Liberalismo / conservadorismo sexual: proposta de uma medida multi-fatorial

The construct of sexual openness for females in steady intimate relationships

The analysis of open-minded attitudes towards sexuality in general requires a construct based on attitudinal dimensions. Although several existing studies involve sexual attitudes, they differ substantially and standardized conceptual work is missing. Thus, the authors introduce the latent variable sexual openness to develop a construct based on self-oriented attitudes towards different sexual topics. Available survey data of female German students in a steady relationship allowed providing a first empirical test for the applicability of this construct. Five subdimensions are acknowledged central for sexual openness: sexual practices, masturbation, bisexuality, permissiveness, and pornography consumption. Confirmatory factor analysis and correlations confirmed the idea of an underlying mechanism with an impact on all five variables. Though further validation of the construct of sexual openness is required, the findings strongly support the notion of an overarching latent attitude variable, which influences the individual relation to everything sexual. The results were compared to other studies and potential approaches for future analyses were proposed.

Papilomavírus humano (HPV) entre jovens: um sinal de alerta

O Papilomavírus Humano - HPV - assume especial destaque na Saúde Pública diante do reconhecimento de sua associação com a ocorrência do câncer uterino, entre outros. Levando em conta a necessidade de implementação de programas de esclarecimentos sobre a prevenção dos agravos relacionados à infecção pelo HPV, coloca-se o propósito da realização do presente diagnóstico sobre conhecimentos e práticas sexuais entre jovens. Direcionando, estrategicamente, para o segmento de universitários, o estudo foi realizado no Campus da Baixada Santista da UNIFESP, estruturado em torno da formação multiprofissional em saúde. O levantamento foi feito a partir da aplicação de questionário em sala de aula, junto aos alunos do primeiro e terceiro ano. Com uma concentração de iniciação sexual na faixa de 15 a 17 anos de idade, os alunos referiram uso de preservativos masculinos associado à preocupação com a contracepção, secundada pela prevenção de Doenças Sexualmente Transmissíveis - DSTs. O conhecimento sobre o HPV foi restrito na população investigada. Embora crescente do primeiro para o terceiro ano, sua apreciação é relativizada quanto ao conhecimento da transmissão, consequências e prevenção. A investigação apontou a necessidade de disponibilizar informações relativas ao HPV em atenção às especificidades da doença.

Sexual Liberalism-Conservatism: the effect of human values, gender, and previous sexual experience

Despite theoretical associations, there is a lack of empirical studies on the axiological basis of sexual liberalism-conservatism. Two studies demonstrated important associations between these constructs for young adults. In Study 1, participants were 353 undergraduate students with a mean age of 20.13 (SD = 1.84), who completed the Sexual Liberalism-Conservatism Scale and the Basic Values Survey. In Study 2, participants were 269 undergraduate students, with a mean age of 20.3 (SD = 1.82), who completed a social desirability scale in addition to Study 1 instruments. Results showed how values can predict sexual liberalism-conservatism after controlling for social desirability. Attitudes towards one's own sexual behavior were more conservative whereas attitudes towards other's sexual behavior were more liberal. Gender was not a significant predictor of sexual attitudes whereas previous sexual experience showed a significant association to this construct. In general, results corroborated previous findings, showing that participants with a tendency to present socially desirable answers also tended to present themselves as sexually conservative.