questions remain in the field of older people and sexuality, such as problems with measurement and silence regarding the sexual health of ageing homosexual, bisexual or intersexed people. “They stand as dim reminders of the limitations inherent in applying science to the study of complex human realities, and the cultural values shaping the topics we choose to study,” she concludes.

people who are in good health are just about twice as likely to be interested in sex compared to those in poor health.

Sexual activity is recognized as having several health benefits. In addition, it is linked to living longer. In this case, the study investigates how general health impacts on the quality of sex.

Furthermore, this research estimates how many remaining sexually active years healthy men and women have left.

Findings indicate that at the age of 30, sexually active life expectancy is:

• For men: nearly 35 years
• For women: almost 31 years

At the age of 55, this figure changes to:

• For men: almost 15 remaining years
• For women: 10 remaining years

This gender difference diminishes for people with a spouse or intimate partner.

Sexually active life expectancy was longer for men. However, they lost more years of this activity due to poor health than women.

Authors, Stacy Tessler Lindau and Natalia Gavrilova from the University of Chicago, used data from two representative research groups in the US. One group consisted of over 3,000 men and women between the ages of 25 and 74. The other group included over 3,000 men and women between 57 and 85 years of age.

Participants were asked to provide information about their relationship status. They rated the quality of their sex lives and how often they had sex. They also rated the level of their general health between poor and excellent.

The results disclose that men are more likely to be sexually active, report a good sex life and be interested in sex than women. This dissimilarity was most considerable among the 75 to 85 year old group, where almost four out of ten (40 percent) males compared to less than two out of ten (17 percent) women were sexually active.

The authors write in conclusion:”sexually active life expectancy estimation is a new life expectancy tool than can be used for projecting public health and patient needs in the arena of sexual health” and that “projecting the population patterns of later life sexual activity is useful for anticipating need for public health resources, expertise and medical services.”

In an associated editorial, Professor Patricia Goodson from Texas University says Lindau and Gavrilova’s research is both interesting and encouraging. She writes: “the study bears good news in the form of hope … the news that adults in the US can enjoy many years of sexual activity beyond age 55 is promising.”

Goodson remarks that in the field of older people and sexuality, many questions remain unanswered, such as problems with measurement and silence regarding the sexual health of ageing homosexual, bisexual or intersexed people. “They stand as dim reminders of the limitations inherent in applying science to the study of complex human realities, and the cultural values shaping the topics we choose to study, she concludes.”

“Sex, health, and years of sexually active life gained due to good health: evidence from two US population based cross sectional surveys of aging”

A Mailman School of Public Health study examining the effects of institutional discrimination on the psychiatric health of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals found an increase in psychiatric disorders among the LGB population living in states that instituted bans on same-sex marriage. The study, published in the March issue of the American Journal of Public Health, is available online.

Deborah Hasin, PhD, professor of clinical Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and senior author, and colleagues at the NYS Psychiatric Institute and Harvard University analyzed data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). Participants were initially interviewed during 2001 – 2002 (Wave 1) and again during the period 2004-2005 (Wave 2), at which time participants’ sexual orientation was assessed.

“To address the impact of institutional discrimination on mental health, we examined whether LGB individuals living in states that instituted constitutional amendments banning gay marriage via the 2004-2005 elections evidenced increased rates of psychiatric disorders between Wave 1 and Wave 2 of the survey,” according to the authors.

Among LGB study participants living in these states, the prevalence of mood disorders, generalized anxiety disorder and alcohol use disorders increased significantly between Wave 1 to Wave 2, with the greatest increase, more than 200%, in generalized anxiety disorder. The prevalence of any psychiatric disorder also increased slightly among heterosexual respondents, but to a much lesser extent than their LGB counterparts.

“Before this study, little was known about the impact of institutional discrimination toward lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals in our society,” said Dr. Hasin. “The study highlights the importance of abolishing institutional forms of discrimination, including those leading to disparities in the mental health and well-being of LGB individuals.”

Review study confirms gender difference in responses to sexual stimuli.

Women’s minds and genitals respond differently to sexual arousal, whereas in men, the responses of the body and mind are more in tune with each other, according to Assistant Professor Meredith Chivers, from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, and her international collaborators, Michael Seto, Martin Lalumière, Ellen Laan, and Teresa Grimbos. Their meta-analysis1 of the extent of agreement between subjective ratings and physiological measures of sexual arousal in men and women is published online this week in Springer’s journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

The human sexual response is a dynamic combination of cognitive, emotional and physiological processes. Chivers and colleagues were interested in the degree to which an individual’s experience of sexual arousal mirrors physiological genital activity and whether gender difference in this agreement (commonly reported in individual studies) would be found when a meta-analysis of sexual psychophysiology studies was conducted.

