Attitudes toward sex, arousal, and the retention of contraceptive information

Judgments of Vulnerability to Pregnancy: The Role of Risk Factors and Individual Differences

This study explored women's integration of information in making judgments about vulnerability to pregnancy and examined the influence of personality characteristics on these judgments. Female participants made judgments of the likelihood of pregnancy for each of 24 scenarios created by within-subjects factorial manipulation of three variables: frequency of intercourse, method of contraception, and target (self vs. the average woman their age). Their judgments reflected knowledge of the effect of frequency of intercourse and efficacy of birth control on the likelihood of pregnancy and an understanding of the interaction of these two factors. The results also indicate that two personality characteristics, erotophobia and locus of control, moderate judgments of the likelihood of pregnancy.

Predicting internet pornography use and arousal: the role of individual difference variables

This study considers the relation between a number of theoretically relevant individual difference variables and individuals' online pornography use and arousal patterns. In doing so, an attempt is also made to determine whether self-reports of arousal can be collapsed into meaningful empirically derived content groupings. An exploratory factor analysis produces 3 factors for men: standard fare, specialized, and male-focused; and two factors for women: standard fare and specialized. Findings indicate that sexual disposition is a strong predictor of standard fare use and arousal for both genders. Men and women higher in psychopathy were more likely to use all forms of content. For those high in psychopathy, however, men were only slightly, and women not at all, more likely to find standard fare content arousing. Results are discussed in terms of their potential value for understanding an often overlooked first step in the process of pornography consumption.

Factors predicting high-risk sexual behavior in heterosexual college females

The purpose of this study was to determine which factors based in social cognitive theory are associated with risky sexual behavior in heterosexual college females. Results showed that negative attitudes toward condoms and toward involvement in a relationship were associated with less consistent condom use; frequent alcohol use preceding intercourse and low sexual satisfaction were associated with less consistent contraceptive use. Sex education on the college campus currently provides protection information only; these strategies have not proved successful. We encourage the development of more comprehensive educational strategies, which include discussion of the social cognitive factors shown here to be associated with risky sexual behavior.