Relational and Trait Factors Mediate the Associations between Women’s Intoxication-Related Unwanted Sexual Experiences, Pleasure, and Desire

ABSTRACT

Despite documented negative sexual health sequelae of unwanted sexual contact (USC), it is unclear why individuals who have experienced USC within the context of intoxication (intoxication-related USC) are at particular risk for poor sexual functioning. Intoxication-related USC may impact relational factors like relationship satisfaction, as trauma symptoms interfere with emotional closeness during sex. Additionally, although individual traits – such as sexual excitation and sensation seeking – affect the relationship between trauma and sexual functioning, it is unknown whether these factors differentially impact those who have experienced intoxication-related USC. Finally, because presence of a partner may evoke trauma-related symptoms during partnered (dyadic) sexual activity, mediators may differ across solitary versus dyadic sexual pleasure and desire. We tested relational and individual trait mediators of the association between intoxication-related USC and solitary and dyadic sexual pleasure and desire in a sample of heterosexual and sexual minority women. Trait factors consistently mediated the association between intoxication-related USC and both dyadic and solitary desire and pleasure, while relational factors such as emotional closeness were inconsistently related to sexual wellbeing. If replicated, these findings would suggest that trait factors may be useful targets for clinical sexual wellness interventions among sexuality-diverse women who have experienced intoxication-related USC.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Please note, when we use the term “risk” related to sexual functioning outcomes, we are specifically invoking the epidemiological meaning (i.e., that the presence of a variable increases the likelihood of a poorer outcome), whereas our use of the term “risk” in relation to USC refers to the risk that a perpetrator may attend to cues of a potential victim’s vulnerability. We do not intend for this term to connote women’s responsibility for experiencing USC.

² Here, we emphasize sexual violence survivors’ post-assault sexual agency and recognize that behaviors such as sex-linked substance use are not in and of themselves “risk” behaviors. Given that sexual agency is often denied survivors of sexual violence – initially by their perpetrator, and subsequently by others’ reactions to their sexual behaviors – supporting survivors’ engagement in sexual experiences that they find positive and pleasurable is critical.

Additional information

Funding

The project was made possible by the Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Biomedical Research Development Funds. This work was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health [P20GM130461] and the Rural Drug Addiction Research Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the University of Nebraska.