The authors reviewed 134 studies, published between 1969 and 2007, which measured the degree of agreement between subjective experiences of sexual arousal and physiological genital responses. Overall, the studies reviewed data collected from over 2,500 women and 1,900 men. Participants indicated how aroused they felt during or after they were exposed to a variety of sexual stimuli, called subjective arousal. Researchers measured the physiological responses to the sexual stimuli using different methods, including changes in penile erection for men and changes in genital blood flow for women.

Men’s subjective and physiological measures of sexual arousal showed a greater degree of agreement than women’s. For the male participants, the subjective ratings more closely matched the physiological readings indicating that men’s minds and genitals were in agreement. For the women, however, the responses of the mind and genitals were not as closely matched as men’s, suggesting a split between women’s bodies and minds. The readings from the physiological measurements and their subjective ratings were, in some cases, significantly different.

The researchers then looked at factors in the studies that might shed some light on this gender difference. They identified two methodological differences, in particular, that may play a role.

The type of sexual stimuli – their content and how it was presented e.g. visually or as an audio recording – made no difference to how well the subjective and physiological responses mirrored each other in men. However, it did influence women’s responses. Women exposed to a greater range and number of sexual stimuli – content and presentation – were more likely to have stronger agreement between subjective and physiological responses.

The timing of the assessment of self-reported sexual arousal also had an effect. When participants were asked to rate their subjective arousal at the end of each stimulus, men’s responses were closer to one another than women’s. However, when both men and women were asked to rate their arousal whilst they were exposed to the stimulus, the gender difference disappeared because men’s concordance dropped to the range of women’s.

The authors conclude: “The assessment of sexual arousal in men and women informs theoretical studies of human sexuality and provides a method to assess and evaluate the treatment of sexual dysfunctions. Understanding measures of arousal is, therefore, paramount to further theoretical and practical advances in the study of human sexuality. Our results have implications for the assessment of sexual arousal, the nature of gender differences in sexual arousal, and models of sexual response.”

New research led by Queen’s University Psychology professor Meredith Chivers finds that men’s reports of feeling sexually aroused tend to match their physiological responses, while women’s mind and body responses are less aligned.

“We wanted to discover how closely people’s subjective experience of sexual arousal mirrors their physiological genital response – and whether this differs between men and women,” says Dr. Chivers, an expert in human sexual response. Although a gender difference has been reported in individual studies of sexual arousal, until now there has been no systematic analysis.

The Queen’s study was published on-line Jan. 4 2010, in the international journal, Archives of Sexual Behavior.

Also on the research team are: Michael Seto of the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, Martin Lalumière of the University of Lethbridge, Ellen Laan of the University of Amsterdam, and Teresa Grimbos of the University of Toronto/Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

The researchers looked at 134 studies, published between 1969 and 2007, involving more than 2,500 women and 1,900 men. Participants were asked how aroused they felt during and after exposure to a variety of sexual stimuli. This subjective measure of arousal was compared with physiological responses: changes in penile erection for men and changes in genital blood flow for women.

The men’s subjective ratings more closely matched their physiological measures than the women’s; men’s brain and bodies were almost always in agreement, while there was more often a reported inconsistency between women’s bodies and minds.

“Understanding measures of arousal is paramount to further theoretical and practical advances in the study of human sexuality,” Dr. Chivers says. “Our results have implications for the assessment of sexual arousal, the nature of gender differences in sexual arousal, and models of sexual response.”

Scientists have been busy exploring the biological effects and health impact of kissing. New evidence shows that kissing lowers our stress level, and coveys a variety of information that may not reach consciousness. It appears that kissing engages our mating radar in the brain, and leads to better health.

Aside from lowering stress, measured by declines in cortisol levels in saliva, Helen Fisher tells us “Kissing is not just kissing. It is a major escalation or de-escalation point in a powerful process of mate choice.” It seems we subconsciously detect smells that tell us about our partner’s immune system. Helen Fisher is an anthropologist who studies love. She has much to tell us about romance and sexual health, and is a professor at Rutgers University, and author of “Why Him, Why Her: Finding Real Love by Understanding Your Personality Type”.

It also seems that the longer we are with our partner, the lower our cortisol levels become when we kiss -more proof that intimacy is good for your health. Cortisol is a stress hormone. High levels are thought to increase our risk of a variety of diseases. The stress reducing benefits of the kiss come from Wendy Hill, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at Lafayette College, in Easton, Pa., presented today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Kissing transmits biological information that innately tells us whether to choose or ditch a potential partner. It seems that women are more attracted to men who have opposite immune system function from their own. According to Fisher, The somatosensory cortex, which extends from one side of the brain to the other, has a large portion devoted to picking up signals from the lips, tongue, nose and cheek areas around the mouth. “You can really get poked in the back and not feel it very much, but just a feather around your lips and you really do feel it.”

