Association between female sexual self-efficacy and depression and anxiety symptoms

There are evidences demonstrating a significant impact of depression and anxiety symptoms in sexual function. To investigate such evidences, this study has correlated the Female Sexual Self-Efficacy Scale (SSES-F) with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and Anxiety Inventory (BAI). The sample consists of 269 women from four universities and a clinical psychologist. The participating universities accounted to 60% of the sample. The others were in the process of psychotherapy and had complaints of sexual dysfunction. Their ages ranged from 18 to 56 years (M = 28.59, SD = 8.86), about marital status, 51% were married, 48% single and 1% divorced. Regarding education, 92% of them had at least incomplete higher education. The instruments were administered individually and collectively in universities in the initial care at the clinic, both applications have occurred in appropriate locations following the ethical requirements in the research. The SSES-F is a scale which uses the concept of self-efficacy in the ability to measure the sexual behavior performance. It consists of 28 items in four dimensions named desire/arousal, penetration ability, solitary pleasure and sexual assertiveness. For measurement, a level measuring scale between 10 and 100 points is used, the score is obtained by averaging the responses and also the items dimensions. About the inventories, are self-report scales that describe the severity of depression and anxiety symptoms . Each has 21 affirmative evaluated through a number from zero to three points. The score is obtained as they sum the scores of these items and varies between 0 and 63. For the BDI, it is still possible to obtain scores for somatic-affective and cognitive dimensions. The data collected were subjected to partial correlation (Pearson at 0.05) eliminating the effect of differences between clinical and non-clinical group. The results showed only slight negative associations between of penetration ability SSES-F and the BDI cognitive dimension. It has been observed that there are more associations considered only in the clinical group. These data question the evidence of negative interference of depression and anxiety symptoms in female sexual self-efficacy. They have considered possible influences of other variables in this data set. Further studies will be necessary to evaluate the associations found so far.

Título: Association between female sexual self-efficacy and depression and anxiety symptoms

Autores: Ítor Finotelli Jr.; Oswaldo Martins Rodrigues Jr.; Marilandes Ribeiro Braga; Moara Carvalho; Erlei Tavares; Maria Tavares

Palavras-Chave: sexual self-efficacy; depression; anxiety; sexual dysfunctions; sexual function; female sexuality

Categoria: Trabalhos publicados em eventos científicos

Referência: Finotelli Jr., I., Rodrigues Jr., O. M., Braga, M. R., Carvalho, M., Tavares, E., & Tavares, M. (2013). Association between female sexual self-efficacy and depression and anxiety symptoms. Trabalho apresentado no VII World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies. WCBCT 2013 Abstract Book, Lima, 858-858.