Sexual Initiative and Intercourse Behavior During Pregnancy Among Brazilian Women: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Sexual behavior may be altered during pregnancy. The authors aimed to investigate the behavior of pregnant women in terms of level of sexual initiative and change in sexual positions for intercourse. The authors conducted a retrospective research with 156 pregnant Brazilian women who completed a questionnaire. Before pregnancy, both partners usually initiated sex, whereas during pregnancy, the male partner generally did. In general, women who took the sexual initiative showed better scores in the sexuality variables. During pregnancy, the use of each sexual position reduced significantly. Couples in which both partners take the sexual initiative tend to accept a wider variety of sexual positions.

The authors thank the participants of the survey, who have to remain anonymous, but without whom this study would not have been possible. The authors express their gratitude to the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Coordination of Improvement of Personnel With Undergraduation and Graduation Level; Brazil) and to the Universidade do Estado de Santa Catraina (Santa Catarina State University; Brazil) for funding this study.

Notes

^aMeans were obtained from a crescent scale ranging from 0 (I didn't have intercourse) to 9 (more than once in a day).

^bVariables that measured the self-perception of a participant's sexuality were obtained on a scale from 0 to 10 (0 meaning nothing and 10 higher).