People who study kissing are known as philematologists – nice work if you can get it. Philematologists are finding that kissing really has purpose.

Women kiss to gain intimacy and assess their men. Men kiss as a prelude to sex. Gordon Gallup Jr., Ph.D., a psychologist at the State University of New York at Albany studied 1000 undergraduate students in 2007. He says, “Females are much more prone to use kissing as a mate-assessment device.” A “bad” kiss can end a relationship instantly. Not so for men – Gallup found that men are more than willing to have sex without even kissing, while most women would not even consider having sex without a kiss.

A note of caution includes making sure your kissing partner is healthy. There is no question that mononucleosis, herpes, and herpes related viruses are passed on during kissing. Fortunately, most diseases from sharing a kiss have only a slight impact on human health.

Kissing may also elevate dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a powerful chemical that tells our brain we are experiencing pleasure. Kissing can create a sense of euphoria.

Beginning a relationship with a kiss tells us much about our partner. A kiss can either make or break a partnership.

Scientific interest in kissing makes it mandatory that we all keep up with the health benefits of kissing. Men – take note: Kissing may raise testosterone levels. She will not sleep with you if you deny her the all-important, information sharing, and biologically important kiss.

Studies reveal there are everyday health benefits to be gained from kissing, including, but not limited to, lower stress levels, subconscious processing of information by the brain, increased testosterone levels in men, and a sense of euphoria for all.

When it comes to learning life-changing behaviors in high school health classes, the identity of the person teaching may be even more important than the curriculum, a new study suggests.

For years, many high schools around the country have been relying on outside experts to teach sensitive subjects such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and pregnancy prevention. But a recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and the University of Kentucky found that students learn more about such issues when taught by their regular classroom teacher.

The reason: students may be more inclined to learn life-changing behaviors from someone they know and trust.

“The actual person teaching makes a difference in how students learn. When there is a good relationship, that really facilitates learning and motivation. And we found that in almost every area, the regular classroom teachers were more effective, they were better,” said Eric Anderman, co-author of the study and professor of educational psychology at Ohio State.

The study is available online and will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Health Promotion Practice.

Strong student-teacher relationships have been linked to many positive outcomes, including better behavior in classrooms and improvement in learning. Because of the established relationship regular classroom teachers have with their students, it may be easier for adolescents to talk with and learn from someone who already knows them as individuals.

“The relationship between the teacher and the student, particularly during adolescence, is very important. It was easier for the kids to talk about personal stuff with someone they knew. It was easier for them to absorb the material and become more interested in what they were talking about with their regular teacher in the classroom,” Anderman said.

Nearly 700 high school students in central and northern Kentucky participated in the study. Students from seven similarly sized high schools were given the same curriculum and were taught by either their regular classroom teacher or a temporary educator.

Students were surveyed prior to beginning the course and three to four weeks after completion about their experience. Students were asked about attitudes toward having sex and condom use, their goals and expectations toward the class, if they valued class material, and if they felt their health teachers were credible and likeable.

In almost every category, the regular classroom teachers had the more positive results. Students often expect to be tested more often by their regular teacher than by a temporary educator. As a result, they may be more motivated to learn the material, to achieve high grades on tests, and to appear knowledgeable during classroom discussions.

More importantly, students in classrooms led by their regular teachers valued the course material more than did others. Instead of simply hearing a lecture on sex education, students were motivated to pay attention because they felt the class offered important information.

“When you have kids who simply memorize material for the test and two weeks later don’t remember any of it, you’re not getting anywhere. But if you can get the kids to care and learn because they think it’s important, that’s something that will last a lifetime,” Anderman said.

Students who had a sexual partner also participated in more classroom discussions with the regular teacher. These students valued the discussions, reporting that the discussions were higher in quality and more frequent overall.

“Students who had a sexual partner were more likely to say that there was class discussion going on with the regular teacher than those taught by the outside person. These kids were more likely to feel like there was discussion of these issues, rather than just the teacher lecturing to them,” he said.

Regular classroom teachers were also perceived as more credible than their temporary counterparts. Students felt their regular teachers were more knowledgeable, but also liked their regular teacher more. Students felt comfortable with these teachers and were able to joke around and laugh with the teachers, but also took them more seriously, he said.

Despite the positive results, Anderman cautions that not all teachers will have the same impacts as those in the study. Every teacher in this study, both temporary and permanent, received professional training prior to entering the classroom. In reality, not all teachers will have the same training and know-how, and decisions should be made based on who is the best fit for each class.

“School is the absolute best way to get information out to adolescents, no matter who is teaching. The important thing is getting the teacher to make a connection. If the teacher can make the right connection with one kid, you’ve saved one person from getting HIV, you’ve saved one person’s life,” he said