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Building on their study of gay men (Bancroft et al., 2003), Bancroft et al. (2004) assessed 865 young heterosexual men to examine the relationship between sexual risk taking and three aspects of personality 1: sexual arousability (as well as propensities toward its inhibition in the context of risk or threat), negative mood, and sensation seeking. In this heterosexual sample, [m]en with low inhibition of sexual arousal in the face of risk. .. reported more partners with whom they use no condoms and more lifetime"one night stands." Men who experience increased sexual interest in states of depression. .. reported more partners in the past year and more one night stands.. .. [D]isinhibition. .. was predictive of whether sexual intercourse had occurred in the past 6 months, and also of the number of sexual partners in the past year. A measure of an intention to practice safer sex was strongly related to measures of sexual arousability and inhibition. ... (p. 181)
Bancroft and colleagues conclude that"[b]oth this study and [the] parallel study of gay men. .. reinforced the idea that personality factors, particularly those of more direct relevance to sexuality, are important in understanding [high-risk sexual behavior]" (p. 191) and that"[ i]ndividual differences in sexual excitation and inhibition proneness and the relation between mood and sexuality. .. should be taken into consideration when designing behavioral intervention" (p. 181).
1 Why study relatively immutable personality characteristics as factors relevant to sexual risk reduction? In part, Bancroft et al. (2003) have this to say:
[P]ersonality characteristics may play a crucial role in designing appropriate one-on-one interventions. Thus, for example, interventions with individuals who have a tendency to take sexual risks when depressed, or who use sex as a form of mood regulator, could initially employ a behavioral analysis of the relation between mood and sexual behavior (e.g., using daily diaries) to confront the individual with this pattern and focus motivation for change, followed by a cognitive-behavioral approach to develop and maintain alternative methods of mood regulation. ... [ T]his approach is particularly relevant to. .. men who cruise for casual sexual partners. As the negative mood in such men is driving them to go out and look for partners, interventions should focus on redirecting that sequence early, before the contact with a partner is made. The individual who appears to take more risk during the sexual interaction, because of the persistence of sexual arousal in the face of risk, needs to take this aspect of his personality into account when anticipating or planning sexual encounters, and take steps to build safe procedures, such as condom availability, into the sequence. ... The individual who is reluctant to use condoms because of concerns about his erectile function should be guided to use other methods of maintaining erectile function, such as Viagra, rather than avoid condom use. (p. 569)
  
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Fall 2004 Newsletter /
Volume 6, Issue 1
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